Styling and Photography by Shoshi Surkis

These cookies take some time to prepare, but they’re well worth the effort. You can sub the hazelnuts with almonds or any other roasted nut you like.

YIELDS 20 MEDIUM OR 10 LARGE COOKIES

• ⅝ cup + ½ Tbsp butter or margarine, softened
• 1⅓ cups light brown sugar or demerara sugar
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• ¼ tsp kosher salt
• 1 egg
• 1¾ cups + 1 Tbsp flour
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• 7 oz (200 g) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (not chocolate chips)

Filling

• 1½ cups roasted hazelnuts
• 4 Tbsp oil
• 3½ oz (100 g) white or dark chocolate, melted

Garnish

• roasted hazelnuts, halved
• sea salt

To prepare the filling, process the hazelnuts in a food processor for a few minutes, until you have a paste-like nut butter. Add oil and continue processing for another minute. Pour melted chocolate into the food processor. Process for another few seconds until the mixture is smooth.

Pour the mixture into a silicon baking mold with 1¹⁄₂-inch (3–4-cm) depressions or into an ice cube tray and freeze for three hours, then release from molds.

To prepare the dough, mix all ingredients into a soft dough and refrigerate for 1–2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. For medium cookies, divide the dough into 20 pieces; for large ones, divide it into 10. Flatten each piece of dough into a circle. Put a frozen hazelnut butter circle on top and roll it into a ball.

For perfectly round cookies, place the cookie balls inside metal cookie cutters or in a muffin pan and bake for about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the halved hazelnuts and salt. Return to the oven for another 8–12 minutes (depending on the size of the cookies), until they begin to brown and get crispy on the edges but are still a bit soft inside.

Cool and store at room temperature for up to four days. These cookies can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Tip: To save time, the hazelnut butter can be made and frozen up to 3 months in advance.

(Originally featured in Family Table, Issue 882)