Nutella Filled Hazelnut Cookies

Nutella Filled Hazelnut Cookies

Makes approx. 30 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup ground hazelnuts (approx. a heaping cup of whole hazelnuts)
• 1 13oz. jar of nutella
• 1/2-1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions:

If you want to grind your hazelnuts yourself, toast them in a 350° F oven for about 10 minutes until fragrant. Rub them in a kitchen towel to loosen them from their skins. Grind the cooled, skinned hazelnuts in a food processor for a small, even grind, watching carefully so you don’t accidentally grind it into hazelnut butter. Some larger chunks of hazelnut are fine, but nothing bigger than popcorn kernel (and even that is a tooouch large.)

1. Preheat your oven to 350° F
2. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in vanilla.
3. Blend in flour and ground hazelnuts until combined.
4. Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough and split in half. Flatten both halves into thin discs.
5. Scoop a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of nutella and, with the help of another spoon, place it into the center of one of the discs. Do your best the keep the nutella in one small area. Form the disc into a cup shape around the mound of nutella. Top the cup shape with the other disc, gently pressing the edge of the other disc around the cup form to seal it shut. Lightly roll the whole mass in the palms of your hands to smooth it out into a ball. (See the series of images above as a visual aid of what I’m asking you to do here.)
6. Spacing cookies approx. an inch and a half apart on a cookie sheet, bake them in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until the cookies are set, but not browned. Meanwhile, place 1/2 cup of powdered sugar in a large zip-top bag. Let baked cookies cool on cookie sheet until…
7. When the cookies are no longer hot to the touch but still warm (around 10 minutes) take each cookie and roll it around in the powdered sugar in the bag until coated. Finish cooling cookie on a cooling rack.

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