MoFo: Fancy Little Hamburger Cookies!

Our 1st anniversary party at the yoga studio today went great. Those cookies I made yesterday were a big hit! We also had a Teacher Appreciation hour in the mid-day, with treats and gifts and a chance just to socialize together for our teachers. It was so sweet. Of course, I wanted to make an extra special treat for our extra special teachers! 

defying the heternormative cookie culture

I've been looking for an excuse to tackle some really special Italian cookies called "Baci di Dama" which translates "Lady's Kisses," and so I decided to dive in! 

oooh la la!

They are super cute, round little cookies with a layer of chocolate in between them. They are diminutive mini-nuggets of sophisticated yum. You will feel molto elegante and also molto happy when you eat them. Also - happily - they were super easy to veganize and they're authentically gluten-free. They take a little bit of time, but actually I found them easy and fun to make. 

rolls of delicate cookie dough

I followed this easy and clear recipe from David Lebovitz. The only vegan substitution I had to make was using Earth Balance instead of butter. The recipe suggests using white rice flour ~ which I did. I loved the light, crispy result in the final product, but the rice flour did make the dough a little harder to roll out. First I added a little bit of almond milk (maybe 2 tbsp) plus about 1 1/2 tsp hazelnut extract, to have a little more liquid in the dough. Then, I made six half-logs, instead of 3 long logs - as the recipe suggested. Finally, I found that I had to press the dough into rectangular shapes and then lightly roll it into a round log. It look a little experimentation, but it was actually easy.

Next time I think it would be interesting to try using half rice flour and half all purpose flour - just to see if that makes the dough a little more workable. 

The cookies are tiny and adorable on the baking sheet! After they've cooled, you get to apply the tempered chocolate. I needed a blob about the size of two chocolate chips per cookie, and the suggested quantity of chocolate was just slightly more than necessary. I laid them out in rows, piped on some chocolate, and then put them together in batches. I think it's prettiest if just a little bit of chocolate squeezes out the sides.

tiny little adorable cookies of yum! 

they look like little soldiers marching into my mouth!

Aren't they just adorable?? They look like little mini hamburgers! But they are better than hamburgers because they made of hazelnuts and chocolate! They are light and crispy and they look fancy and fun. They are one of my new favorite cookies!

joyful little bundles of fun!

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