Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

Super simple flourless chocolate hazelnut cookies are made with just four ingredients are bursting with the flavor of your favorite chocolate hazelnut spread. This post was brought to you by the Turkish Hazelnut Promotion Group. I was paid for my time creating this recipe and writing this post, but all opinions expressed are my own. Be sure to enter the Falling for Hazelnuts sweepstakes for a chance to win $500.

If you only make one of my cookie recipes this holiday season, you should make these flourless chocolate hazelnut cookies.  I can’t get over how good they are – or how easy they are to make!

These thin cookies are crispy around the edges, soft and chewy in the middle, and freckled with crunchy bits of chopped hazelnuts throughout. Plus, these flourless chocolate hazelnut cookies only use four ingredients, so after you’ve made them once you’ll be able to make them again without the recipe. Which is definitely a good thing, since you’ll want to make them over and over again.

When I was brainstorming chocolate-hazelnut recipe ideas, it didn’t take me long to settle on making some sort of cookie. Deciding what type took much longer. Eventually, I settled on the idea of adapting a classic flourless peanut butter cookie recipe to use hazelnut spread.

Since hazelnut spread has a different texture than peanut butter, the original recipe required a little adapting. After some experimenting, I finally came up with a winner.

First, I reduced the sugar – hazelnut spreads are already sweet, so using the full amount was too much. Since I used less sugar, I needed to add volume back into the dough. That’s where finely chopped hazelnuts come in. They also give the dough a little more structure, plus they have the added benefit of adding crunch to the cookies and boosting their hazelnut flavor. Finally, I had to figure out how to keep them from melting and spreading too much in the oven. It turns out that 15 minutes in the refrigerator firmed the dough up and solved that problem nicely.

I tested this recipe with several chocolate-hazelnut spreads to ensure that the recipe would work with whichever you use. They were all delicious, but my favorite variation used chocolate hazelnut butter – they were slightly less sweet and have a more pronounced hazelnut flavor than the version I made with a more traditional spread. Look for a hazelnut butter with nuts listed as the first ingredient and less than 10 grams of sugar per serving for the best results.

For more delicious recipes using your favorite chocolate-hazelnut spread, be sure to visit the Hazelnuts from Turkey Facebook page. While you’re there, be sure to enter their “Falling for Hazelnuts” sweepstakes for a chance to win $500!

Are you looking to bake a variety of cookies? `Try: Whole Wheat S’MoresCookies // Eggnog Sugar Cookies // Pistachio Cardamom Cookies

Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

Yield: 12

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 7 minutes

Total Time: 27 minutes

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Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 scant cup chocolate hazelnut butter
• 1/2 cup hazelnuts, very finely chopped

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Line two baking sheets with a silicon mat or parchment.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg and sugar until pale and frothy. Mix in the chocolate hazelnut butter until fully incorporated. Stir in the nuts.
3. Refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 15 minutes.
4. Drop tablespoons of dough onto the baking sheets. Use a fork to gently press a crosshatch pattern onto the top of each cookie, slightly flattening it.
5. Bake 7-9 minutes, or until crisp around the edges, but still soft in the center. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before removing from the baking sheets.