dark chocolate hazelnut sea salt cookies

stacks and stacks of cookies!

ever since i had a chocolate cookie with tiny bits of chocolate sprinkled about rather than in chocolate chip form i've never looked back. having the small chocolate shards spread evenly throughout the cookie ensures that every bite has a lot of chocolate flavor. i finally had the opportunity to try this method when i made these cookies for a birthday dinner i was throwing and i've got to say...oh my damn these cookies are good! take all things delicious and put them together in a soft yet crisp cookie and you cannot go wrong. dark chocolate? good for you! and slightly bitter. hazelnut? the best of all nuts. sea salt? enhancing and balances the sweet. you know you want some. i definitely encourage you to make these cookies! 

just the right ratio of chocolate vs. nuts

once upon a time my knife lost in the battle against salted caramels

shards of chocolate

oops, forgot the eggs...

dry ingredients with chocolate mixed in. i don't know if it makes a difference whether i put in in with the flour first or whether i mix it in with the nuts (i don't think it really changes anything) but this is just how i did it. do whatever you feel like..

salty sweet

dark chocolate hazelnut sea salt cookies

ingredients:
- 1c salted butter, softened
- 1/4 white sugar
- 1 1/2c packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 3/4c all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp coarse sea salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2c dark chocolate, chopped
- 1c toasted hazelnuts, chopped

directions:
1. in a small bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and chocolate
2. in a large bowl beat butter, white sugar and brown sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy
3. beat in vanilla and eggs (one at a time)
4. mix in dry ingredients (half the amount at a time) until just combined
5. stir in hazelnuts until evenly distributed
6. put cookie batter in the fridge to chill for at least ten minutes
7. preheat oven to 350 degrees F
8. roll dough into balls to your desired size (i used a small ice cream scoop to measure mine and they turned out to be pretty big)
9. evenly space and drop dough balls onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
10. bake for approx 15 mins. or until just browning on the edges
11. take out of oven and allow to rest on cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely
12. devour.

i used these cookies as name tags for the seating chart. i stamped each person's name or nickname on the front of a tag and wrote little individual personal messages on the back and then tied the tag to the cookies. then they sat on a plate according to where each person was sitting for the night.

"special friend" is my friend Kristina. if you're curious about why i call her Special Friend here's the quick recap.

cookies for all!