Tuesday, September 2, 2008

TWD: Chunky Hazelnut and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

This week's Tuesdays With Dorie recipe was for Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters which, to me, sounds as great as the name is long - I love PB and chocolate, Reeses being my fav-o-rite candy. As I mentioned before, however, we've got a little one 'round here that may have a peanut allergy, so I had to ditch the Peanut Butter.

Enter in





If you've never tried this chocolate hazelnut concoction, well, you simply must. It's realllllly good, especially on a slice of french bread. I like it this way for nostalgia sake I guess, because I first tried nutella when I was in France as an exchange student way back in high school. Unfortunately, it's not particularly inexpensive, but c'est la vie.

I really needed to add some chunkiness to these, too (mainly because I like nuts, but then there's also the whole "Chunky" thing right in the front of the title). So conveniently, I snagged the very last bag of chopped hazelnuts at Meijer (for a minute there I was sweating in the baking aisle - you gotta be kidding me, no hazelnuts in the nut section?! but then there it was, buried under the walnut pieces - yessssss!). This was quite a find, because if you've ever had to crack and skin hazelnuts, you know what a real chore this can be, and I just wasn't up to doing all that.

These cookies were very easy to make. Really, I'd only have to recommend one thing and that's to follow the chilling directions. I didn't chill the dough after the first batch went in the oven and, in hind sight, I wish I had. The cookies that were chilled looked better (see exhibits a and b below) and tended not to spread as much:



The kids really enjoyed these, and yeah, so did the grown-ups. All in all, I'd have to give the nutella twist on these the thumbs up. Try it, you'll see.


Little Miss K approves, too (sorry for the blur, but this was definitely an action shot - had to hurry before that cookie was a-goner):



Thanks to Stefany at Proceed With Caution for choosing this week's recipe! (You can find the recipe on her site.)

Looking forward to next week? I sure am: Chocolate Whopper Malted Drops.


13 comments:

Cathy said...

Oh, you are brilliant! I am so very intrigued by the Nutella/hazelnut combination. Your modifications may have been made out of necessity, but truly, I don't think you missed a thing by skipping the peanut butter. You can hardly taste it, anyway! Your pictures are awesome, too. Great job!

Sihan said...

nutella hazelnut combi sounds devilicious! can't believe u even thought of that! brilliant!!!

Jacque said...

OOooh, interesting substitution. (I'm always so impressed with how creative everyone is.)

Thanks for the exhibits too... I did chill mine but they still spread, so I can only imagine if they weren't chilled.

Nice job!

Lori said...

nutella!! what a great idea! that's going in my cookbook as a variation for next time....

Jersey Girl Cooks said...

Perfect idea! I have a weakness for Nutella!

Prudy said...

That sounds much better than just plain old peanut butter. The allergy variation wins!

Shelby said...

Oh, I think this is the BEST choice I've seen so far. I love nutella!

Matt's Kitchen said...

I'm so impressed with your idea of the Nutella and chopped hazelnuts. I agree with you that skinning those hazelnuts (I follow Martha Stewart's advice about rolling them in a towel) to be a chore that I am always willing to skip!

Matt's Kitchen said...
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Teanna DiMicco said...

NUTELLA. IS. MY. FAVORITE. THING. EVER!

LOVE that you used them for the cookies!

Jennifer said...

After reading about this recipe and the next one to come up - I just went and bought the Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan book! I cannot wait to get it and make those Whopper cookies!

Eleganza Strings/ The DeLadurantey Family said...

Great sub.! We just tried Nutella last week for the first time and really like it!

Jennifer said...

I found another Nutella cookie today while blog browsing and thought of you. Here is the link:
http://inthewabe.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/nutella-cookies/

I am going to have to try them. They look yummy!