Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies Recipe - Herbs & Flour (2024)

This Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies Recipe is made with ground hazelnuts and stuffed with chocolate hazelnut filling, though you can easily stuff them with your favorite jam filling too. They’re easy to make, fun to eat, and sure to become a new favorite sandwich cookie recipe!

Where are my Nutella lovers at? This recipe is for you! And me. Yes, definitely me too.

I’ve taken all the good things about a Linzer cookie – a nutty cookie, a delicious filling – and added Nutella to the mix.

I wouldn’t call these traditional Linzer cookies though. Instead of the traditional almond flavour, I upped the hazelnut flavor and used ground hazelnuts in the cookie themselves instead of almond. They have the perfect nutty flavor and are quite delicious on their own.

Stuffing them with nutella makes them absolutely drool-worthy! The result is the tastiest hazelnut sandwich cookie, jam packed with chocolatey flavor! These chocolatey and nutty cookies are sure to be a hit with Nutella lovers!

These are now going to be a standard addition to my holiday cookie trays but why stop there? These make a great gift for your loved one on Valentine’s Day or, you know, any weekday ending in day.

Ingredients in this Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies Recipe

• Hazelnuts: about 1 1/2 cups to 2 cups whole hazelnuts that have been ground to produce 1 cup of ground hazelnuts. I use whole hazelnuts with the skin on because I like the specks it leaves in the cookies.
• All purpose flour
• Salt
• Butter: unsalted butter that has been softened to room temperature. I prefer unsalted butter as I can better control the salt level in the cookie dough. Some salted butters can be overly salty. If you prefer to use salted butter, omit the additional salt in the recipe.
• Sugar: regular white sugar is used in the cookie itself. Additionally, a little bit of icing sugar or confectioner’s sugar is used to dust the cookies.
• Egg: Just 1 large egg is used in this recipe.
• Vanilla extract: adds flavour to the cookies.
  
• Chocolate hazelnut spread: Nutella or similar. Alternatively, you can stuff these sandwich cookies with jam.

Note: Ingredient quantities and full instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post.

How to Make the Dough for this Hazelnut Cookies Recipe

The full instructions for these cookies are in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below I have outlined the basic steps for making these cookies and step by step photos to help you see the process.

2. Mix the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, mix flour, ground hazelnuts, and salt. Set the flour mixture aside.

5. Add the dry ingredients and chill the dough: With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients until combined. Divide the cookie dough in half and place each half in plastic food wrap, shaping the dough into 1 inch thick disks. Wrap them up in the plastic food wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until the dough is chilled and firm.

Rolling out the Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies

1. Roll it out: Working with one disk at a time, remove the plastic wrap from the dough disk and transfer it to a floured surface. Use a rolling pin to roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness.
2. Cut out circles: Use a cookie cutter to cut out the cookie shapes and transfer them to the parchment lined cookie sheet. Leftover dough scraps can be re-rolled to make more cookies.
3. Chill: If the dough becomes soft while working with it, pop the entire baking tray into the fridge to set it up again.
4. Bake and cool: Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown on the edges. The bake time will depend on how hot your oven runs as well as the size of your cookies so adjust as needed. Remove from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet. Then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Assembling the Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies

1. Dust with icing sugar: Place the cookies with the cut-out windows back on a baking sheet and dust them lightly with powdered sugar.
2. Add filling: Place the chocolate hazelnut spread into a piping bag (alternatively, you can just use a spoon to spread out some filling on each cookie). Squeeze a dollop of the spread onto a cookie (a solid cookie, not the cookies with the cut-out windows).
3. Complete the sandwich: Then gently place a cut-out cookie on top to form the cookie sandwich. Be gentle when pressing down so as not to squeeze the filling out of the window. Repeat with all of the remaining cookies.

Tips for the Best Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies

• Finely grind the hazelnuts. Large chunks of hazelnut will affect the texture of your cookies as well as its integrity as it will be more prone to crumbling. You want to grind them up until it resembles a hazelnut flour (think almond flour).
• Use the scoop and level method. The scoop and level method has always served me well. I scoop the flour into my measuring cup and then use the back of a knife to scrape across the top of the measuring cup to level it. This method prevents the flour from getting packed in, which would mean you are using more than you should.
• Don’t over mix your dough. As with almost all baking recipes, once you add the dry ingredients to your dough, mix only until they are incorporated and then stop. Over mixing the dough will result in a tougher cookie.
• Keep a small bowl of flour near. The dough is extremely soft and can easily stick to your work surface if you do not generously flour it. I also recommend flouring your rolling pin to prevent any sticking. If the dough is extremely sticky though, you should chill it.
• Chill your dough. Don’t skip this step. In order to ensure these cookies are super tender so that they are easy to bite into, the dough is quite soft. That makes it difficult to roll out as it is extremely sticky. Chilling the dough makes it easier to work with.
• Cool completely before assembling. Before assembling these cookies, you will want to ensure the cookies are completely cooled. Otherwise, the icing sugar will melt as soon as it hits the cookie. Additionally, the nutella filling will melt if it is placed on warm cookies.

Storing Cookies

These nutella sandwich cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days or in the fridge for about a week.

The cookies can also be frozen for longer storage. To freeze the cookies, place them in a freezer-safe airtight container. Separate layers with a piece of parchment paper to prevent sticking. Then when you are ready to enjoy them, just thaw.

This Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies Recipe has become a favourite of ours. These are fun to make during the holiday season as they make a great addition to your holiday cookie tray. We also love making them year round to enjoy a delicious cookie with a cup of coffee.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! Happy baking!

-Cathy

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