Baci Di Alassio

Tools

• A vertical mixer equipped with a whisk (suggested) or an electric whisker
• A pastry bag with a star tip (~14mm size) or a small ice-cream scoop
• Baking paper
• Oven (180°C)
• [OPTIONAL] a rack for sweets
• [OPTIONAL] ice
• [OPTIONAL] food processor

Ingredients

• 150g white sugar
• 190g of fine hazelnut flour (or peeled hazelnuts and a spice grinder)
• 20g honey
• 17g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 or 3 egg whites (about 80g)
• 50g cream
• 75g dark chocolate

Directions

• If the hazelnut flour you have is too coarse (like a granola) you can put it in a food processor and give it a few blitzes, just be sure to not reduce it in a paste
• If you have a vertical mixer put the egg whites in and start the whisk on medium speed, we’ll need very stiff peaks for this recipe
• Weigh and mix sugar, honey, hazelnut flour and cocoa
• Whisk the egg whites if not already done
• Mix the egg whites with the rest, trying not to push out too much air
• Pre-heat oven at 180°C
• Put the star tip in the pastry bag, then add the mix. You can put the bag in a tall glass to help you in this process, if you do so remember to bend the tip (facing up) so that you don’t pour the mix in the glass
• Put baking paper on the oven tray
• Use the pastry bag to make roughly 24 cookies
• Bake for 13 minutes, in the meantime continue with the following steps. Whenever they are ready take them out of the oven and let them cool on a rack or just on a cool tray
• Put the cream in a small pan on medium heat, take it off as soon as it boils (continue with the following steps in the meantime)
• Cut the dark chocolate into small bits
• When the cream starts boiling take it off the heat, add the chocolate and mix (the chocolate should completely melt and mix with the cream)
• Put the mix in the fridge for 10’. You can accelerate the cooldown if you put the pan in a bigger pan with ice and water in it (this is what I usually do, in which case I just move to the next step, no wait).
• Whisk the chocolate mix until you get a mousse (you’ll se the mix will become lighter in color)
• Composition: take one of the cookies (they need to be cool) and add some of the mousse (a teaspoon) on the flat side, then take another and put it on top.
• Repeat previous step until you run out of cookies
• Eat the leftover mousse