Nocciola Baci (Hazelnut Kisses)

For the cookies:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the ground nuts, rice flour, butter, salt, and sugar until it forms into a dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator to chill for about an hour.

Roll marble-size balls of dough about 3/4-inch wide (5 grams for those of us who have “Baking OCD”) and place on a parchment or silicone lined sheet pan about an inch and a half apart. Return pan to the refrigerator to keep the dough chilled until it’s time to bake.

Preheat oven to 325 F. Bake chilled dough for 8-12 minutes; until the cookies are crisp but tender (they won’t chance color, but a few tiny cracks will be visible around the edges). Remove pan from oven and set it on a rack and allow cookies to cool completely on sheet pan.

To assemble the cookies:
Gently melt the chocolate in a microwave or in the top of a double boiler. Place a small dollop of chocolate between two cookie halves; set aside until chocolate sets. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.

Notes:
– To make rice flour: Pulse uncooked white rice in a spice mill or coffee grinder until very finely ground.

– To blanch and peel hazelnuts: Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a 4-quart sauce pan (you need a large pan because the water and baking soda will bubble up a lot). Add baking soda to boiling water; add hazelnuts and boil for 3 full minutes (don’t be alarmed when the water turns black; this is to be expected). In the meantime, have ready a bowl of iced water. After 3 minutes, remove hazelnuts from boiling water and plunge them into the iced water to stop the cooking process. Slip hazelnuts out of their skins and allow to dry. Toast hazelnuts in a 350 F oven for 10-15 minutes. Cool completely and pulse in a food processor until finely ground (should resemble dry cornmeal or polenta).

Recipe adapted from David Lebovitz via Teressa Murphy.
Recipe makes 35 tiny sandwich cookies.