Hazelnut and Chocolate Cookies

Making cookies at home is a great pleasure, besides being really easy! The recipe that Virginia (from Sweet&Sour) offers us today, chocolate and hazelnut cookies with a touch of orange, is a guaranteed success. Go ahead and make them!

I think there is nothing as satisfying in baking as making cookies, at least for me. With cookies you hardly ever fail, practically everyone likes them and if you also dare to make them pretty, you are sure to be a hit.

That's what happens with these hazelnut and chocolate cookies flavored with orange that I made with the beautiful cookie stamps "all sesason" from Nordic Ware, they turn out divine. And just like the molds from this brand, these stamps are, in my opinion, the best, because they imprint the designs cleanly and sharply, they don't stick to the dough and they also have a look so rustic and vintage that I use them as decoration in the kitchen.

I made them with hazelnuts, flavored with orange and partially covered them with chocolate, so they are not excessively cloying, but they have a hint of the taste of the snacks from my childhood. Let's get to them since they are simple, and if you feel like it you can even make them with the little ones.

Birkmann cooling rack, Fleur de Ligne bowl and Chemex coffee maker

INGREDIENTS (for 24 cookies)

• 200gr butter at room temperature
• 180gr powdered sugar
• Zest of 1 orange
• 2 eggs "L"
• 400gr pastry flour
• 150gr hazelnut flour
• 1 tablespoon Orange extract (or whichever you prefer)
• ½ teaspoon Guérande Fleur de Sel
• Dark chocolate for melting

Cookie stamps "All Season" from Nordic Ware

PREPARATION

1. With the paddle attachment of the Kitchen Aid at medium speed, or with a wooden spoon, beat the butter together with the sugar and the zest of 1 orange until creamy.
2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition, not adding the second until the first is well incorporated into the dough.
3. Add the extract and beat again to incorporate.
4. Sift the flour and the Guérande Fleur de Sel and add them to the dough in 2 or 3 additions, beating just enough to incorporate.
5. Transfer the dough to the work surface and form balls weighing approximately 50gr each. Refrigerate the balls well covered for about half an hour.
6. Place the buyer non-stick baking tray* lined with baking paper. Place the cold little balls on the tray and flatten them slightly with your hand. Leave a distance of about 3-4 cm between balls, since the dough does not rise in the oven but it expands quite a bit when pressing with the stamp.
7. Lightly flour the Nordic Ware cookie stamp and the dough as well, removing excess flour in both cases with a brush. Press with the stamp until the dough appears on the sides. Remove the stamp. Repeat the operation with the rest of the balls.
8. Cut* each cookie with a cookie cutter slightly larger than the cookie design.
9. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
10. Preheat the oven to 200ºC top and bottom heat. Bake in the middle rack for about 10-12 minutes or until you see the edges of the base beginning to very lightly brown. The cookies should not brown, they should remain pale.
11. Once baked, let cool on the Birkmann cooling rack.
12. Once they are completely cool, melt the chocolate in a bain-marie and cover half of each cookie. In this process it is important to let the cookie drain the chocolate before letting it dry on the Birkmann cooling rack.

These cookies are ideal for an afternoon treat, to accompany coffee or tea at breakfast, and certainly for gifting. They are very aromatic due to the addition of orange and toasted hazelnut, and they keep well for at least 1 week in an airtight tin box.

Cookie stamps "All Season" Nordic Ware

Tips

• To make the hazelnut flour I recommend lightly toasting the hazelnuts before grinding them, until they release a fragrant nutty aroma. The cookies gain a lot.
• *Some prefer not to cut the cookies with a cutter, but to leave the sides as they result from the pressure, giving a less perfect but more rustic look. If you choose this, you should simply skip step 8.
• Besides using a regular non-stick tray, you can use a perforated tray and mat. Baking on them is faster and more even, thanks to the hot air penetrating the dough quickly, which allows you to achieve excellent results.