Nocciola Baci (Hazelnut Kisses)

from ButterYum

recipe adapted from David Lebovits via Teressa Murphy

makes 35 tiny sandwich cookies

1 1/4 cups (140g) hazelnuts, skinned, toasted, and ground**

1 cup (140g) rice flour** (or all purpose flour)

3 1/2 ounces (100g) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar

pinch of salt

2 ounces (55g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

To make the dough:

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a BeateBlade attachment, combine the ground nuts, rice flour, butter, salt, and sugar until it forms into a dough; 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; return to refrigerator and keep chilled until you're ready to bake.

To bake the cookies:

Preheat oven to 325F. Bake for 8-12 minutes; allow cookies to cool completely on sheet pan.

To assemble the cookies:

Gently melt the chocolate in a microwave or in a double boiler. Place a chocolate chip size 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.

**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 350F oven for 10-15 minutes. Cool completely and pulse in a food processor until finely ground (should resemble dry cornmeal or polenta).