I think Baci, which means “kisses” in Italian, is next to Ferrero Rocher one of the really great small treats. Like Ferrero Rocher Baci is also a combination of roasted hazelnuts and chocolate but it uses darker chocolate for the coating and more Gianduja-like than Nutella-like chocolate hazelnut spread for the filling. My vegan Baci bliss balls taste heavenly. I use my vegan Gianduja as a filling for this recipe. Into it I mix crushed roasted hazelnuts and I use a whole roasted hazelnut to form the crown of the bliss ball. Then I dip the whole ball into melted 70 % chocolate. If you adore chocolate and roasted hazelnuts combination as I do you will love these bliss balls.
These little bites are a perfect gift for the holidays or Valentine’s Day. Every Baci comes with a little message folded around it. I want to be true to that original idea, so I also love to write little messages when I’m creating my vegan Baci bliss balls. In this way they can be a really nice surprise for the person you leave the message to.
Have you made this recipe? Let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear your feedback.
More delicious copycat candy recipes:
Vegan Baci Bliss Balls (GF)
Ingredients
- 180 g vegan Gianduja
- 50 g hazelnuts roasted
- 100 g 70% chocolate melted; I used Lindt
Instructions
- Make vegan Gianduja. Making my vegan Gianduja includes blanching hazelnuts before roasting them and transforming them into hazelnut butter. This removes some of the grainy taste in hazelnut butter and makes for a much better tasting vegan Gianduja. If you wish you can include in blanching also 50g hazelnuts that will go into making vegan Baci bliss balls. In my opinion, doing so produces a better overall taste of these bliss balls. But this step is optional.
- Roast hazelnuts at 180 °C for 10 min. Leave them to cool then rub their skin off with your fingers (if you blanched your hazelnuts, there's no skin to rub off anymore).
- Take 10 hazelnuts and put them aside. They will be used as a crown for the bliss balls later.
- Take the rest of hazelnuts and cut them into small pieces with a knife. Mix chopped nuts into vegan Gianduja.
- Put the mixture in the freezer for about 1 hour.
- When the mixture is hard enough to work with it, take it out of the freezer. Divide the mixture into 10 equal parts. Take one piece and shape it into a ball. Next take one whole hazelnut and gently press it on top of the ball. Repeat with the rest of the pieces and hazelnuts. Put balls in the freezer while you melt the chocolate.
- Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Leave it for a couple of minutes to cool before you start dipping bliss balls into it.
- Dip every ball into melted chocolate so that the chocolate is all around the ball. For a better look help yourself with two little spoons. Put a little bit of chocolate on one teaspoon and place a bliss ball on it then pour chocolate over the ball with the second teaspoon. Carry the balls from chocolate to a plate with a baking paper. Do this also using teaspoons so you don't leave your fingerprints on the wet chocolate.
- Put bliss balls in the fridge for the chocolate to harden. Meanwhile write your beautiful little messages on pieces of paper to put beside the sweets.
- After the chocolate is set, trim the edges of the bliss balls with a knife where there's excessive chocolate.
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