These are not your grandma’s chocolate chip cookies—these are A Brown Table and “Season” cookbook author Nik Sharma’s fantastic spicy hazelnut chocolate chip cookies. Ground hazelnut meal is intensified with a little hazelnut extract (but you can use vanilla if you prefer and these will still be amazing), and we all know how hazelnut marries beautifully with bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped so it speckles the cookies and you get variously sized pools and chunks of gooey chocolate goodness. The warmth of ginger and a spicy kick from freshly ground black pepper take these over the top, and keep you coming back for more. Double the pepper if you want even more zing.

For more worthy additions to you holiday cookie tray, check out this Cornflake Macaroons with Chocolate Drizzle recipe and this Butterscotch Potato Chip Cookies recipe. Our Guide to Essential Baking Tools will help you get equipped for a serious cookie making session. from: Season by Nik Sharma

  • Yields: 12 cookies
  • Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients (11)

  • 2 cups hazelnut meal or flour
  • 1 cup packed jaggery or muscovado sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon hazelnut extract or vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate (70% cacao)
  • 1/3 cup chopped crystallized ginger

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the hazelnut meal, jaggery, baking powder, baking soda, black pepper, and salt. Add the egg, melted butter, hazelnut extract (or vanilla extract), chocolate, and ginger and stir with a large wooden spoon until the dough comes together.
  2. Grease your hands with a little oil to prevent the dough from sticking. Divide the dough into twelve equal parts and shape them into balls. Flatten them into 2-inch rounds. Place the rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Wrap the entire baking sheet tightly in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for at least 10 minutes, and preferably 2 hours.
  3. To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a second baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the baking sheet from the freezer and put half the rounds of dough on the second sheet. Spread out the rounds on both baking sheets and refrigerate one of them. Bake one batch of cookies at a time until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
  4. Cool completely on wire racks. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

From Season by Nik Sharma (Chronicle Books, 2018).