Spicy Hazelnut and Chocolate Cookies

A good dose of hazelnuts is never too bad I suppose. Those gorgeous golden chickpea twins are not just so damn addictive in flavor but also a good source of energy. In my opinion, both hazelnut and chocolate are simply irresistible and their combination is deathly. So a friend visited Turkey last month and got me a whole lot of Turkish hazelnuts. I almost have kgs of these hazelnuts loaded in shelves in my kitchen and every time I look at them, well, I almost have goosebumps thinking of all the splendid recipes I can make out of them. Hazelnuts are easy to work around because they have a subtle flavor and the crunch is indefectible, but only if you buy hazelnuts which are without the skin because the skin peeling process tends to get a little tedious testing your impatience while working on a recipe.

The best part is here in India you mostly get peeled hazelnuts and the Turkish hazelnuts were the same as well. I must admit, they are a weakness while prepping up in the kitchen, I always find my hand slipping away into the packet and a whole lot of hazelnuts getting wiped out only to land in my tummy. Don’t you all agree, they a beast of flavor?

Since life has pretty much been in lockdown mode and I was falling short of some cookies, I decided to use them first to dish out some sumptuous cookies. So one of those afternoons, while being glued to my favorite series on Netflix, I decided to pause for a while and give serious thought to what kind of cookie I wanted to bake. I always like combining flavors, nutty+spicy+sour+crunchy. etc. and this time I wanted to go a little overboard. Most of us, who have tried the hazelnut and oregano pasta know how the flavors merge perfectly.  Almost at that moment, a visual of the hazelnut and oregano pasta popped up in my head and hell, yeah, I had found my supreme inspiration for the cookie.

As I headed towards my kitchen, I happened to go off balance and banged myself against the wall, my hand thereby landing on a glass pot which fell off on the floor being lucky enough not to break. A look at that, and woah! God just sent me my second inspiration for the cookie. It was a pot full of chili flakes and I thought why not combine those gorgeous looking red flakes with oregano? Within seconds of putting the pot of chili flakes on the counter, I looked back at the kitchen rack and saw my favorite little thing which I happen to dose on without any feeling of guilt every time I enter the kitchen. There was my favorite jar of homemade Nutella that I made three days back and I knew I had to use this as an integral part of this cookie.

A little of that soul searching in and around the kitchen and all my ingredients were ready on the counter – all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, Nutella, grounded hazelnut, brown sugar, butter, a mix of oregano and chili flakes, salt, and baking powder.

Feel free to use brown sugar and Nutella as you want to. I like strong flavors and not much sweetness. I wanted to have a strong flavor of hazelnut and chocolate in the recipe so I decided to ignore the sugar a bit. What you will get here is a dense yet securely solid flavor of a cookie. Be sure you don’t add more of the butter than listed in the ingredients because you already have a good quantity of that in the hazelnuts and the Nutella.

Also, you don’t need to keep the dough in the refrigerator as you will notice you don’t really get a very soft dough here. And so, just be ready to get your favorite shape out and bake them on the go!

You can keep these cookies in an airtight container for up to a period of 7 days. No need to refrigerate it. Buzz me when you make them and tell me the experience!

Happy baking and happy quarantine to you! Stay safe and stay indoors! Love!

 

RECIPE:

An absolutely tasteful composite of hazelnut, Nutella, herbs and chili, this cookie is just what you need when you want to enjoy your evening tea or coffee with something strong in flavor. Indulge in it after a hard tiring day and watch how it ups your endorphins and helps you relax.

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tbsp Nutella

1 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp grounded hazelnut

1 tbsp unsalted butter

5 tbsp brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1-1/2 tsp oregano and chili flakes mix

 

Method:

  • Ground the hazelnuts. Take the dried oregano and chili flakes and mix them together.
  • Sieve the all-purpose flour in a bowl. Now add the Nutella to it.
  • Add all the ingredients one by one and mix well.
  • Make sure you knead the dough well. Within a few minutes, it will start taking shape. You don’t need to add any warm water to bind the dough in this recipe.
  • When the dough comes together, form small balls out of it in your palm and keep them aside.

  • Flatten each with the help of your palm or a bowl.
  • Preheat the oven on 170 C for 5 minutes. Bake the cookies at 170 C for 15-16 minutes.
  • Cool them off on a wire rack and enjoy!