Double Chocolate Cookies with Hazelnuts

Double chocolate cookies with hazelnuts are always a popular cookie, but can be enjoyed any time of the year. The cookies are soft inside with chewy edges, and filled with white chocolate chips and chopped nuts.

I have to hand it to my mum. She is a woman of great resilience and patience. Growing up, I was known to playfully terrorize my mum on a regular basis. While I occasionally jumped out from around corners with a loud "Boo!" or tickled the back of her neck with my finger, my favorite prank involved a rubber lizard...in her bed...when she least expected it. She always delighted me with a loud scream and a 10-foot leap out of bed, but would never get mad at me. She always laughed...always. As I said, resilience and patience are some of her strengths, along with enough willpower to stop her from strangling her only child.

My mum was not even immune to my teasing around the holidays. She is a stickler for honoring the holidays only once the calendar flips to December first, a tradition which I now carry on in my own home. She insisted that Christmas carols were not to be sung before December though, as playful as I was (I prefer that description to "bratty"), I would sing or hum a few bars of my favorite Christmas tunes before the holidays hit, which was always met with a stern look and gentle reprimand. Every year on the morning of December first, I would wake her up with a rousing rendition of Jingle Bells or Winter Wonderland. To this day, I call her every year to serenade her with the first carol of the season. I think it is something we both look forward to as a way to honor the season and probably something she prefers over rubber lizards.

December is always a time to pull the spices out of the cupboards and get serious about baking holiday cookies, fudge, and candy. Some of our favorites are Chocolate & Peppermint Bark Cookies, Louisiana Pecan & Butterscotch Balls, and Pine Nut, Caramel & Sea Salt Shortbread Bars. The cookies I am posting today are rich with two kinds of chocolate, ground ginger and nutmeg, and hazelnuts. They are perfect treats to bring to a cookie swap, but be sure to save some for yourselves.

The double chocolate cookies:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set the oven racks at the lowest and middle settings.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, unsweetened cocoa, ground ginger, freshly ground nutmeg, baking soda, and salt.

Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the flour mixture until just combined.

Stir in coarsely chopped white chocolate and chopped hazelnuts.

Using 2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie, drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 3 inches apart.

Bake until the cookies are set around the edges and still slightly soft in the middle, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking.

Other chocolate cookies:

Cookin' Canuck's Chocolate & Peppermint Bark Cookies
Cookin' Canuck's Triple Chocolate Mint Cookies
Brown Eyed Baker's Chocolate-Pistachio Biscotti
Picky Palate's Oreo Truffle Surprise Cookies
Barbara Bakes' Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Chocolate Ginger Cookies with White Chocolate & Hazelnuts

1 cup (16 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
⅔ cup (packed) brown sugar
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
1 ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
⅛ teaspoon salt
4 oz. white chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup chopped hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set the oven racks at the lowest and middle settings.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, unsweetened cocoa, ground ginger, freshly ground nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the flour mixture until just combined.

Stir in coarsely chopped white chocolate and chopped hazelnuts.

Using 2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie, drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 3 inches apart. Bake until the cookies are set around the edges and still slightly soft in the middle, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking.

Makes approximately 40 cookies.

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