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Nutella-Almond Kisses

by:
June  2, 2021
3.8
4 Ratings
Photo by James Ransom. Food stylist: Anna Billingskog. Prop stylist: Amanda Widis.
  • Prep time 1 hour 15 minutes
  • Cook time 18 minutes
  • makes 10 sandwich cookies
Author Notes

Christmas is such a magical time—the warmth, the festive vibes and lots of delicious food. For many years now, I've made it a tradition to bake little treats for my friends and neighbors. It gives me so much joy to package up dozens of glorious parcels, filled with everything from cakes to cookies to sweets.

A few years ago, I was inspired by the Italian classic, baci di dama—hazelnut-flour sandwich cookies with a chocolate-hazelnut filling—but wanted to recreate them with ingredients I often had on hand. I started making these cookies using ground almonds instead of ground hazelnuts, as well as super-fine 00 flour for lightness, and found that they worked really wonderfully.

These cookies are not only easy to bake, they last a few days without getting stale and are easy to wrap without crumbling into bits. In other words, they're perfect gifts. And because they play nice with lots of flavors, you can sandwich them with chocolate spread as I did...or jam, or icing, or just enjoy them by themselves.

Hear Resident Chetna Makhan get nutty about nut butters with cross-Atlantic friends and co-hosts Katie Quinn and Jen Phanomrat on our new podcast, Either Side Eaters. —Chetna Makan

Test Kitchen Notes

These cookies are part of Recipes to Give & Share, a collection of perfectly packable holiday treats that we're sending to our loved ones this year. —The Editors

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Ingredients
  • 1 stick (113g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup (115g) caster sugar or superfine sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups (150g) ground almonds
  • 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (70g) 00 flour
  • 10 teaspoons Nutella
Directions
  1. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper.
  2. Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl and use a wooden spoon to beat it for a couple of minutes until smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix together.
  3. Add the ground almonds and 00 flour and stir to combine.
  4. Divide the dough into 20 equal portions, then place them on the prepared sheet pans. Put the trays in the fridge to chill for an hour.
  5. Heat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
  6. Bake the cookies for 18 minutes until lightly golden. Let them cool until they crisp up.
  7. When the cookies have cooled, add one teaspoon of Nutella onto 10 of the cookies, then sandwich them with the remaining 10 cookies.
  8. Put them in baking paper-lined cardboard boxes or nice biscuit tins. They will last for 5 to 6 days.
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8 Reviews

Write a Review
Heather H. December 18, 2020
By ground almonds, are you referring to almond meal or almond flour? I'm not familiar enough with either to know if there's even a difference?
andreaH December 16, 2020
If not for the lovely photo, and reputation of Food52, i would probably have passed on this recipe. "Divide the dough into 20 equal portions" what?! what does this even mean for a cookie recipe... They turned out ugly, very crunchy, a waste of time.
andreaH December 16, 2020
If not for the lovely photo, and reputation of Food52, i would probably have passed on this recipe. "Divide the dough into 20 equal portions" what?! what does this even mean for a cookie recipe... They turned out ugly, very crunchy, a waste of time.
Nic O. December 15, 2020
These are delicious cookies.
quick and easy.
I used AP flour in place of 00 flour. I also added a egg white after I mixed all the ingredients the mixture seemed dry.
Made these for a holiday dinner and everyone loved them.
carswell June 3, 2021
That seems like a very good idea. I read the recipe twice thinking that a quick glance had made me miss an egg or egg white.

The recipe is similar to an amaretti cookie I make from Ytam Ottolenghi's site - it includes a whipped egg white and the texture of the finished cookies is sublime. Crunchy on the outside and tender and chewy inside.
Mary G. December 15, 2020
I made these on a whim with what I had around, so I used all-purpose flour and regular white sugar. They still worked, but the dough was extremely crumbly. I had to get in there with my hands to get it to come together, kind of like shortbread. They didn't flatten at all in the oven, so while they were still warm, I used a glass to squish them down. If I were to make them again, I'd make at least 15 sandwich cookies - I made the suggested 10 and they were much larger than the picture makes it seem. Still tasty, though, and gone within a day.
Dewey S. December 6, 2020
Two quibbles about this recipe: 1. Not everyone can find 00 flour. Speak to your wider audience and/or provide substitutes like AP flour. 2. Most sandwich cookies become soft in 2-3 days due to the moisture in the filling. While they may be great cookies, I would not consider them mailable beyond your own state. A 3rd comment for Food52 editors: Many of your recipes of late need editing or at least proofreading.
Angelglo December 6, 2020
Do you use ground almonds or almond flour? You mentioned almond flour in the author notes but ground almonds in the recipe. Thanks