Baci di Dama

My family’s relationship with Italy is a close and strong one. I have two uncles that both went there to study and apart from getting a University degree, they also ended up meeting the love of their lives, two wonderful Italian women who became their wives and mother of their children.

I have cousins and second cousins living in Florence and Sicily and even though they don’t speak Greek, which is a shame, I speak Italian so thankfully communication has never been a problem between us.

The first time I went to Italy, it was for one of my cousins’ wedding. I was about thirteen, she was twenty-four and the happiest bride I have ever seen. As she is Catholic and I’m Orthodox, her wedding ceremony was very intriguing and completely different than anything I have ever experienced before. Everything was extraordinary; the church, the priest, the rituals. The only thing that was familiar to me was the abundance of food at the wedding reception. In that respect, I felt like I was home.

And the deliciousness didn’t stop there. The days leading to the wedding as well as those after, were filled with feasts as well. My aunt’s side of the family, the Italians, were feeding us pasta, pizze, meat stews, sfogliatelle and crostate, and my uncle’s side of the family, the Greeks, were making mousaka, giouvetsi, roast lamb and galaktoboureko.

I will never forget that first time in Italy nor my cousin’s wedding and I most certainly will never forget the food. My aunt always had some sweet nibbles around the house and apart from the confetti, which are candy-covered almonds traditionally given at Italian (and Greek) weddings, there were all sorts of cookies. Baci di dama is the one kind of cookie I remember vividly.

Baci di dama, meaning lady’s kisses, consist of two small hazelnut cookies sandwiched together with a dollop of dark chocolate. They are given that name because they resemble a woman’s lips preparing to give or receive a kiss and they originate from the town of Tortona in the northwestern Italian region of Piedmont.

These two-bite cookies are eaten all over Italy and in some areas the hazelnuts are substituted for almonds or a mix of almonds and hazelnuts. I have opted for a mix of both nuts because I love how they complement each other.

The cookies are buttery, slightly crispy from the nuts, almost shortbread-like, and the chocolate filling is really what makes them unique. S and I enjoyed them so much we couldn’t bear to share them with anyone else. Yes, they are that good, especially with a cup of espresso.

Happy baking!

Baci di Dama (Lady’s Kisses) – Italian Hazelnut and Almond Cookies with Chocolate Filling
Heavily adapted from here

If you only have hazelnuts at hand or only almonds, then by no means use just that but I find that the mix of both nuts make the cookies more interesting.

I used blanched hazelnuts but you can also use hazelnuts with skin. You’ll need to roast them on a baking sheet for about 10 minutes in a 175 degrees Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit preheated oven, checking them regularly and being careful not to burn them. Remove them from the oven and place them on a clean kitchen towel. Once cool, rub them while still inside the towel to remove their skins and use according to the recipe below. (No need to further toast them).

I used blanched almonds but in case you only have almonds with skin it’s very easy to blanch them yourself. Put them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let them stand for 1 minute (not more as they'll lose their crunchiness), drain them, rinse them under cold running water so that they're cool enough to handle, and drain them again. Place them on a clean kitchen towel and squeeze the skin off with your fingers. Pat them dry and they're ready to use.

Yield: 36 cookies

Ingredients
70 g blanched hazelnuts
70 g blanched almonds
100 g unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut in pieces
140 g all-purpose flour
Pinch of sea salt
100 g caster sugar

80 g good quality dark chocolate 55-60% cocoa solids, for the filling

Special equipment: small food processor, sieve, plastic wrap, 1-2 baking sheets, baking paper


Preparation
In a skillet or sauté pan, add the blanched hazelnuts and almonds and place over a medium heat. Toast the nuts, stirring often so they don’t get burned, until they become fragrant and brown lightly. Transfer them to a plate and let them cool completely.

Add the toasted nuts to a food processor and finely grind them, being careful not to grind them too much or they’ll start releasing their natural oils and become pasty. You don’t want that.

In a large bowl, add the butter and salt and sieve the flour over. Mix with your hands, rubbing the butter into the flour until almost pea-sized lumps form. Add the sugar and ground nuts and continue mixing with your hands.

When the mixture comes together into a rough dough, empty it onto a clean work surface. It will be crumbly and coarse, and may appear like it will not come together into a smooth dough but it will. Start kneading the mixture with your hands. This will soften the butter and it will be incorporated and dispersed throughout the dough. After 3-4 minutes you should have a smooth dough that holds together.
Shape the dough into a log, wrap it with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Line your baking sheets with baking paper.

