Dark Chocolate Cookies with Hazelnut Filling

These are the Dark Chocolate Cookies with Hazelnut Filling that I made for my Christmas cookie baskets. A low-calorie option for my health-conscious friends.

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 ounces bittersweet Scharffenberger chocolate, chopped

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

4 oz fine white chocolate, chopped into pieces

4 oz hazelnut spread such as Nutella

What you do

1. Whisk to combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

2. In a heatproof bowl, set over (not in) simmering water stir together chocolate, butter and brown sugar until it becomes a smooth, shimmering consistency. Remove from heat and continue stirring to cool slightly.

4. Add egg to the chocolate mixture. Gradually stir in flour until it forms a shiny ball.

5. Drivide dough in half. Roll out each half to about 1/4 inch thickness between two sheet of parchment. Stack dough – still on parchment – on a baking sheet and chill for 20 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out your shapes. If the dough begins to soften just stick it back in the fridge to firm up. Keep cutting out enough shapes to fill your cookie sheets.

7. Bake for 8-10 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through. Cool completely on a wire rack.

8. Warm up the nutella by putting the whole jar into a bowl of hot water. Stir until smooth and liquid.

9. Pair up your cookies to make sandwiches. Spread a think layer the liquidy spread on one half of your cookies. Put the other one on top. Refrigerate for 5 minutes.

10. While your cookies are setting inthe fridge, melt your white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water in a double boiler. After they are melted take a wooden skewer, dip it into the chocolate and shake it over the cookies to create your drizzle. This is the fun part – so let your inner child have a great time creating your arty drizzle patterns!

11. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the fridge or freezer if they last that long!

-Recipe modified from Martha Stewart’s Holiday Baking magazine