If you’re a fan of hazelnut, chocolate, and cookies, you are going to love these hazelnut sandwich cookies. These are essentially butter cookies with ground hazelnuts and then SANDWICHED with a hazelnut ganache. There’s nothing like the combination of hazelnuts and chocolate for the holidays.
I had a lot of fun testing these little cookies. They were a slight challenge because I didn’t realize how oily the ground hazelnuts would make the cookies. I ended up having to play around with the flour and butter ratios to get a cookie that was the perfect balance of buttery and crumbly. I think y’all are really going to enjoy these.
Tips for amazing hazelnut sandwich cookies
Like most desserts, make sure your ingredients are at room temperature. Room temperature butter makes it more creamable, and you need that proper creaming to create air bubbles and create lift in the cookie. Room temperature eggs can more easily emulsify with the butter and sugar mixture after it has been creamed.
Make sure you cream the butter and sugar for at least two minutes to get an airy enough butter. When you’re done making the dough, make sure you chill it for at least two hours. Chilling gives the dough a chance for the flour to evenly absorb the moisture in the dough. It also hardens the butter and other ingredients, making the cookie less likely to spread in the oven.
Making ganache may sound intimidating, but it’s actually super easy. You just heat up some heavy cream and pour it over chopped chocolate. Just remember to not use chocolate chips! Those contain stabilizers and they don’t melt as well. Theis ganache has a slight twist, you’ll be adding in some homemade hazelnut butter. If you don’t want to make your own hazelnut butter, my best guess as to where you could buy it would be Whole Foods.
You could totally play around with these cookies. I kept the tops of the cookies bare, but feel free to drizzle some chocolate on top. The more chocolate the better!
Looking for other cookie recipes? These are perfect for the holidays!
- Ginger spice
- Chocolate hazelnut mandel bread
- Chocolate chip mandel bread
- Pistachio slice and bake
- Jam thumbprints
- Salted caramel pecan thumbprints
- Matcha ganache sandwich cookies
Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and finely ground
- 2 1/2 cups (313 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Ganache Filling
- 5 oz semi-sweet chocolate baking bars, roughly chopped*
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and ground to a paste (or 2 oz of hazelnut butter)
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Toast hazelnuts on a lined baking sheet at 350°F for 5 minutes. You can also toast them on a dry skillet on medium heat until they smell nutty. Stir occasionally while toasting.
- Grind in a food processor until fine. Be careful not to overprocess or else it will turn into hazelnut butter. Combine hazelnut crumbs with flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat on medium high until fully incorporated.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in two additions, combining fully between each addition. Dough may be slightly crumbly, keep running the mixer on low until it comes together. Place dough in fridge and chill for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut out 1 1/2 inch circles. You can lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin if the dough is sticking. Bake for 9 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Make the ganache for the sandwich filling
- Follow instructions for toasting hazelnuts above. This time, grind in a food processor until it’s a creamy paste. It may not be perfectly smooth.
- Place chopped chocolate in a heat safe bowl. Heat heavy cream in a small sauce pan on medium heat until it just starts to bubble. Pour over chopped chocolate. Let sit for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth. Add the hazelnut butter, vanilla, and salt. Put in the fridge to set until solid. When ready to use, let sit at room temperature for one hour. Scoop desired amount of filling between two cookies.