It is time (Lion King anyone?).
After an almond based amuse and a meaty appetizer it is time to reveal my contribution to this month's SHF/IMBB Cookie swap event. With Sicily in my mind, I thought for a long time about baking some traditional sweet out of the region's classics and I would have had enough to choose from. Instead I opted for a little creativity; having some Sicilian ingredients at hand, I felt like playing around a bit. The result is shown above.
If you've red this blog from the beginning, those cookies might remind you of something else I had written about almost exactly two years ago (gosh, my photos were really ugly back then!). These cookies are indeed inspired by those Baci di dama I baked back then –and a few times more between then and now– yet with a twist that makes them more "Sicilian". Maybe not so much in acquiring an authentic Sicilain taste, rather inspired by the flavors and aromas of the island's pastries. I'm calling these Baci di picciotta for the time being, as a sort of pun: baci di dama means, lady's kisses, and "picciotta" is Sicilian dialect for girl. If you have a better suggestion I'm all ears.
Among the food gifts we had brought back from our recent Sicilian trip, I had two items expressly for making sweets: almond flour made with mandorle pizzute d'Avola (the Avola almond I mentioned on Friday) and a cram of pistacchi di Bronte. Before you start asking: Bronte is a place in Sicily and has nothing to do with the famous sisters. Unfortunately I might add, because it would have added another dimension to these cookies. On the other hand, Bronte (the town) does produce what are considered as the best pistachios in Italy: bright green and with a very aromatic taste, ideal for pastry uses. The pistachio cream taste exactly like... pistachio Nutella, if there ever was such a thing: heaven for pistachio lovers. With two top ingredients like these I had to do my very best in using them at their best.
Once I had decided to use baci di dama as a base I had a few changes to make. Compared to the classic baci di dama, made with either hazelnut of mixed hazelnut-almond dough, these cookies use only almond, which gives them a less nutty, but more delicate taste. Also, instead of the classic vanill and lemon peel aromas, I used vanilla and cinnamon a rather common Sicilian pastry combo. The last detail to pin down was the stuffing. I tried one cookie with only pistachio cream as a filling, but it became way too sweet. I tired adding cioccolato modicano and pistachio cream, but that did not melt too well, the chocolate remained too grainy. In the end I went for dark 70% cocoa chocolate and the pistachio cream, sandwiching them to give a double filling layer, like this:
Somehow, instead of tasting like a road crash, it all does seem to work nicely together, the pistachio and chocolate nicely balancing each other and the mellow, buttery cookie more interesting thanks to the light cinnamon note. Come around and you will get a taste ;-).
Finally here's the recipe itself:
Baci di picciotta
for the dough:
150 g almond flour
150 g butter, at room temperature
130 g confectioner's sugar
150 g cake flour
a pinch of: salt, vanilla sugar, cinnamon
also:
about 2-3 Tsp pistachio cream
75-100 g dark chocolate
Cream the batter and sugar together till nice and fluffy. Stir in the almond flour and then the flour, salt, cinnamon and vanilla sugar. Knead as little as possible, till you just get a homogeneous dough together. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate at least two-three hours, better over night.
Once the dough is cold, cut off teaspoon sized chunks off it and roll these into little balls the size of a large cherry. Place them on a baking tray lined with baking parchment as you go, leaving at least two cm between each ball, since they'll spread out during baking. Meanwhile pre-heat your oven at 180°C(350°F). Bake for 10-12 minutes, or till they start browning, rotating the baking sheet back to front (and eventually top to bottom too, if you're baking two sheets at a time) after 6 minutes. Let cool.
Once the cookies are cold match them pairwise for size of the flat size. Melt the dark chocolate over a water bath till it reaches ca. 37°C. Working quickly place a small dollop (about 1/3 of a tsp) on one cookies flat side, and make a ring of molten chocolate on the other, leaving the center free. Sandwich delicately the two cookies together and balance so that the two halves don't slide off each other. The important thing is to have the chocolate seal the pistachio cream, so try to have no cream liking out between the two cookies. Wait till the chocolate has hardened and enjoy!
Wow these look gorgeous! I can imagine popping more than a few of these. Definetely adding these to my list of holiday cookies to bake. Thanks for sharing the recipe (and for choosing such a timely theme!)
Posted by: tanvi | November 28, 2005 at 01:50 AM
Oooh, those sound spectacular! :)
Posted by: Anne | November 28, 2005 at 06:33 AM
I think I gained weight just looking at these pictures...looks and sounds delicious!
Posted by: Cath | November 28, 2005 at 07:32 AM
i guess most of us improved in our photo taking skills as we continue blogging hehehehe
Posted by: babe_kl | November 28, 2005 at 08:35 AM
Thank you everyone for the kind words, happy you liked them even without tasting them!