Unwrap the dough, and cut and shape into small balls (a little larger than a hazelnut). Place them onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2-3 cm apart because they will spread a little while baking. Place them in the fridge for 10-15 minutes and preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius / 325 Fahrenheit.

Place the baking sheet on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake cookies for 14-16 minutes, until set to the touch and lightly golden. Be careful not to burn them. Check them after 12 minutes and if you see that they’re starting to catch at the bottom, transfer the baking sheet to a higher rack.
The cookies should be dome-y, not flat when baked.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and place the second one in.
Transfer cookies on a wire rack to cool.

While the cookies are cooling, melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring often and making sure the chocolate doesn't burn. The bottom of the bowl must not come in contact with the simmering water. Once chocolate has melted and is smooth, remove the bowl from the top of the pan, and allow chocolate to cool slightly before using it to fill the cookies. It will be easier to fill them when the melted chocolate has set a bit, as it will not run out from the sides of the cookies.

Line pairs of cookies on a wire rack and add small dollops of melted chocolate in the middle of one of the two cookies of each pair, using the smallest teaspoon you have. Sandwich the two cookies together and place them upright on a rack until the chocolate sets.

You can store the cookies in a cookie tin for up to 1 week.

Chewy molasses spice cookies

I have been going crazy over cookies these past couple of weeks but I’ve been keeping it a secret. Reason being, the next few days, from today and up until Christmas, are going to be dedicated to cookies here on the blog!

I have wanted to do a themed week for as long as I can remember but never got around to it. Perhaps I was a bit lazy and it was certainly difficult to find time to do it, but now I decided to make time because I want to get all of you excited about making cookies as well. Not that many of you need your arm twisted to start baking, but perhaps some of you are in need of a gentle nudge to get into the holiday spirit.

For the last couple of weeks I have been baking cookies morning, noon and night, testing new recipes, revisiting old ones, photographing, keeping notes, eating lots and lots of them. And I’m not done yet. I have yet a couple to make.

So, let’s start with the first ones, these chewy molasses and spice cookies. Yes, I am aware that I have been posting American recipes lately, but it is a complete coincidence. I don’t know how it happened, honestly, but I’m not complaining one bit.

These cookies are full of molasses flavor and the aroma of ginger, cinnamon and cardamom. They are chewy in the middle and crisp around the edges, and the sugar coating makes them pleasantly crunchy. The dark brown sugar adds more sweetness but don’t go thinking that they are sickly sweet, no, they are just right, especially when eaten with a cup of strong coffee.

Now is the time to revel in the process of making cookies. Make them alone on a quiet afternoon, with your significant other, with your kids, your friends. Gift them to the ones you love because there is no better gift than a handmade one, especially when it comes in the form of a sweet cookie.

Happy baking!

Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies
Adapted from Bon Appétit

I used demerara sugar to roll the cookies in. Demerara is an unrefined sugar with large granules that gives the cookies an extra crunch, but you can also use granulated white sugar.

The easiest way to measure molasses or any other sticky ingredient like honey, glucose syrup, etc., without sticking to the measuring jug, is by oiling well its bottom and sides (I use sunflower oil). Remove the excess oil from the jug and pour the molasses inside. Empty it onto the rest of your ingredients and watch how easily the molasses pours out of the jug, without sticking to it one bit.

Yield: 30 cookies

Ingredients
260 g all-purpose flour
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
¾ tsp ground cardamom
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp sea salt
65 g caster sugar
60 g soft dark brown sugar
115 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
80 ml molasses
1 large egg

Demerara sugar for rolling

Special equipment: hand wire whisk, plastic wrap, 1 or 2 large baking sheets, baking paper


Preparation
In a medium-sized bowl, add the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, baking soda and salt, and whisk. Whisking the dry ingredients is similar to sifting them but easier.

In a large bowl, add the caster and soft dark brown sugar, the melted and cooled butter, the molasses and the egg. Whisk vigorously with a hand wire whisk (no need for electrical) until the ingredients are well blended. You’re not looking to make the mixture fluffy or airy but just to mix together the ingredients well.

Add the dry ingredients and whisk just to combine. Switch to a spatula when the mixture becomes too thick to whisk and make sure there are no white spots from the flour in the resulting dough.
You should have a soft and pliable cookie dough that’s slightly sticky to the hands.
Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes. The dough will firm up a bit and it will be less sticky and easier to work with.

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius / 375 Fahrenheit.
Line 1 or 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.

