Grandma's Design

BACI DI DAMA

GRANDMA

Bina

COUNTRY

Italian Italy

ORIGIN

Piemonte

INGREDIENTS

For the biscuits:

Sugar 300 g
Flour 300g
Peeled and lightly toasted hazelnuts 300 g
Oil, butter or margarine 200g

For the cream filling:

Half a glass of milk
1 teaspoon of cocoa
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of flour.

HISTORY

Bina is 84 years old and was born in Monteu Roero. She learned this recipe 20 years ago when she retired, from a friend who lives in San Grato. They met when she went to the sea one winter. She was from a big family and when she was young her mother used to make biscuits called “Torcetti” and take them to a local bakery to cook them. Her upbringing was quite hard – in 1914 the livestock were dying and the vine crops were affected by hailstones. Even though they didn't have hazelnuts when she was growing up, the hazelnuts she uses in this recipe are her own produce.

More Minus

HOW TO

Blend the hazelnuts with the sugar. Add the flour and the oil – a little of one then a little of the other. If you use oil you need to add half a glass of water. When the pastry is compact and doesn't crumble, let it rest for a few minutes. Each little ball should be more or less the size of a hazelnut. Bake at 180°C for 15 minutes.

While the biscuits are cooling, prepare the cream filling. Sieve the flour, cocoa and sugar together and then add the milk. Put it on the heat and leave it to thicken up. Once the biscuits are cool, spread the cream filling on the flat side of each one and press the two halves of the biscuit together.