Chocolate, hazelnut and caramel cookies
“These cookies are such a joy to make and eat – and the best part is the recipe is outrageously easy. The flavour combination of chocolate, hazelnuts and, to top it off, gooey caramel is by far my favourite. Make sure you add that pinch of salt as it heightens the taste of these ingredients,” writes Justine Schofield in her latest cookbook Simple Every Day.
Makes: 30
Ingredients:
- 1 egg
- 230 g brown sugar
- 80 g butter, melted and cooled
- 50 g (¹⁄³ cup) dark chocolate chips
- 70 g hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
- pinch of salt flakes
- 200 g plain flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 100 g (¹⁄³ cup) soft caramels, cut in half (I use Werther’s Original Soft Caramels)
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 190°C. Grease and line three baking trays with baking paper.
2. Combine the egg, sugar and butter in a bowl and mix well. Add the chocolate chips, hazelnuts and salt and mix well. Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and stir until the mixture comes together to form a dough. Roll the dough into a cylinder, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours until firm.
3. Using wet hands and 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie, roll the dough into balls. Make an indentation in each ball and add a piece of soft caramel, then roll again to encase the caramel in the dough. Place the cookies on the prepared trays, allowing 5 cm between each one as they will spread. Bake for 15 minutes until the edges have coloured. For crisp cookies, cool on the trays; for chewy cookies, lift the cookies and baking paper off the trays and cool on the bench. Once the cookies have cooled completely, they can be stored in a jar or airtight container for 2–3 days.
Tip: The cookie dough can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored for up to 3 months in the freezer.
Recipe courtesy of Simple Every Day by Justine Schofield (Plum, $39.99).