Posted by: Alberto | November 28, 2005 at 09:40 AM
Hi Alberto - these sound wonderful! I have a little souvenir jar of Pesto di Pistacchi (pistachio, sugar, grassi vegetali (vegetable oil?), and natural flavors) that I brought back from my trip - is this similar to what you used?
Posted by: Cathy | November 28, 2005 at 05:03 PM
Cathy, the name pesto would make me think it is to be used with pasta or crostini/bruschetta, on the other hand a savory pesto would have no sugar in it. It might be the same thing.
Posted by: Alberto | November 28, 2005 at 06:07 PM
Wow - what dedication! These look so delicious, especially the last photograph made my mouth water!
Posted by: Luisa | November 28, 2005 at 06:08 PM
They look and sound delicious.
Posted by: Jane35 | November 28, 2005 at 11:40 PM
I wish I could come by for a taste, but I'll take the phot in the meantime. Yum!
Posted by: Nic | December 02, 2005 at 04:48 AM
Oooh--very, very pretty, Alberto. And they sound fantastic.
I wonder if I can find some of that pistachio stuff to try....
Posted by: Barbara Fisher | December 02, 2005 at 02:33 PM
Questa mi sa che è una Picciotta anoressica le labbra non sono per niente gonfie.
La prossima volta opta per i baci alla Marini che si è gonfiata le labbra.
Io posso ancora partecipare con la Ciambella di Mucca o il concorso è scaduto?
Mucca
Posted by: muccapazza28 | December 05, 2005 at 05:49 PM
Ciccino, a me le labbra della Marini fanno paura! La prossima volta aggiungerò una botta di colorante rosa e un'iniezione di silicone solo per te.
La ciambella é un po' in ritardo am vediamo cosa si può fare... ma almeno una ricetta in Inglese potevi metterla :-)!
Posted by: Alberto | December 06, 2005 at 08:49 AM
Lo sapevo. Ormai mi sono concquistato la fama di blogger ritardato per via delle mie strampalate adesioni, rigorosamente quando gli eventi sono già scaduti.
Se vuoi la traduco con il adSense di Google :-) ma credo che sarebbe la stessa identica cosa....
Grazie per i prossimi baci di picciotta poi la Marini è siciliana, sono certo che apprezzerebbe anche lei.
Mucca
Posted by: muccapazza28 | December 06, 2005 at 01:14 PM
These look absolutely to die for!!
Posted by: Kat | December 08, 2005 at 11:53 PM
The quality of the photograph is only one reason I am extremely interested in baking these cookies. They look delicious!!
However, two questions: for those of us unable to track down Sicilian pistachio cream, do you have any other suggestions for a substitute that would not cause the two halves of the cookie to slide apart? I really like your idea of using something that isn't mocha, Nutella or a jam.
Second, how fragile are these baci? I would like to mail them.
Thanks and Happy Christmas!
Posted by: Elizabeth | December 16, 2005 at 01:22 AM
I've tried three batches of the original Bacci di Dama and I've had best luck so far with a little less butter - 3/4 cup nuts, 3/4 cup flour, 2/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup butter - and cooked for a little longer 15 minutes - at closer to 350. Maybe it's the weak American butter, but I found they had too much spread and were too chewy. Less butter and longer baking gave me the perfect crumbly/crispy texture. Agree the hazelnut/almond mix is the best. May try pistachio and almond with some of the pistachios left a little chunky next time. Thanks! A real crowd pleaser even without the pistachio cream.
Posted by: Rose's Lime | January 16, 2006 at 03:44 AM
Elizabeth, the traditional baci use quite simply chocolate but I fear that doesn't answer your question. The cookies are quite fragile and tend to crumble, not exactly your first choice if you had to ship something.
Rose, thanks for the suggestions and feedback. I do think there must be a difference between American and European butter. Spreading can be an issue, especially when I used thin cookie sheets or warm ones, but my cookies were never chewey. Still, reducing the butter slightly does indeed help, though to my taste that reduces the richness of the cookie a bit. I will definitely try almonds and pistachio soon, great idea!
Posted by: Alberto | January 25, 2006 at 03:43 PM
Hi,
I was wondering if you know the recipe for a sicilian cookie called Pasta Fiore? It's looks like a butter cookie, and may be made with semolina flour because the dough is more yellow than your basic butter cookie. The shape of the cookie is also rolled and shaped sort of how you would shape an "S" cookie. I love this cookie and would like to be able to make it at home. Hope you know what I'm talking about. Thanks.
Posted by: Monica | July 22, 2006 at 05:18 AM