Homemade Baci Chocolates, Italian Kisses

How to make the most deliciously addictive, melt-in-your-mouth Italian Baci Chocolates at home. Made with a smooth and creamy milk chocolate centre with crunchy chopped hazelnuts and then dipped in dark chocolate.

You may be familiar with Italian baci chocolates, they're wrapped in silver foils with blue stars and have the cutest little love notes hidden inside each wrapper (see examples below).

The chocolates (baci means kisses in Italian) are irresistibly good with a smooth and creamy milk chocolate centre mixed with chopped hazelnuts for a little crunch. A whole hazelnut is placed on top of each one then they're dunked in dark chocolate.

These little bites of heaven are so easy to make at home for a special treat (solid with you're favourite hot drink) or for gifting.

Ingredient notes and substitutions

• Milk and dark chocolate – We highly recommend using good quality chocolate. For the dark chocolate aim for 70% cocoa. If you are not a fan of dark chocolate you can use milk chocolate for the outside too.
• Chocolate hazelnut spread – We personally avoid palm oil as much as we can so we're not a fan of Nutella (use it if you like it) and use other palm oil-free brands which are much more good in our opinion or we make homemade chocolate spread.

Visual walk-through of the recipe

1. Melt the chocolate – Melt the milk chocolate and butter in a Bain Marie (a bowl placed over a pot of gently simmering water). Once melted add the chocolate hazelnut spread and chopped hazelnuts and mix to combine (photos 1 and 2).

1. Chill – Remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool. Once cool enough put the chocolate in the fridge to stiffen up for about 1 hour. Once chilled, roll the mixture into balls (about 1/2 tablespoon size) and press one whole hazelnut on top of each (photos 3 and 4).
2. Second chill – place the chocolates back in the fridge.
3. Dip in dark chocolate – melt the dark chocolate in a bain marie. Dip each rolled chocolate in the melted dark chocolate and set them aside on a cooling rack to set (photos 5 and 6).

Baci love notes

These are some examples of the little love notes hidden inside each chocolate. If you're making these as a gift you could handwrite some notes to hide inside (we know, it's too cute).

• “L'amicizia consiste nel dimenticare ciò che si dà e nel ricordare ciò che si riceve” Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives, and remembering what one receives. – Alexandre Dumas.
• “Prima di amare io non ho mai vissuto” Till we loved we never lived – Dickinson.
• “Dai a ogni giornata la possibilità di essere la piu bella della tua vita” Give every day the possibility to become the most beautiful day of your life – Mark Twain.
• “Alla fine, ciò che conta non sono gli anni della tua vita, ma la vita che metti in quegli anni” In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years – Abraham Lincoln.
• “Un vero viaggio non è cercare nuove terre, ma avere nuovi occhi” The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but new perspectives – Marcel Proust.

More good Italian desserts to try

Italian Desserts

Torta Barozzi (Rich, Flourless Chocolate Cake)

Italian Desserts

Chocolate Budino (Budino al Cioccolato)

Italian Desserts

Chocolate Panna Cotta

Italian Desserts

Irresistible Chocolate Tiramisu

Ingredients

Makes 20 chocolates

• 3.5 oz (100g) milk chocolate
• 7 oz (200g) dark chocolate ((70% cocoa))
• 2 tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter
• 70 g (heaped 1/2 cup) chopped hazelnuts
• 100 g (1/3 cup) hazelnut spread
• 20 whole hazelnuts

Method

1. Melt the milk chocolate and butter in Bain Marie (a bowl sitting on top of a pot of gently simmering water). Once melted turn off the heat and add the chocolate hazelnut spread and the chopped hazelnuts, mix to combine.

2. Let the mixture cool then put it in the fridge to stiffen up for at least 1 hour.

3. Roll the mixture into small balls (about ½ tablespoon size) and press a whole hazelnut on top of each chocolate. Put them back in the fridge to chill.

4. Meanwhile, melt the dark chocolate in a Bain Marie. Once melted, remove the bowl from the heat and let the chocolate cool for 5-10 minutes.

5. Prepare a baking tray lined with baking parchment and sit a cooling rack on top, set aside.

6. One at a time, spoon the dark chocolate over each ball and place them on the cooling rack. Leave the chocolates at room temperature to set then serve.

Kitchen notes

• Rolling into balls if your mixture is too soft to roll into balls put it back in the fridge to chill for longer or place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. It might also help to use damp hands (we've done this a few times).
• Gifting wrap the chocolates in foil wrappers for a special gift idea.
• Storage store in a container at room temperature for up to 5 days or store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks