Welcome to Day 8 of
The Twelve Days of Holiday Treats!
Once again, this year, from December 1st-12th I’ll post a new holiday treat recipe every day – inspiration for your holiday entertaining!
The recipes I’m sharing are small-er batch (perfect for this year when many of us will still be attending/ hosting smaller gatherings) – each recipe makes 1-dozen or a few more smaller-sized treats that are simple to prepare and that use everyday ingredients and equipment so hopefully you’ll be able to whip up any of these on a whim. Check out the treats from 2019 and 2020 at the bottom of this post too for more inspiration!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – chocolate and hazelnut might not be the most traditional holiday flavour combination but boy is it good (see: Chocolate Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies from a few days ago!).
Today’s recipe is a naturally gluten-free cookie filled with Nutella (or any other chocolate/ nut butter spread) you like) and comes together really quickly, only requires a handful of ingredients and gets better with time – what more could you want from a holiday cookie?
For the hazelnut meal, don’t worry about using the finer “flour” you might find – it’s made by removing the skins from the hazelnuts and makes a much finer “flour”. The rougher hazelnut “meal” (made by grinding the nuts with the skin on) is fine for this recipe and actually make a more interesting cookie, visually and texture-wise.
Chocolate Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies
Easy, naturally gluten-free hazelnut cookies sandwiched with chocolate hazelnut spreak and drizzled with chocolate.
Ingredients
for the cookies
- 100g (1 cup) hazelnut flour
- 100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
- 2 large egg whites
- icing sugar, for dusting
for the filling:
- approx. 3 tablespoons Nutella or other chocolate-hazelnut spread
for the chocolate drizzle:
- approx. 50g (1/4 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300˚F (150˚C). Line a baking tray with parchment paper and fit a 35cm (14-inch) piping bag with a plain tip (1cm/ 0.5inch in diameter).
- In a small bowl, whisk together the hazelnut flour and sugar.
In a separate metal bowl, use handheld electric beaters on medium speed to whip the egg whites to soft peaks, 2 to 3 minutes. The peaks will flop over when you remove the beaters from the bowl. - Add the dry ingredients to the egg white, mixing thoroughly with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. The mixture will be fairly stiff.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared piping bag, and pipe out circles of the mixture, about 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) in diameter. There may be a small point on top of each cookie. Simply wet the tip of your finger with a little water and smooth down any points.
- Using a fine-mesh sieve, dust the tops of the cookies with icing sugar.
Place the tray in the middle of the oven. Bake for 15-18 minutes, turning the tray from front to back halfway through the bake, until the cookies are just starting to crisp up around the edges. The cookies may crack on top and they will still be a little soft when you remove them from the oven. - Remove the cookies (still on the parchment) from the baking trays and let them cool completely on a wire rack.
- Flip half the cookies upside down and pair them with like-sized mates.
- Spoon or pipe about 1 teaspoon of Nutella onto half of the cookies and top them with their matching halves. Gently press down so the Nutella is visible between the cookies and just reaches the edge.
- Place the cookies on a parchment-covered tray.
- Melt the chocolate chips and drizzle over the cookies in a zig zag pattern. Allow the chocolate to harden.
Make the cookies:
Fill and decorate the cookies:
Notes
Store in an airtight container at room temperature. The cookies
will soften a little as they “age” – this is a good thing!
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Check out 2021’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Speculoos financiers
Day 2: Chocolate Dipped Orange Sugar Cookies
Day 3: Madeleines à la Clémentine
Day 4: Chocolate Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies
Day 5: Sunbutter and Jam Chocolate Cups
Day 6: Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Cookies
Day 7: Linzer Cookies
Day 8: Chocolate-Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies
Day 9: Choc-Mint Thumbprint Cookies
Day 10: Pailles (Puff Pastry and Jam Cookies)
Day 11: Strawberry Santa Hats
Day 12: Mulled Wine Jam
Check out 2020’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Rice Krispie Wreaths
Day 2: Cranberry Cheesecake Bars
Day 3: Peppermint Bark
Day 4: Orangettes
Day 5: Rocky Road Chocolate Crackle Slice
Day 6: Candy Cane Sugar Cookies
Day 7: Orange Pim’s
Day 8: Mendiants
Day 9: Chewy Chocolate Mint Crackle Cookies
Day 10: Apricot, Coconut and Cranberry “truffles”
Day 11: Chocolate, Cherry and Almond Brownies
Day 12: Peppermint Hot Chocolate
Check out 2019’s 12 Days of Holiday Cookies:
Day 1: Easy Three Ingredient Shortbread
Day 2: Jam Drops
Day 3: Chocolate Caramel Slice
Day 4: Melting Moments
Day 5: White Christmas
Day 6: Langues de Chat
Day 7: Chocolate Coconut Slice
Day 8: Cornflake Biscuits
Day 9: Rocky Road
Day 10: Honey Joys
Day 11: Rum Ball Truffles
Day 12: Giant Florentine Cookie (to share)
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Very nice…