nutella cookie sandwiches

biscotti farciti alla nutella

TOTAL TIME: 1 hour, 15 minutes

MAKES: Makes about 2 1/2 dozen sandwich cookies

Nutella, a smooth hazelnut and chocolate spread (a take on gianduja, really), is beloved by Italians and is available in supermarkets. In this dessert, by Karen DeMasco, the spread is used to both flavor the oatmeal cookies and as a filling. For more of Karen's delicious desserts look here.

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Ingredients

For the cookies:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter plus 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, very soft
1 cup rolled oats (preferably Quaker)
3/4 cup Nutella
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature (see Notes below)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 cup Demerara sugar (see Notes)

For the filling:

About 2 cups Nutella

Special equipment: parchment paper

Instructions

For the cookies: Heat oven to 350º. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large skillet, melt 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter over medium heat. Add oats and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant and lightly golden, about 5 minutes; transfer oats to a large metal bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine very soft butter, Nutella, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed, frequently scraping down the sides of bowl, until fluffy and well combined, 3 to 4 minutes. Add egg and beat to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. In two additions, add flour mixture to butter mixture, mixing on medium-high speed until well incorporated, then add oats and mix until dough comes together and oats are incorporated.

Lightly flour the palms of your hands. Scoop 1 level tablespoon dough, roll into a ball, place on a prepared baking sheet, then flatten to about 1/8-inch thick. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing cookies at least 1 inch apart. Sprinkle with Demerara sugar. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until the cookies are fragrant and lightly golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer cookies on parchment paper to wire racks to cool completely. (Cookies can be stored, unfilled, in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.)

To fill the cookies: Drop about 1 tablespoon Nutella over the flat sides of half of the cookies. Using an offset spatula or butter knife, gently spread the filling. Sandwich with remaining cookies, flat sides together.

Once filled, cookies are best same day, but can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Notes: Demerara is a natural brown sugar, an English version of turbinado sugar but with a slightly larger crystal size. When sprinkled on cookies and pie crusts, it adds sparkle and crunch. Turbinado is a good substitute while granulated sugar will work in a pinch.

Because some readers were having trouble with the cookie as originally written, we added one egg to the dough to provide more consistent results. Those who loved the recipe as originally written can simply omit the egg.

Recipe by Karen DeMasco

Photo by Nina Choi

November 2010

keywords:

cookies, hazelnut, karen demarco, christmas

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Comments [5] | Add your comment

This recipe does need a bit more liquid to allow the dough to hold together. Egg or water, both will work. I get raves about these yummy biscotti!
Posted: December 19, 2012 12:56 by julierichey
These came together nicely, but the tablespoon sized balls of dough yielded HUGE cookies for me. Next time, I'd probably use a half tablespoon just to make them more manageable. Since they're nice and crunchy, they tend to crumble when you bite into them so smaller would make more sense to me!

To those having trouble with crumbly dough, the addition of the egg works like a champ. I had no problem making the little balls.

Posted: December 05, 2011 02:11 by Hootzen
These cookies are amazing! My question is, when I make trhem, the dough doesn't come together at the end - it's very crumbly. When I pull them together into balls, it's fine. Am I doing something wrong?

Posted: September 10, 2011 10:59 by MaryK
These cookies were wonderful...the best mixture between salty and sweet, plus Nutella! They're really not too hard to make. making the little balls and mashing them down was a little time consuming.
Posted: January 05, 2011 11:19 by rpparisi
This light and flavorful cookie was the best I have had in years! This was by far the best gift any co-worker has given me. Thanks SR!!!
Posted: December 15, 2010 18:25 by ldevanaussi