Italian Hazelnut Cookies

Here is my question – how does one become an exceptional baker when she is married to a man who shuns sweets? While I cannot call my baking exceptional, my workaround for this household dilemma –  besides eating all the cookies myself – was to create some recipes with less sweet and more of, well, everything else.

These Italian cookies are chock full of chopped hazelnuts and gooey nutella. They are chewy and crunchy and perfect for dunking in your morning coffee. I don’t make cookies often (or often enough), but I can definitely see myself baking these again sometime soon. I may sneak in some chocolate chips next time though.

Ingredients for Italian Hazelnut Cookies

1 3/4 cups of flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup nutella
1 cup roughly chopped hazelnits

First:
Preheat oven to 325F degrees.

In the bowl of a stand-mixer, use the paddle attachment to mix the butter and sugars on medium speed.
Add the nutella and lower the speed to low.
Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix until well-combined.

Next:
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda.

With the speed on low, slowly add the flour mixture. When incorporated, add the chopped hazelnuts.

Roll about one tbsp of dough into a ball, and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 12-13 min. Rotate cookie sheets after 6 min.

Cookies should feel slightly undercooked when you take them out. Let cool on parchment paper.
Makes about 22 cookies.

Tagged as: dessert