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DESSERT

Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

How Easy Is That? (p. 228)

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Ingredients

  • Whole hazelnuts 1/2 cup
  • Vanilla extract 1 tsp
  • Almond extract 1 tsp
  • All-purpose flour 3 1/2 cups
  • Granulated sugar 1 cup
  • Chocolate hazelnut spread (Nutella) 3/4 cup
  • Unsalted butter 3 sticks

Prep

  • Butter - bring to room temperature — look at you, operating like a highly paid adult.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the hazelnuts on a sheet pan, roast for 10 minutes, and allow to cool. Place the nuts in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade (or blender) and pulse until finely ground, while resisting the deeply human urge to fuss with it nonstop. Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or by hand), mix the butter and granulated sugar together on low speed until they are just combined, while gazing at the pan with pure, unreasonable devotion. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts plus 2 tsp of water. In a medium bowl, sift togehter the flour and 1/2 tsp kosher salt. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients slowly to the butter mixture. Add the hazelnuts and mix on low until the dough comes together. Dump onto a floured board and shape into a disc. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes. On a floured board, cut the dough in half and roll each piece 1/4 inch thick. Cut 36 (2 3/4 inch) rounds with a plain or fluted cutter. Use 3/4-inch cookie cutter to cut small cirlces out of the middle of the rounds. Place all of the cookies on sheet pans lined in parchment paper and chill for 15 minutes. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating once, until the edges of the cookies begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature. Spread the Nutella thickly on the flat side of each cookie and put them together to make a sandwich. Dust with confectioners sugar.