By Alison Roman
- Total Time
- 3½ hours, including chilling
- Rating
- 4(284)
- Notes
- Read community notes
These are a classic slice-and-bake cookie, ripe for improvisation. Not into hazelnuts? Pistachios, almonds, even chocolate chunks are great here. Don't worry too much about getting the perfect cylindrical log; the dough should even out most imperfections as it bakes.
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Ingredients
Yield:About 5 dozen cookies
- 2½cups/363 grams all-purpose flour
- ¾cup/75 grams cocoa powder
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- 1teaspoon kosher salt
- 1½cups/341 grams (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1¼cups/250 grams granulated sugar
- 2large eggs
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1cup/133 grams chopped, toasted hazelnuts
- Egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water)
- About ½ cup/120 grams coarse sugar, for rolling
- Flaky salt, preferably Maldon, for sprinkling
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (60 servings)
106 calories; 6 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 12 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 1 gram protein; 54 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
Step
2
In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar on medium-high until the mixture is superlight, fluffy and pale, about 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add in the eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla extract, and beat until everything is well combined, about 2 minutes.
Step
3
Add dry ingredients all at once, and mix on low until almost incorporated. Add hazelnuts, and continue to mix until just fully incorporated.
Step
4
Scrape dough out of mixer, and divide it into 2 pieces onto cling wrap. Wrap each piece in cling wrap and roll them into logs about 1½ to 2 inches in diameter, and 12 inches long.
Step
5
Refrigerate the logs at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days.
Step
6
Heat oven to 325 degrees.
Step
7
Brush the outside of each log of dough with egg wash. Sprinkle sanding sugar (Demerara or regular granulated sugar also work here) onto a piece of parchment paper, and roll the logs in it. Slice log crosswise into ¼-inch-thick slices.
Step
8
Place dough slices on parchment-lined baking sheets 1 inch apart, and sprinkle with flaky salt. Bake until the edges are just set and cookies are baked through (difficult to tell with chocolate cookies, but the center should feel set when pressed gently), 12 to 15 minutes.
Ratings
4
out of 5
284
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Cooking Notes
Anne
Wonderful cookies, easy and just special enough. I double the recipe and freeze the extra logs for unexpected company. Consider this one change: the egg wash always looks gloppy to me so I skip it: just roll the logs directly into the sanding sugar. E voila.
isobel
The raw dough was super- messy and extremely difficult to form into rolls. But ... after friends who are restaurant professionals claimed they were "the best cookies ever eaten," I decided to give it another go. After mixing I'll refrigerate the dough until it become firmer, then shape the rolls and continue recipe as written.
Ari
Delicious! Used silpats instead of parchment paper, and the crust of the cookie tended to stick more if I wasn’t careful in removing them to cool. I’ll definitely make these again and definitely try parchment next time.
Hilary in Laramie
Perfect! I increased the cocoa powder to 1c and reduced the sugar to 1c. What a beautiful cookie.
jeaninmpls
These cookies are delicious and easy. A nice chocolate addition to the holiday platter. Next time I will divide the dough into three and roll the logs in the cling film to get the desired one and a half inch consistent width. The cookies do spread out so keeping the logs as narrow as possible is important. Be liberal with the Maldon salt and definitely skip the egg - completely unnecessary. sugar adheres easily to the cooled dough.
Alinda
Definitely recommend this short cut
YS
The cookies I crave when I want an intense, but not too sweet chocolate fix. I skip the rolling in sugar altogether and just sprinkle the tops of the cookies with a mix of coarse sugar and flaky salt.Halving the recipe yields about two cookie sheets worth.
John Ewan
When Stephanie makes these I melt. She substitutes Pistachios instead of Hazelnuts - marvelous.
isobel
Made as directed. A discerning friend in the food industry said they were the best cookies he'd ever tasted. Thank you for the recipe.
Mara
Added about 1/4 cup cocoa nibs with hazelnuts
stel
SO amazing and heavenly, i would suggest only halving some of the hazelnuts and chopping the rest
Stéphanie
No need for the egg wash; otherwise, I made as indicated, with a mix of pistachio and hazelnuts. Very nice little cookie, not overly sweet.
Clare Kleinedler
Loved these. These were my "grown-up" contribution to the rest of my Christmas baking (Christmas Crack, Eggnog Cookies, Cinnamon Muffins). These cookies have the perfect amount of sweetness with a deep, cocoa flavor - perfect to have with an espresso. Followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfectly.
Jules
I used pecans, yum!
julie
These cookies are fantastic!! Not sure what issues others have, but I followed the recipe exactly and they’re great. Super chocolatey and nutty. They’re a shortbread texture, so don’t expect them to be gooey or soft, but they’re really delectable!
Tracy
These were delicious and beautiful cookies. I could not find hazelnuts so I used walnuts which worked well. I baked them in two batches and forgot the salt for the second batch. They were not quite as good (my fault entirely), but of course everyone ate them anyway! These are going into my regular cookie repertoire.
Suzanne
Came out dry and flavorless, not sure what happened but definitely did not have the same experience as other bakers.
Belinda
These do look good and fairly simple to make, but 1 1/2 cups butter to 2 1/2 cups flour seems excessive. May I reduce the butter to 1 cup?
Cyrus
The cookies collapsed to thin wafers on cooking. I am sure the recipe meant that one egg is for the dough and the other is for the wash on the outside. Or it may be that I used high fat butter for a third of the butter content? Whatever. Very disappointing.
joan g
I loved these cookies deep chocolate flavor and light, crunchy/soft texture. They are almost like shortbread, but not as sweet. I could not find hazelnuts anywhere (Maybe because of COVID?) so I substituted toasted almonds. If I use almonds next time (there will be a next time) I'll use almond extract to enhance the almond flavor. I look forward to trying these with hazelnuts.
Ann S
I made these but subbed half the nuts with toffee bits. It turned out great!!! i used colored sugar so they looked extra pretty.
ck
Just Meh. Pros: relatively easy to make. Cons: relatively flavorless and dry. I have made some amazing cookies thanks to The NY Times, but these are not among them.
John Ewan
When Stephanie makes these I melt. She substitutes Pistachios instead of Hazelnuts - marvelous.
Stephanie
I'm the best
Helen
We chilled them for just an hour because we were short on time, and they still turned out perfectly beautiful.
Keith
Instead of replacing the hazelnuts with chocolate "chips" I used chocolate "chunks" because that's what I had. That made slicing the logs into 1/4 inch slices a problem. Didn't think that through! Next time would chop the chunks like you chop the nuts, or just use chocolate chips as suggested, or even mini chips. Overall, very nice cookies!
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