For
today’s sweet treat, I will be featuring some decadent Baci Espresso cookies!!
Il Dolce (Dessert)
I
absolutely adore chocolate, nuts and espresso. All together or separately, it
makes no difference. So when I was in Rome this past summer and stumbled upon a
gelato cafe right around Piazza Navona and saw “Baci Espresso” as a flavor, I
knew I was in the right place. Baci
translates to kiss in Italian, but I bet if you think of Baci, you think of
those amazing chocolates with the hazelnut center. The gelato had a deep
chocolate espresso base with chunks of chocolate and hazelnuts. It was
absolutely amazing. Come summer I plan to take out my ice cream maker and try
to recreate some of the gelato I had in Italy (including the most intense
chocolate gelato I have ever had, called nero fondente.) But, I’m not quite
ready for gelato. So until then, I have recreated the taste and made these
equally delicious Baci Espresso cookies. While they are not the prettiest
cookies, they are certainly pleasing to the palette. They are fudgy, chocolaty
and the hazelnuts add a lovely crunchy to an otherwise smooth cookie.
Baci Espresso
Cookies
10 ounce of dark
chocolate
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
¼ cup all purpose
flour
¼ teaspoon baking
powder
2 tablespoons
espresso powder
1/8th
teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons
unsalted butter.
1 ½ cups of hazelnuts
Preheat oven to
350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Whisk eggs, sugar and
vanilla in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, espresso
powder and salt together. Stirring frequently, melt butter with chocolate.
Whisk in the egg mixture. Stir in the flour and nuts. Scoop rounded tablespoons
of batter on baking sheet.
Bake
until the surface of the cookie looks dry and the centers are still gooey,
around 11-13 minutes. Take out of the oven and let cool. If you don’t eat them
all in one sitting, store the leftover cookies in a tightly sealed container.
Buon
Appetito!
