chocolate nutella cookies
Who doesn’t love nutella? I mean really, is there anyone out there that doesn’t love this rich hazelnut and chocolate spread? Hazelnuts and chocolate make for a perfect combo and that’s no exception in this drool-worthy cookie from America’s Test Kitchen.
I love baking with hazelnuts, but I have to be honest – I am less fond of going through the process of removing the skins. It’s not that roasting them and cleaning them off with kitchen towels is that hard, it’s that the perfectionist in me comes out and I get frustrated when I can’t remove every bit of skin. That’s why I was so thrilled to get these roasted unsalted hazelnuts from Oh Nuts that have all of the skin completely removed! It saves a whole step and I can completely get behind that, especially in the busy holiday cookie time of year!
These cookies were a huge hit at the office and it’s no surprise given that they’re made with nutella, chocolate, and hazelnuts. They’re perfectly soft and chewy and they’re not as rich as you might expect given that there’s over a cup of nutella in the recipe. These cookies will have people coming back for seconds, thirds, and fourths – I guarantee it.
Note: I received the hazelnuts from Oh Nuts for free. I was not asked to write positive reviews and all opinions expressed here are my own.
Recipe from America's Test Kitchen Holiday Cookies 2010 Special Issue
My Baking Addiction has great tips here on how to skin hazelnuts.
I used a food processor to quickly chop the nuts. If you go this route, just be sure not to over-process the nuts or you'll end up with hazelnut butter instead of chopped nuts!
Ingredients
- 3 cups (15 ounces) of all-purpose, unbleached flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) Nutella spread
- 4 tablespoon (2 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/3 cups (9 1/3 ounces) granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder or instant coffee
- 1/3 cup milk
- 2 cups hazelnuts, toasted, skins removed, and chopped fine, divided
- 1 cup (4 ounces) confectioners' sugar
Instructions
- Combine flour, baking powder, salt in a bowl and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the Nutella, butter and sugar until light and fluffy at medium-high speed, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, vanilla, instant coffee and mix until well combined. Reduce speed to low and alternate additions of flour mixture and milk, mixing until just combined after each addition. Fold in 1/2 cup toasted chopped hazelnuts. Divide dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough until firm, at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.
- Adjust the oven racks to the upper middle and lower middle positions and preheat the oven to 375 F. Line 2 cookie sheets with either parchment paper or silicone mats. Place remaining chopped hazelnuts and 1 cup of powdered sugar in 2 separate bowls. Roll chilled dough into 1-inch balls, roll in hazelnuts, then roll in confectioners' sugar.
- Place dough balls 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake until set, 8-10 minutes, switching and rotating the pans halfway through baking. Remove them from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
