Hazelnuts are the star of this show! These cookies are made with a trifecta of hazelnut goodness: whole hazelnuts, hazelnut liqueur, and crushed hazelnuts. A pastry spatula is your best friend with this recipe, so keep it close at hand. And, when they’re all baked, the end result is a melt-in-your-mouth bit of chocolate hazelnut heaven. 2 baking sheets; parchment paper; plastic wrap; large sealable bag; rolling pin; rubber spatula; whisk
Satisfy your sweet tooth with this easy-to-make recipe for Hazelnut Lovers’ Cookies.
1. Info for Hazelnut Lovers’ Cookies
- Cook Time: 2 hr 30 min
- Total Time: 2 hr 30 min
- Servings: 24
- Calories: 84.86 kcal
2. Ingredients for Hazelnut Lovers’ Cookies
- 1½ cups (250 g) whole dry roasted hazelnuts, divided
- ¾ cup (95 g) all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup (30 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) instant espresso powder
- ¾ teaspoon (4 g) fine sea salt
- ½ cup (114 g) unsalted butter, softened
- ⅔ cup (127 g) ultra fine Baker’s sugar
- 1 large egg yolk, room temperature (20g)
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) heavy whipping cream, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) hazelnut liqueur
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) Pure vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup (120 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
- 2 teaspoons (8g) coconut oil
3. Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC/gas 4. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Add 1 cup (150g) of hazelnuts to your KitchenAid® K400 Blender. Cover the blender, select “Ice Crush” setting and let blender run through the setting. Use a rubber spatula scrape down the sides, then blend on speed 5 for 10 seconds. Scrape sides again and blend on speed 5 about 15-30 seconds, or until hazelnuts are finely ground.
- Pour hazelnut flour into a medium mixing bowl. Add all purpose flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- Add half of the softened butter to the blender along with ⅓ of the sugar. Blend on speed 4 for 3 seconds, then scrape down the sides and stir with your rubber spatula. Add the remaining butter and another ⅓ of the sugar, then blend again on speed 4 for 3 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the blender and stir again before adding the last ⅓ of the sugar. Blend on speed 4 for 3 seconds two more times, stopping the blender in between to scrap and stir the mixture.
- Remove the lid cap and add egg yolk, whipping cream, hazelnut liqueur, and vanilla extract to blender. Replace the lid cap and pulse 3 times to mix, using your rubber spatula to scrape down sides after each pulse.
- Remove the lid and add the hazelnut flour mixture to the blender a third at a time, quickly pulsing 5 times after each addition and scraping down sides of blender with your rubber spatula as needed.
- Transfer dough to a medium mixing bowl, then cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least two hours. (Note: the dough will be very sticky.)
- Place remaining ½ cup (83g) hazelnuts in large ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush into small pieces. Place into small bowl and set aside.
- Remove chilled dough from the freezer and use your hands to form into 1” balls. Roll the balls in the crushed hazelnuts and place 2-in apart on lined baking sheets (12 cookies per pan).
- Bake 10-12 min, or until cookies are still soft but dry to the touch. Let cookies cool on baking pans for 5 minutes and then transfer to a baking rack to cool completely.
- Make the chocolate drizzle. In a microwave-safe bowl, add chocolate chips and coconut oil. Microwave on high in 30-second intervals until smooth, stirring chocolate between each interval. (Depending on power of the microwave, this could take 2-3 cycles.)
- Use a spoon to drizzle each cookie with melted chocolate. Do not store cookies until chocolate is fully set (at least 30 minutes).
- NOTES: You can purchase dry roasted hazelnuts, or roast raw hazelnuts. To roast hazelnuts; spread nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 275ºF/135ºC for 15-20 minutes. Let nuts cool for 10 minutes before adding to the blender.
- When mixing the butter and sugar take care to incorporate all the butter into the sugar-you are looking for a light, fluffy texture. This will yield a light, moist cookie.
- Once formed into balls and rolled in the crushed hazelnuts, the cookie dough can be placed in a ziploc bag and kept in the freezer for up to 2 months. Simply remove from the freezer and bake dough balls from frozen. Note: you may need to add 5-10 minutes of baking time.
- Cookies will keep for 5 days in an airtight container stored at room temperature.