Chocolate Hazelnut Tassies

If you have followed my blog for a long time, you will know that I adore hazelnuts and I love making cookies in mini muffin cups. They look so perfect, and I think hazelnut is one of the best flavors out there. I hadn’t made anything with Nutella recently, and it was time to do so. I had taken a photograph of this recipe in a magazine, which typically means I will forget about it. This time, I wrote up the recipe right away, so it’s been waiting to be made.

I halved this recipe. The quantities given here are the original, and said it made about seven dozen cookies. These cookies are small but that is still a lot of cookies! I ended up making two dozen with the half recipe. I did have some dough left over, but two dozen was plenty. I didn’t change anything else otherwise, but I didn’t have hazelnuts to use as a garnish. They really didn’t need anything extra.

Since you shape the cookies and roll them in sugar, I was able to use my tart tamper to spread the dough up the sides of the cup. After baking, I reshaped the cookies with the tart tamper dipped in sugar. It worked great. I was afraid the cookies would be brittle, but they were fine! For the filling, I think I could have added slightly more liqueur, as the filling was a challenge to pipe. These cookies are SO GOOD. I don’t know how you could beat the fantastic flavor of Nutella, but in this tassie is the best.

Chocolate Hazelnut Tassies
2/3 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup Nutella
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
Sugar

¾ cup Nutella
3 ounces cream cheese
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 teaspoons hazelnut liqueur

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Have several (4 dozen+) mini muffin cups ready.

In a large mixer bowl beat the butter and Nutella until smooth. Add the sugar, baking powder, and salt and stir on medium to incorporate. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, mixing until the dough comes together.

Shape the dough into 48-72 balls and roll in sugar. Place each ball into a mini muffin cup and press into the bottom and up the sides of the mini muffin cups.

Bake for 8-9 minutes, until firm. Reshape with a teaspoon if necessary. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan.

Make the filling: in a large mixer bowl, beat the Nutella, cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until light. Gradually add the powdered sugar and then enough hazelnut liqueur to reach piping consistency. Place the filling in a piping bag and fill each cookie cup.

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookies