Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Cookies

I saw this recipe in an article about Giada in the January 2007 issue of Redbook. She’s one of my favorite chefs to watch on the Food Network, and I own several of her cookbooks. Before watching her show, I had never tried Nutella, a chocolate hazelnut spread. Giada uses it in a lot of her dessert recipes. Since I finally tried it (and love it!), my eyes light up anytime I see a recipe that calls for Nutella or hazelnuts and chocolate. These cookies are really yummy, and I definitely love the addition of the toffee chips. She mentions in the article that she freezes hers, then microwaves them. I put about half of the cookies I made in the freezer. I can’t wait to come back to them in a month or so and see if they still taste as great as they did right out of the oven.

Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Cookies

From Redbook January 2008

• 1/2 cup old-fashioned (not instant) oats
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 oz English toffee candy (such as Heath or Skor bar), finely chopped
• 1 cup hazelnuts, toasted, husked, and chopped
• 1 (12 oz) bag semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325° F. Line 2 large, heavy baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Finely chop oats in food processor. Transfer oats to a medium bowl. Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars in a large bowl until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add oat mixture and stir until just blended. Stir in toffee pieces, hazelnuts, and chocolate chips.
4. Drop dough onto baking sheets by rounded teaspoonfuls, 1 inch apart. Bake until cookies are golden, about 15 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Picky Apple Notes:

• I used the pre-chopped Heath toffee pieces you can find on the baking isle. I imagine chopping your own Skor or Heath bar would be delicious too since it would add more chocolate.
• I would definitely recommend using parchment paper, as recommended in the recipe. I just used some nonstick spray, but the cookies were difficult to get off the pan.
• I also did not finely chop the oats, but just threw them in as is. That seemed to work just fine.
• Lastly, the first batch I made thinned out a little more than I like, so I put the dough in the fridge for a while. That helped produce a thicker cookie.