Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies with Espresso Salt

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Chocolate hazelnut cookies are elevated with a sprinkling of flavorful espresso salt. This post is brought to you by SaltWorks®.

The holidays are steeped in tradition, from whether we put tiny villages on our fireplace mantles to the recipes we serve at family gatherings. I always look forward to the buckeye candies my friend makes, and my family has taken to driving around to look at the city holiday lights just like I did growing up.

Because we live so far away from the rest of our family, I keep an eye open for new traditions we can incorporate into our holiday. For me, that includes baking a new cookie each year.

While I love the standard spritz cookies and cheerful gingerbread men, I’m always looking out for something that will make a cookie “my” cookie, the cookie that will stay with me for the rest of my baking days.

I might have found it with this year’s cookie, y’all.

If you’re a Nutella fan these cookies might seem like a no-brainer to you. Hazelnuts? Check. Chocolate? Check. But is that enough to elevate a cookie and make it a mainstay of the season?

Enter the salt.

Not just any salt – these cookies are sprinkled with Fusion® Espresso Brava Sea Salt, giving you just the tiniest hit of coffee flavor that rounds out these cookies in a way you didn’t know was needed.

I have to admit, I didn’t know much about all the different varieties of salt. Sure, I’ve used Himalayan pink salt, chunky salt harvested from Galveston Bay, and the mainstay kosher salt. But I didn’t really realize how much of a difference salts can make, especially flavored ones.

SaltWorks sent me a box of their high-quality salts to try, and I couldn’t believe how just a small amount of the salt made every recipe I tried it in better. I’m hooked on their salts now, and I keep trying to plan my meals with the flavors in mind.

Because the products from SaltWorks are unprocessed and all-natural, you only need a little bit to make a big difference in your recipes. I love that the flavored salts are naturally infused, making for a pure product that is full of flavor, not additives.

The Espresso Brava salt on top of these cookies gives a salty-sweet hit of satisfaction. If you’re powering through the holidays like I am, you’ll need something special to get you through each day. Why not have it be these cookies?

Reminiscent of pecan sandies, these hazelnut-studded cookies are topped with chocolate ganache before being finished with espresso salt. If you can’t get your hands on espresso salt, try it with large-flake sea salt.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies with Espresso Salt

Chocolate hazelnut cookies are elevated with a sprinkling of espresso salt.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Course General

Cuisine American

Servings 24

Calories 138 kcal

Ingredients

  

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• 1 cup whole hazelnuts
• ½ cup salted butter, softened
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 large egg
• 4 ounces chopped chocolate
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Espresso Brava Sea Salt

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Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• If your hazelnuts have skins, toast them in a skillet over medium heat, shaking gently. The skins will slip off. Let cool before processing.
• Pulse nuts in a food processor until nuts are about pea-sized.
• Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy, then mix in vanilla and egg. Stir in flour and hazelnuts.
• Scoop dough out by the tablespoon onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Gently press down slightly on each cookie. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
• Melt chocolate and butter together in a small saucepan or in a microwave, whisking to thoroughly combine.
• Top each cookie with a spoonful of chocolate. Sprinkle with a pinch of Espresso Brava Sea Salt.
• Let cookies cool, and if desired, put in the refrigerator to firm up chocolate. Store in a covered container.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 cookieCalories: 138 kcalCarbohydrates: 11 gProtein: 2 gFat: 10 gSaturated Fat: 4 gCholesterol: 22 mgSodium: 70 mgFiber: 1 gSugar: 6 g

Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate based on online calculators. Any nutritional information found on Stetted should be used as a general guideline only.

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More cookie recipes you might like:

• Blueberry White Chocolate Cookies – Stetted
• Coconut Sugar Cookies – Dessert for Two
• Lemon Crinkle Cookies – Bluebonnet Baker
• Mango Madeleines – Stetted
• Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies – My Baking Addiction

Disclaimer: I received a sample of products from SaltWorks for the purpose of review, and was compensated for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.