Rye Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

An absolutely classic chocolate chip cookie - with a rye and hazelnut twist! These Rye Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies are flavorful, complex, and rich due to the toasted rye flour and delicious mix-ins!

Key Ingredients

The Hazelnuts

By toasting hazelnuts, you naturally draw out its oils to the surface which intensifies the flavor, the color, and allows the skin of the hazelnuts to start separating from the nut.

The skin of hazelnuts is quite bitter - before starting the process of processing the nut butter, remove the skins by rubbing toasted nuts together with a clean towel.

If you're having trouble removing the skins relatively easily, this may mean that you need to toast the skins for a few more minutes in the oven.

The Rye Flour

In this recipe, we are toasting the Rye Flour as well. This process allows the flour to take on more of a nutty, complex flavor when added to the cookie dough.

During the toasting process, make sure to keep a watchful eye on the flour! It will slowly start turning more of a deeper shade of brown - it's at this point where you'll want to remove the flour from heat and set it aside to cool.

Changing Inclusions

Not a fan of hazelnuts or dark chocolate? Not a problem! If these are inclusions are not to your liking, you can substitute another option. As long as you stick to the same ratio of inclusions, feel free to try other nuts or chocolates of your choice!

How to make Rye Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

• Mix Dry Ingredients: Whisk together the all-purpose flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.

• Toasting Rye Flour & Butter: In a small skillet over medium-high heat, toast the rye flour until it is fragrant and a few shades darker, about 5 minutes, making sure that you're stirring often. Remove the skillet from the stove, add the butter and stir allowing the butter to melt into the rye flour.

• Mixing Cookie Dough: Mix together the sugar, eggs, molasses and vanilla in a large bowl. When the rye-butter mixture has cooled, stir into the wet ingredients. Add the dry ingredients and stir until everything is combined. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts.

• Chilling the dough: Place your dough in the fridge overnight, or at bare minimum one hour- this helps add to the texture, flavor and prevents spreading of the cookie when they are ready to bake!

• The Bake: Heat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare your baking sheets with parchment paper. Add cookies about 2-inches apart on your baking sheets. One sheet at a time, bake your cookies until the edges are firm and the centers are soft, about 12-14 minutes. Cool your cookies on a wire rack, pour yourself a hefty glass of milk, dunk and enjoy!

Tips for accurate measuring

When it comes to the science of baking, it is imperative that you’re measuring your ingredients as precisely and accurately as possible. This is why I highly recommend that you invest in a kitchen scale! Dry ingredients in particular can vary widely in terms of weight vs. volume depending on how you measure them. Using a scale will also save you time; cut back on cleanup; and will allow for more consistent baking success - a total win!

The importance of room temperature ingredients

In order to properly mix, cream or emulsify ingredients they need to be incorporated at room temperature unless stated otherwise. Adding cold ingredients can create a lumpy or curdled batter instead of a batter that is luxuriously velvety, light and fluffy.

If you haven't remembered to remove your ingredients from the fridge a few hours before baking, there are a few shortcuts that will help to bring ingredients to room temperature quickly!

Room Temperature Eggs: I like to cover my cold whole eggs with warm water for a few minutes before baking with them - after 3-5 minutes in warm water they will reach room temperature.

Room Temperature Dairy: To slightly warm butter and other dairy products I will use the microwave! Bring the microwave power down to 3, then lightly warm the ingredients in 30-second spurts until your dairy is room temperature butter is softened not melted.

Storing & Freezing Cookie Dough

Once you've mixed the cookie dough, make sure to place it in the fridge to chill for at least an hour. This chilling process helps to solidify the fat in your dough prior to baking. Since these cookies have a significant amount of melted butter, chilling the dough before baking your cookies from spreading in the oven and allows them to retain their shape.

Freezing Cookie Dough

 Instead of baking all your cookies all at once, I prefer to keep the scooped dough wrapped in the freezer. Then, when you get another craving, pull a few out and bake them fresh!

Once you've chilled the cookie dough for at least one hour, scoop it into balls using a cookie scooper or tablespoon. Place scooped cookies on a small baking sheet or plate lined with parchment paper. Wrap with plastic, then place in the freezer for thirty minutes.

This process allows the cookies to firm up a bit before placing frozen cookies into a ziplock bag and storing them in the freezer. Freezing the cookies separately for thirty minutes will prevent them from sticking together in the ziplock.

Baking Frozen Cookie Dough

The next time you have a craving for a freshly baked cookie, simply remove the cookie from the freezer and bake! It may take you a few extra minutes to bake as they are frozen so keep this in mind as you set your timer.

ADDITIONAL COOKIE RECIPES TO TRY!

• Dark Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
• Pastel Holiday Cookies
• Rosemary Shortbread Cookies
• Horchata Ginger Molasses Ice Cream Sandwiches

As always, I love seeing your creations and hearing from you! If you try this recipe, please leave a review or share your creation with me on social media! You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and Pinterest - for more delicious recipes sent straight to your inbox, sign up for my newsletter!