Life-Changing Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten-Free Too!)

When food editor, Kat Odell tells us she has a cookie recipe we need to try, we grab a whisk without blinking. Lately, chocolate chip cookies with tahini have been the cookie du jour, but this little hazelnut chocolate chip version might just change all that...

Like most people in the world, I love chocolate chip cookies. And, I believe people fall into two camps: those who reach for the chewy, gooey center, partially unbaked kind (me!), and those who prefer a crisp, crunchy bite. These gluten-free cookies––which, let me add, could convince any wheat-eater that there’s actual flour in there––are for those who prefer the former.

Adding a nut butter as the cookie base, in this case hazelnuts, yields a super chewy cookie -- so chewy, in fact, that the nut butter mimics the chew that the gluten in wheat typically imparts.

I tried this recipe out with pretty much every nut that exists, and for me hazelnut was the most delicious. Other nuts, like macadamia, become too oily when blended into butter, and while they do yield a more neutral-tasting cookie, you’d need to add a tablespoon or so of tapioca starch to balance out the oiliness. So, if you make the below recipe and you find your batter to be too wet, you can add tapioca starch as a binder. I am confident that this recipe will remain in regular rotation because it is so damn delicious, and takes about 10 minutes to make!

Life-Changing Gluten-Free Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 20 cookies

Ingredients
1 cup hazelnut butter*
1 scant cup coconut palm sugar
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg
½ cup dark chocolate, chopped

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Combine first six ingredients in a bowl and mix until incorporated. Dough will be a soft/oily (much more so than regular chocolate chip cookie dough). Stir in chocolate chips.
Transfer to freezer for about 10-15 minutes to harder.
Bake for 6-8 minutes until outside of cookie is set beginning to brown, but inside is still soft. Transfer to rack to cool before eating (otherwise cookie will be too soft and break).

*Can’t find hazelnut butter? Make your own!
Start with raw hazelnuts, toast until golden, then, using a dish cloth, rub off the skins.
Transfer the nuts into a food processor, and blend until they turn into hazelnut butter. Scrape down sides of processor as needed. This process could take around 10 minutes, so don’t get impatient if your nuts start to look dry, and as though they will not turn to butter. They will! Just keep processing.

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