My house is a real disaster zone right now.  I am up to my eyeballs in boxes, packing tape, and bubble wrap.  I have about three quarters of the house packed so far, and can’t wait to be done.  In an effort to keep sane, I thought I would take a short break and make some cookies.  I was in the mood for something dark and chocolatey.  When Oh! Nuts sent me those dried pineapple bits and sliced guava I used for my last recipe, they had also sent a huge bag of hazelnuts.  Dark chocolate and hazelnuts sounded like a great match!

I based this recipe off my Chocolate Ginger Cookies recipe.  I liked how soft and chewy they were and I liked the chocolate and spice combo.  But I didn’t want a ginger flavor, so I went for nutmeg this time around and I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa for a darker, deeper flavor.

The hazelnuts that Oh! Nuts sent were already skinned, so that saved me a lot of time.  They taste delicious right out of the bag, but I wanted to toast them a bit in the oven before adding them to the cookies.  It gave them a more woodsy flavor, which I thought would go nicely with the spices I was using.  I just laid them out on a lined cookie pan and toasted them for 10 minutes at 350ºF.

If you are looking for a different nuts, seeds, or nut butters, Oh! Nuts has a wide variety.  Just go to 

This picture just makes me want to dig in right now and eat the dough right out of the bowl.  

Wow!  I think I may like nutmeg more in my cookies than ginger.  It really brought the dark chocolate and toasted hazelnuts to a new level.  I love all the textures too, the chewiness of the cookies themselves, the gooeyness of the dark chocolate chips, the crunchiness of the hazelnuts. They were a hit with my daughter and husband.  I had to freeze some before we ate them all.  We are going to need snacks on moving day.

Spiced Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

by The Sweet Chick

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Keywords: bake dessert snack dark chocolate dark chocolate chips hazelnut nutmeg cookie American fall winter

Ingredients (36 cookies)

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1/4 cup dark molasses
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped, toasted hazelnuts

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375º F.

In a stand mixer, place the flour, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, cocoa and sugar. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes.

Then add the butter, molasses, egg, and milk. Mix on low until well blended.

Next add oats, chocolate chips, and hazelnuts. Mix on low until all incorporated.

With a cookie scoop measure out dough and place on greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake 8-10 minutes at 375º F ( I found that 8 minutes was enough time to keep the cookies soft and chewy with a slight crispiness on the outside, but everyone’s oven is different).

Remove from the oven and place on cooling racks until completely cooled.

Grab a glass of cold milk or a mug of coffee and a couple of cookies and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Oh! Nuts did provide me with some of the products used to make this recipe, but I was under no obligation to develop a recipe for them nor provide a favorable review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.