Chocolate cookies have always been my happy cookie type. So this was no surprise to me that I was hungry for a creative good chocolate cookie.
Having decided that chocolate was going to be my feature flavor, what do I put with it? I love the taste of oranges in the summer. Doing research and reading that chocolate and oranges go well together, it was a match. It only seems fitting that a nut joins the party in the making of this cookie. Of course, walnuts are always a crowd-pleaser, but I wanted something different and not the same old same old type of nut.
Hazelnuts are a nut that I googled for more information. I found a website (Medical News Today) that gives the eight benefits of eating hazelnut. The one advantage that I choose to zero in on was reducing weight gain. I love cookies way too much.
Chocolate Orange with Hazelnuts Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup All purpose flour 210 g
- ¾ cup Unsweetened cocoa powder 63 g
- ½ tsp Baking soda 3 g
- ¼ tsp Baking powder 1 g
- 12 TBSP Butter unsalted 1 ½ sticks softened
- ½ cup Sugar white 99 g
- 1 cup Light brown sugar 213 g
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 TBSP Orange juice fresh 1 orange
- 2 TBSP Orange zest 1 orange
- 1 cup Hazelnuts plus more for topping
- 2 Eggs
- ¼ tsp Kosher Salt
Instructions
- Zest 1 orange into a bowl and set aside. Cut the orange in half and juice each half into a separate bowl and set it aside. Weigh or measure into a medium bowl the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder, then run a whisk through to blend. Set this bowl aside. In a small bowl, weigh or measure your white and light brown sugars and set this bowl aside.
- In a stand or a handheld mixer and blend the butter and sugars for about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and add orange juice, orange zest, vanilla extract, and incorporate. Next, add one egg at a time and blend till smooth.
- Turn the mixer down to low and gradually add the flour mixture to the bowl till all the flour is blended in. Stop the mixer and add the hazelnuts and turn the mixer back on for about 30 seconds or so to get the hazelnuts mixed into the batter. Cover and put into the refrigerator for 30 to 45 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 350° and line 2 cookie pans with parchment paper. (I have not cooked these cookies with silicone mats, so not sure how they will turn out.) I use an OXO Good Grips Cookie Scoop Small because I like small cookies that are easy to handle, but you can make bigger ones but add a minute or two to the baking time. I add a few hazelnuts to the top and press in slightly.
- Put into the oven and bake for 12 to 14 minutes. Watch for them to start to crack on the top just a little then pull them out. Leave them on the pan for a minute or two before moving them to the cooling rack.
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