Outrageous Chocolate (Hazelnut) Cookies

I was looking for a chocolate cookie to make, and the choices are just so overwhelming that I didn’t know what to pick. I certainly wanted something with lots of chocolate and not a lot of flour, so that they would be fudgy and decadent. My husband found the recipe for these cookies and the picture looked great so I decided to make them.

I thought about it, thinking of a way to mix it up a little bit. I don’t always have semisweet chocolate on hand. I typically use bittersweet chocolate as my default, use-in-everything chocolate. It adds a really rich flavor. I remembered that I had bought some Gianduja, hazelnut chocolate, at the fancy Italian market in Seattle. It’s really milk chocolate, but I figured it would be so, so good in these.

The Gianduja is really a soft chocolate, so it melted really easily! The dough for these cookies smelled divine. I baked them up and they had a nice crackly, wrinkly top. The hazelnut flavor in these was great, and something that you just can’t recreate with and extract. These maybe aren’t the most beautiful cookies I’ve ever made, but the flavor couldn’t be beat.

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped

4 tablespoons butter

2/3 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

12 ounces chocolate chips/chunks

 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Combine chopped chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30-second increments, stirring between each, until almost melted; do not overheat. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a large mixer bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla on high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; beat in melted chocolate. Mix in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chunks/chips.

Drop tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake until cookies are shiny and crackly yet soft in centers, about 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Martha Stewart