In a large plate, add demerara sugar.
Take the cookie dough out of the fridge and using the 1 Tbsp measuring spoon, scoop out dough and shape into small balls. Roll them in the demerara sugar and place them onto the prepared baking sheet(s), spacing them 5 cm apart because they will spread considerably while baking.

Place the baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven and bake cookies for 8-9 minutes, until they are puffed, cracked and just set around the edges.
Take the baking sheet out of the oven and place the second one in.

Allow the cookies to stand on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before transferring them carefully to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store them in a cookie tin for up to five days.

Chili con carne

When it comes to meat stews, Greeks are unrivaled. From the simple and everyday tomato- and lemon-based meat stews (the two traditional types of Greek meat stews), to the more special kinds like Pastitsada and Sofigado hailing from the Ionian islands, Tas Kebab from Constantinople and Spetzofai from Pilio, they are like oases in the culinary desert of insipid and uninteresting meat stews from other countries, mostly Northwestern European, but let's not name names.

Greek meat stews may be wonderfully delicious but even I stray every once in a while from my culinary heritage when I become enchanted by new flavors and different combinations and by the promise of sensational gastronomic travels.

This time, the culprit is the chili con carne (chili with meat). A dish with American origins, that is mistakenly considered Mexican. It certainly has its roots in Mexican cuisine with its extensive use of chillies but it was a dish first cooked by the American settlers in the Southwest regions of the United States.

This is a dish whose versions are numerous with almost every part of the U.S. having its own special kind. With minced or cubed beef, with or without beans, beer and chocolate, with different levels of spiciness, I could go on and on.

This version here, I’d say is the least complicated because it doesn’t involve a lot of chillies, which I am unable to find here in the Netherlands, although it still contains several spices. I’m aware that chili connoisseurs (hi David!) will probably not fully approve of my chili con carne as it hasn’t got the hot Mexican chillies and it includes beans but hey, I love beans.

The white rice, avocado, lime and sour cream counterbalance the spiciness of the dish and complement it beautifully, making it a worthy rival of my all time favorite Greek meat stews.

Chili con Carne

Use fairly fatty meat which will add flavor to the dish and become tender when cooked. Chuck or blade roast are the ideal cuts of meat to use.
For those reading from the Netherlands, sucadelappen or schouderlappen are the ideal Dutch cuts of beef to use.

A Mexican beer like Corona or Sol will be a perfect pairing for this dish.

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 kg chuck or blade roast, cut into 3-4 cm cubes and patted dry
2 onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
3 fresh red chillies, chopped (seeds not removed)
1½ tsp hot smoked paprika
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
2 tsp hot chilli powder
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground allspice
1 large cinnamon stick
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp tomato paste
800 g canned diced tomatoes
450 ml boiling water
Salt
1 Tbsp soft light brown sugar
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
Handful of coriander (or if you don’t like coriander like me, use parsley)

To serve
White rice
Sour cream
1 lime
2 avocados, sliced

Special equipment: colander


Preparation
In a large and wide heavy-bottomed pan or preferably in a Dutch oven, add the olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. When it starts to shimmer, add enough beef pieces to cover 2/3 of the bottom of the pan (do not overcrowd the pan otherwise the beef will boil rather than brown) and brown the pieces on both sides. Remove pieces from the pan with a slotted spoon and place them in a bowl. Brown the rest of the beef pieces in the same manner and place them in the bowl.

Add the onions to the pan and sauté them over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes or until they soften, scraping the bottom of the pan to incorporate the caramelized brown bits that are stuck on there. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Then add the red chillies, all the spices and the oregano and sauté for a couple of minutes just until the spices start to give off their aromas. Don’t sauté them for longer otherwise they will burn and they’ll give a horrible taste to the dish.
Then add the browned beef, the tomato paste and canned diced tomatoes and pour the boiling water over the top. Stir well and turn heat up to high. When it comes to the boil, turn heat down to low and put on the lid.

Let the meat stew for 2-2½ hours or until it is tender. Check the meat every 20 minutes or so, stirring it around a bit.
About half an hour before the meat is done, season with salt. The reason you're adding the salt now is because if you add it at the beginning of the cooking process, the beef becomes tough.
Fifteen minutes before the meat is done, add the sugar and kidney beans and stir well.
Once ready, turn heat off and let it stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Serve the chili con carne garnished with fresh coriander or parsley, and with white rice, slices of avocado, a squeeze of lime and sour cream.