Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies are the next level recipe to chocolate chip cookies. These cookies combine luscious levels of chocolate in each bite, with the crunch of hazelnuts to add that extra texture and nuttiness. Perfect for holiday baking, weekend treats or mid-week cravings, this recipe will satisfy you to the max.
These Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies make up the last in my Small Batch Series. I’ve loved the challenge of creating sweet treat recipes for small in number households. All my recipes can be doubled to make a standard size serving which is a huge bonus. I don’t want ANYONE to feel left out!
Ingredients Cream butter and sugars for 3 mins Add egg and vanilla extract Add dry ingredients Incorporate chocolate chunks and nuts Scoop onto tray and chill
Why you'll love these cookies?
Yes! Let's get onto these cookies. Ferrero Rocher chocolates and Nutella are a BIG favourite in my household. What links them- chocolate and hazelnuts of course! When I quizzed my girls as to what flavour cookies I should make next...this flavour combo was it. And so I set about creating these delicious Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies.
Note: I realised half way through the shoot that I’d neglected to add cocoa powder to the ingredients shot. Oh dear! By the time i realised, I was too far down the track. But I wanted to let you know anyway. The cocoa is in the recipe (I mean look at the colour of those cookies!) and the recipe below states the correct measurements.
Bake, then sprinkle sea salt. Twirl cutter around hot cookie to get it round
How to make
They are a pretty standard method of cooking and very easy to make. The hardest thing is waiting during the chill time, which, really, isn’t so hard. Perspective right?!
- We cream the butter and two sugars, brown and white for a good 3 mins to beat air into the butter and break down the sugar crystals. I’ve used brown sugar mostly to incorporate that rich molasses, deep flavour profile that you get from it.
- Next we add our wet ingredients, the egg and vanilla extract. The egg binds our cookie dough together but also provides some lift in the oven. The vanilla extract adds another layer of flavour.
- Then we sift in our dry ingredients, all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder for lift, baking soda for chew factor and salt...because always salt with sweet!
- Lastly, it's the add-ins, hazelnuts and milk chocolate. Roughly chop the hazelnuts to get all different sizes of nuttiness when biting down. Same with the milk chocolate. And save a quarter of nuts and chocolate to add in after rolling the dough (see the recipe) Gotta make these cookies looks great with chunks of nuts and pools of chocolate right?!
Top tips
- Cream sugar and butter. In my recipe below I call for the butter and brown sugar to be creamed for a good three minutes. Please don’t scrimp on the time. By beating for this long you are not only breaking down the sugar crystals but also adding air into the butter. You want to see a visible visual difference in the look of your mixture from start to finish – it NEEDS to be paler in colour. Ok? if we want soft chewy cookies instead of dense rocks, you’ll need to do this step!
- Refrigerate or freeze the dough. When we cream the butter we use room temperature butter so that it’s soft and malleable to be able to be creamed by the mixer. By the time the dough is made the ingredients are all at room temp right. I find that if we bake them right off like this they tend to spread more. There’s actually nothing wrong with this – if you prefer larger, flatter cookies then by all means miss out this step. But by cooling the dough, the butter re-solidifies and has a chance to firm up so that when baked the cookies hold their shape better. It also helps with the chew factor and richness in taste.
- Getting that round shape. This one is optional. But have you taken your cookies out of the oven and they are kind of a weird shape? Sometimes that happens. Well, a tip from my friend Erin of Cloudy Kitchen fame gives you round cookies to rival any bakeries!! Once the cookies have baked, pull the tray out of the oven, grab a cookie cutter larger than the actual cookie (or a mug if you don’t have a cookie-cutter- it just needs to be round). Place over the top of a cookie onto the baking tray and then twirl it round and round the cookie. Kinda like the cookie is playing with a hula hoop around its waist! Because the cookie is still hot, it’s still malleable so the sides can be gently pushed into shape.
Substitutions
Chocolate: I’ve used milk chocolate (kids favourite) as the dark chocolate felt like it would be just too rich inside these cookies. But hey if dark, or even white chocolate is your thing...go for it! Or try a combination of both or all three. Also I prefer using a high quality chocolate bar for this rather that chocolate chips. Chocolate chips aren’t designed to melt whereas i want to see those chocolate pools.
Nuts: If you don’t have hazelnuts on hand...then sub in almonds, pecans or walnuts. They’ll be delicious regardless!! (But you may not be able to call them Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies!!)
For more small batch recipes
Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 115 g unsalted butter, softened
- 110 g light brown sugar, packed
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 100 g plain flour (all-purpose)
- 35 g cocoa powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp fine salt
- 100 g milk chocolate chunks
- 85 g blanched hazelnuts, lightly toasted and chopped
- flaked sea salt for sprinkling, optional
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the egg and vanilla and beat until just combined.
- Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix on low until just incorporated. Mix in ¾ of the chopped hazelnuts and chocolate chunks.
- Using a cookie scoop or a teaspoon, scoop the dough into 2cm (inch-wide) balls and place on a baking tray. Press the remaining hazelnuts into the top of the balls. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or freeze for 30 minutes. Overnight chilling in the fridge is ideal and baking unchilled dough will mean the cookies spread too much.
- Pre-heat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line two baking trays with parchment paper. Remove the cookie balls from the fridge or freezer and place them on the baking trays leaving at least 2 inches between balls.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes. Around the five-minute mark, distribute the remaining chopped chocolate onto the top of the baking cookies. The chocolate will melt and give gorgeous chocolate puddles.
- Remove baking trays from the oven. Whilst the cookies are still hot, using a round cookie cutter or mug, place over the cookie and twirl the cookie inside, gently pushing the edges in so that the cookies form a round shape. Kind of like the cookie and cutter are doing a hula dance!! Then sprinkle each cookie with flaked sea salt. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
All recipes are developed and tested in Metric grams. I strongly recommend that you bake using digital scales for a more accurate result. I have provided a conversion to US customary in the recipe but please note that I haven’t tested using this method.
Natalie
Delicious cookies and easy to make. My family loved them. I also like the small batch recipes. So convenient for those that live on their own.
Emma
Sometimes you just need a handful to see you through those cookie cravings. x
Madeline
These cookies are absolutely delicious! I loved them so much I dropped some off for my parents and they were a huge hit!
If you don't have the ingredients handy... go get them and make them right now!!! You won't regret it. 🙂
Emma
Thank you so much for the review Madeline. So happy to hear not only you but your parents enjoyed them also. x
Stephanie Cole
Hello! I’ve just made these! After much searching I chose your recipe as it was as close to how I would make most other cookies. Thanks so much! They have come out beautifully. I have added my own tweak with half a ferrero Rocher on top!
Emma
Hi Stephanie, This is wonderful news- so glad you love them. And that Ferrero addition sounds truly spectacular! I'll have to try the one!!