Chocolate Hazelnut Crinkle Cookie

Lately, I have been buying zillions, yeah zillions (an overstatement of course!) of hazelnuts without any idea about what I was going to do with them. I am sure many of you can relate to that right? To that moment when you are out for grocery shopping and come across things that you do not really need and yet you still buy them! So, I have been browsing the net, looking for recipes here and there and I finally chanced upon one which featured in the The Daring Kitchen's November challenge (Twelve Days of Cookies). The recipe originally is from Epicurious

These cookies are cracked dry on the outside and little bit moist on the inside, they are deliciously yummy, I believe the hazelnuts made them even more tasty. Nevertheless I must say that next time I will definitely reduce the amount of sugar. In my opinion they were a bit too sweet, especially since they have that icing sugar coating. I'ld put the blame on my taste buds as I do not usually have sugar but my friends would agree too, they were sugary. Yet, that didn't stop the comings and goings from my bedroom to the kitchen every now and then! Yes they are that good!

I would suggest that you read through the recipe before trying it and you may find it helpful to read the note at the bottom as well.






Happy Baking!


Ingredients:

  • 2/3 cup of hazelnuts
  • 2 tbsp of granulated sugar
  • 6 oz (170g) of dark chocolate, finely chopped
  • 2¾ cups of all-purpose flour
  • 2 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 tsp of baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp of salt
  • 1 stick / ½ cup of unsalted butter, softened
  • 1½ cup of packed light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup whole milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 3/4 cup of confectionery / icing sugar

Equipment:
  • Oven
  • Whisk/ Hand Mixer
  • Measuring Cups
  • Measuring Spoons
  • Sieve
  • Kitchen cloth/towel to remove hazelnuts' skin
  • Greaseproof/ Wax Paper
  • Parchment Paper
Makes about 70 cookies.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170˚C/350˚F.

Put the hazelnuts in a shallow tray and toast for about 10 minutes (it took me around 6 minutes though) until the skin splits and are pale golden.

Turn off the oven and remove the tray. Put the hazelnuts in the towel and rub vigorously to remove the skin. 



Let the nuts cool completely, after which you will finely chop them with granulated sugar in a food processor.




Melt the chocolate over a saucepan/double boiler of simmering water.




Stir until the chocolate is smooth. Set the bowl aside, so as to cool the chocolate.




Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and the salt in a bowl. 





You should get something like this, a homogeneous flour mixture.




In another bowl, beat the butter and the sugar with a hand mixer at medium speed (a whisk is just hard work!) until creamy. Then add one (1) egg at a time, beating well after each addition.





Then add the melted chocolate. Continue mixing until the chocolate is well spread and mixed. Add the milk and the vanilla extract/essence. Beat to incorporate.




Add the flour mixture to that chocolatey batter. At this point, reduce the speed of the mixer to low.





When the flour mixture has been incorporated, add the nuts. Mix with a whisk. Cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate the mixture for atleast 4 hours.




Preheat oven to 170˚C/350˚F.

 Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift the confectionery sugar in a bowl. Halve the dough, chill one half and use the other one for rolling into 1-inch balls. Place them onto greaseproof/wax paper. Generously coat the balls with the icing sugar. 

Transfer to baking sheets leaving 2-inch space in between the balls.

Bake for 12 to 18 minutes, switching positions of baking sheets halfway through baking, until the cookies have cracked and are dry on the outside but with slightly soft centers. 

Transfer to racks to allow cooling!

While you are baking the first batch you can roll balls with the other half and proceed in the same manner. Or you can always keep it for baking another day. 




Drumrolls! 



Happy Eating!


Note:
  • As I have already mentioned, the amount of sugar according to me is just too much for this recipe, you might want to try the original recipe or I suggest that you reduce it to 1 cup. Your choice, really!
  • Another thing, that the original recipe doesn't mention is that to sift the flour. I didn't do it, but I realised that it would have been better if I did.
  • Other than that, by the time I was adding the chocolate to the creamy butter-sugar mixture, part of it had solidified.
  • You might find it easier to put the icing sugar in a bowl. Stupidly I put it on a plate and the coating was not that easy when it was using up.
  • Quoted from the joy of baking's chocolate crinkle cookie, it is better to chill overnight (you can leave it for a couple of days). And truly, the batter didn't soften quickly, which made it much easier to roll the balls.
  • Lastly, my cookies do not have that generous white icing sugar coat because I did a test-run first, and found them sweet, so I decided to cut down on the icing sugar. 


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