Time To Get Cozy With This Hazelnut Cutout Cookie Recipe!

Hey Besties! We are full steam ahead into the fall and holiday baking season! And I’m excited to share your newest cutout cookie recipe that you’ve been asking for! This hazelnut cutout cookie recipe is basically like Nutella in cookie form! It’s crazy good and we even made some hazelnut royal icing to bring it all home! If you’re looking for something different for this fall and holiday season, this may just be your new fave! Curl up with a cup of coffee and one of these hazelnut cookies and you can thank me later! Let’s jump in!

Magical Hazelnut Cookie Ingredient

The first time I smelled this ingredient, I was hooked. The magic here is LorAnn’s Hazelnut Bakery Emulsion. It smells heavenly and blends perfectly with the chocolate in these cookies. Roaring fireplace and fuzzy blanket not included, but these cookies may transport you there mentally! No vanilla extract needed in this recipe because the hazelnut emulsion does all the heavy lifting and I’m so grateful for it!

A Word About COCOA POWDER

I’m not going to get all nerdy on this, but since baking is really a science, let’s touch on this. Dutch processed cocoa powder has a slightly higher pH and a much darker color. While sometimes you can use them interchangeably, there is a rule of thumb that I find helpful. When a recipe calls for baking soda, use natural cocoa powder. Conversely, when a recipe calls for baking powder, use Dutch processed cocoa powder. This has to do with the chemical reaction that is sometimes needed in recipes to give lift.

Following this rule, for our regular chocolate cutout cookie recipe and this one, we use Dutch processed cocoa for the best results. Dutch processed cocoa powder is not as readily available as regular cocoa powder. However, I always use the Ghirardelli brand Dutch processed cocoa powder and find it at Walmart. It’s what I have found to have the best flavor, at the best price.

Espresso Powder too?

You may not realize it but MANY chocolate baked goods contain espresso powder! It enhances the rich chocolate flavor, so we include this in our regular chocolate cutout cookies, but it makes even more sense in this hazelnut cutout cookie recipe! But I can promise you, the amount of caffeine in these cookies will not have anyone bouncing off the walls. Even being extremely sensitive to caffeine, I can eat these cookies without any issues! THIS is the espresso powder I use in my chocolate cookies and is also readily available at grocery stores. Can you omit the espresso powder if you’d like? Yes, you just won’t have as rich of a flavor without it.

What flavor icing do you pair with these?

I know you’ll ask, so let’s talk about it! We almost always use our regular, delicious vanilla royal icing with all flavors of our cookies. It pairs beautifully with every flavor and lets the cookie take center stage. However, I know that many of you like to flavor your icing as well! So, just for you, we’re flavoring our icing this time! While this hazelnut cutout cookie recipe is a beautiful blend of chocolate and hazelnut, the flavored icing really adds to it! So you’ll not only find the cookie recipe below, but also our hazelnut royal icing recipe!

Bring On The Hazelnut Cutout Cookie Recipe

Alright Besties, the wait is over! Like ALL of our cutout cookie recipes, there is NO chilling involved here. Just mix, cut, bake and enjoy plain or decorate! You can also rest assured that this is a no-spread recipe so your shaped will come out just like you want! From the moment we open our pantry to when the full batch is colling, is under 40 minutes. Cutout cookies have never been easier, Bestie, or more delish! I hope you love this hazelnut cutout cookie recipe as much as our family friends, taste testers and customers do!

The Hazelnut Cutout Cookie Recipe You Need This Season!

No chilling, no spreading and a beautiful blend of chocolate and hazelnut is what dreams are made of! Simple enough for kids to make, but delicious enough for everyone!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 8 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 24 cookies (depending on cookie size)

Ingredients

  

Hazelnut Cookies

• 1 cup (227g) Unsalted Butter Chilled, Cubed
• 1 cup (200g) Granulated White Sugar
• 1 Large Egg Chilled
• 1 Tbsp Hazelnut Baking Emulsion LorAnn Brand
• 1/2 cup (60g) Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder
• 1 tsp (5g) Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp (3g) Salt
• 3 cups (380g) All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp (1.8g) Espresso Powder

Hazelnut Royal Icing

• 5 Tbsp Meringue Powder I use Genie's Dream
• 1 Tbsp Light Corn Syrup
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 tsp Hazelnut Baking Emulsion LorAnn Brand
• 1 cup Water
• 2 lbs Powdered Sugar

Instructions

 

Hazelnut Cookies

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• We bake on our favorite perforated baking mats to eliminate any chance of spread, for even baking and pretty undersides of our cookies!
• Cream butter and sugar until smooth, about 2 minutes. No need to excessively cream as it can lead to cookie spread.
• Beat in hazelnut baking emulsion and egg, until combined.
• In a separate bowl, combine baking powder, salt, flour, cocoa powder and espresso powder. Add to wet ingredient mixing bowl a little at a time.
• Mix until thoroughly blended. Dough should be pulling away from the bowl.
• Chilling the dough is not necessary! I have tried many different ways of rolling out dough and always come back to the old-fashioned way; a sheet of wax paper that has been floured.
• I usually divide the dough into 3 chunks and roll out each onto a floured surface and cut. In my experience, this dough works best for cookies at 1/4" thick. I use my Joseph Joseph rolling pin which does the measuring for me – genius! If you prefer thicker cookies, you'll just want to adjust your baking time.
• Bake at 350 for 7-8 minutes, depending on size of cookie. I also suggest baking similar-sized cookies together.
• Cool cookies on cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to cooling rack.

Hazelnut Royal Icing

• Combine meringue powder, light corn syrup, vanilla extract, hazelnut emulsion and water in mixing bowl.
• Using a whisk, mix until ingredients are foamy. This is essentially reconstituting the egg whites in the meringue powder.
• Add the powdered sugar.
• Using your whisk, mix until powdered sugar is slightly incorporated (and won't fly everywhere)
• Beat for 5 minutes on medium-high
• Icing will thicken, whiten and will have peaks once ready (you want medium/stiff peaks)
• Your Royal Icing will now be ready to color and thin to your desired consistencies for decorating!

Notes

Cookie Consistency Notes:

The dough should be pulling away from the sides of the mixer. If dough seems too crumbly or dry, it has not come together yet. Mix for another minute.

If dough is not pulling away from the sides of the bowl, add more flour a Tablespoon at a time until it is.

For a stronger hazelnut flavor, you can use additional hazelnut emulsion, but you’ll want to add more flour one Tbsp at a time to compensate for the additional moisture.

Royal Icing Notes:

If you live in a humid home, you may want to reduce the water to 1/2 or 3/4 cup to start.

If your icing is not bright white (from the flavorings), add a touch of purple coloring to turn it white again.

Keyword Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies, Chocolate Hazelnut Sugar Cookies, Hazelnut Cutout Cookie Recipe, Nutella Cutout Cookies

These cookies don’t last long around here, and I hope you love them too! I’m so excited for the fall and holiday flavors of the season!

If you enjoyed this post all about this incredible no-chill hazelnut cutout cookie recipe, make sure you’ve subscribed to receive my weekly newsletters! Never miss out on a new recipe, technique, tutorial, product recommendation, out holiday gift guides and free printables! Happy Baking, Bestie!