A decadent offering for Valentine’s Day - but a very rich one, be warned. It’s essentially a classic French ‘petit pot de crème’ but with a hefty amount of dark chocolate (70% cocoa) it really does require a serious chocolate-lover’s appetite to eat a whole cup. The baci di dama (ladies’ kisses) mixture will make lots of these lovely biscuits but make more of the filling than quoted if you want to fill them all. Personally I like to leave some without as they’re a joy when chocolate-free too.
Ingredients - serves 8
for the choc pots: makes 2-3
4 egg yolks
75g caster sugar
300ml Riverford Organic Dairy milk
100g Vivani dark chocolate
for baci di dama: makes lots!
100g toasted Essential hazelnuts
150g Billington's icing sugar
125g Riverford Organic Dairy butter
125g Doves Farm plain flour
grated zest 1 small orange
for the filling: fills about 20
60g Vivani dark chocolate
10g Riverford Organic Dairy butter
10g Riverford Organic Dairy double cream
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Method
1 Preheat the oven to 170°C
Beat the egg yolks and sugar to pale and light. Scald the milk and whisk into the yolks. Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a bowl over simmering water until melted; stir to incorporate in the custard then divide between 2 cups. Place in a roasting dish surrounded by boiling water, cover each cup with a foil lid, and bake in the bain marie for 35 minutes, remove and allow to cool.
2 Increase the oven to 180°C
Place icing sugar and hazelnuts in a food processor and blitz to fine. Add diced butter and process to creamy then sprinkle in the flour and orange zest and pulse briefly to a dough. Rest for 30 minutes then form into balls the size of maltesers, sit on a baking tray 6cm apart and bake in batches for 12 minutes, cool on a wire rack.
3 Make a filling by melting chocolate, cream and butter together in a bowl over simmering water. Stir to smooth then allow to cool, Spread a small amount onto the bottom of a baci and glue it to another - you have enough to pair up a good many and have some baci to spare - store these in an airtight container for up to a week.
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