Aaah! Bites of crispy, chocolatey, cakey, and chewy cookies! Delightful and delicious! Easy to make! Fragrant! Gooey! Okay, let’s stop this alphabet game. But trust me, not a bit of these are exaggerations when it comes to this classic chocolate hazelnut crinkle cookies.
This Christmas, I planned to make a variety of cookies, put them in small, cane baskets decorated with pine twigs and leaves, and deliver to friends and dear ones around. Buying gifts in glossy packages seemed boring, routine-like, the enthusiasm for which when placed against the choice of making luscious and pleasing solid drops of edibles that everyone will truly enjoy, soon faded out. Hence, I started on a hunt for recipes that would yield reliable and yummy cookies for the purpose. Among several others that were wonderful, and a few that didn’t quite live up to the expectations, I found this recipe for cookies that crinkle while they bake, on Epicurious.
Well, as I go storming on the keyboard, I can’t help memories of my taste buds basking and singing at the bitefuls of ground hazelnut dipped in rich chocolate make my eyes close and mouth water with ecstasy. They were like drops of molten love hugging and sliding down the throat, straight to the heart. Mmmmmhhh! I wish you understood how it felt.
Well, you can call me biased towards nutty-chocolatey goodies, but I will give you a chance to judge my somewhat ‘outlandish’ behavior towards this particularly rich taste. Now you can know for certain if I am exaggerating. It’s a breeze to make if you can invest a little time and if you don’t mind the pain involved in 'peeling' the nuts. A task which is somewhat intimidating, I concur. But hazelnuts are easier to skin than almonds. Especially, if you toast them lightly in the beginning. Now while you continue reading, please excuse me. I must rush to my little kitchen to whisk up some batter of flour, eggs, chocolate, and ground hazelnut.
Chocolate Hazelnut Crinkle Cookies
~~Epicurious
What do you need?
~~Epicurious
What do you need?
~ Hazelnuts - 2/3 cup
~ Sugar – granulated, 2 tablespoons
~ Chocolate - 6 oz fine-quality bittersweet (no more than 60% cacao if marked), finely chopped
~ All-purpose flour - 2 3/4 cups
~ Unsweetened cocoa powder - 2 tablespoons
~ Baking powder - 2 teaspoons
~ Salt - 3/4 teaspoon
~ Unsalted butter - 1 stick (1/2 cup), softened
~ Packed light brown sugar - 1 1/2 cups
~ Eggs - 2 large
~ Whole milk - 1/4 cup
~ Pure vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon
~ Confectioners sugar - 3/4 cup
1. Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven or in the middle position if you are baking one batch at a time, and preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Toast hazelnuts in a shallow baking pan in oven until skins split and nuts are pale golden, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven, wrap hazelnuts in a kitchen towel, and rub to remove loose skins. Cool nuts completely. Pulse nuts with granulated sugar in a food processor until finely chopped. ~Note: The first time I tried this step, I ended up burning the hazelnuts. Thinking they might give a bitter taste to the dough, I repeated this step, this time more carefully. The trick is to spread out the nuts and be vigilant. It took my oven around 8 minutes to deliver the appropriate state but yours might achieve this in 5 minutes.
3. Melt chocolate in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water or in top of a double boiler, stirring until smooth. Remove bowl from heat and set aside. ~Note: I warmed the chopped chocolates in the microwave in Medium for 10 minutes, stirring every 2-3 minutes.
4. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
5. Beat together butter and brown sugar in another bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in melted chocolate until combined. Add milk and vanilla, beating to incorporate. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Stir in nut mixture. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill dough until firm, 2 to 3 hours. ~Note: My stand mixer of the simplest type was immensely useful and worked quite well forming the batter. I guess, if you have strong arms, it will work fine to whisk up the dense and thick batter manually. Also, at the optimum moment I found my brown sugar has dried and hardened completely. I had to replace regular fine sugar and it worked fine. Didn’t much realize what I missed.
6. To form and bake the cookies, sift confectioner’s sugar into a bowl. Halve dough and chill 1 half, wrapped in plastic wrap. Roll remaining half into 1-inch balls and place them on a sheet of wax paper. Roll balls, 3 or 4 at a time, in confectioner’s sugar to coat generously and arrange 2 inches apart on lined baking sheets.
7. Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are puffed and cracked and edges feel dry (but centers are still slightly soft), 12 to 18 minutes total. Transfer cookies (still on parchment) to racks to cool completely.
8. Repeat with the remaining batter.
I normally prefer to make my snacking delights smaller than regular. Something that you can clean shove into your mouth. No biting, no cookie-dusts no tissues, no cleaning. An exception to the rule for these cookies though. It is such a pleasure to bite into the soft center of rich chocolate; I prefer to make these around the size of a Ritz cracker.
These will keep well at room temperature for 5 days if you layer them between sheets of parchment or wax paper, in an airtight container. If you have enough that requires storage that is. Mine were gone that very evening.
What should you do?
1. Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven or in the middle position if you are baking one batch at a time, and preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Toast hazelnuts in a shallow baking pan in oven until skins split and nuts are pale golden, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven, wrap hazelnuts in a kitchen towel, and rub to remove loose skins. Cool nuts completely. Pulse nuts with granulated sugar in a food processor until finely chopped. ~Note: The first time I tried this step, I ended up burning the hazelnuts. Thinking they might give a bitter taste to the dough, I repeated this step, this time more carefully. The trick is to spread out the nuts and be vigilant. It took my oven around 8 minutes to deliver the appropriate state but yours might achieve this in 5 minutes.
3. Melt chocolate in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water or in top of a double boiler, stirring until smooth. Remove bowl from heat and set aside. ~Note: I warmed the chopped chocolates in the microwave in Medium for 10 minutes, stirring every 2-3 minutes.
4. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
5. Beat together butter and brown sugar in another bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in melted chocolate until combined. Add milk and vanilla, beating to incorporate. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Stir in nut mixture. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill dough until firm, 2 to 3 hours. ~Note: My stand mixer of the simplest type was immensely useful and worked quite well forming the batter. I guess, if you have strong arms, it will work fine to whisk up the dense and thick batter manually. Also, at the optimum moment I found my brown sugar has dried and hardened completely. I had to replace regular fine sugar and it worked fine. Didn’t much realize what I missed.
6. To form and bake the cookies, sift confectioner’s sugar into a bowl. Halve dough and chill 1 half, wrapped in plastic wrap. Roll remaining half into 1-inch balls and place them on a sheet of wax paper. Roll balls, 3 or 4 at a time, in confectioner’s sugar to coat generously and arrange 2 inches apart on lined baking sheets.
7. Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are puffed and cracked and edges feel dry (but centers are still slightly soft), 12 to 18 minutes total. Transfer cookies (still on parchment) to racks to cool completely.
8. Repeat with the remaining batter.
I normally prefer to make my snacking delights smaller than regular. Something that you can clean shove into your mouth. No biting, no cookie-dusts no tissues, no cleaning. An exception to the rule for these cookies though. It is such a pleasure to bite into the soft center of rich chocolate; I prefer to make these around the size of a Ritz cracker.
These will keep well at room temperature for 5 days if you layer them between sheets of parchment or wax paper, in an airtight container. If you have enough that requires storage that is. Mine were gone that very evening.
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