Tweaking Giada's Biscotti Recipe For a Cool New Cookie

I got done with dinner fairly early one night and decided to bake some cookies. I looked for a recipe that was easy and and had accessible ingredients, and I saw this Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti recipe by Giada De Laurentiis. I didn't have any hazelnuts but Steve probably wouldn't eat them anyway so I added chocolate chips instead. The cookies are chewy and yummy. They are a little thinner than I would have liked which is probably because the directions said to flatten them with a fork. Other than that these came together very quickly and we both enjoyed them. White chocolate chips would be great in these cookies, too!


Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

Original recipe by Giada De Laurentiis 
see original recipe here

Yields: 36 cookies (I only got 24)

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup Nutella
1/2 cup sugar 
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup hazelnuts (I switched to semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In another medium bowl combine the butter, Nutella, sugar and brown sugar. Using an electric mixer, cream the ingredients together, about 4 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, stir in the flour mixture until just combine. Add Hazelnuts (or chocolate chips, as I did) and stir until combined. 

Using a tablespoon measure, spoon out the cookie dough onto a cookie sheet, spacing the mounds about 4 inches apart. Use the tines of a fork to flatten the cookie dough (maybe not necessary). Bake until lightly golden around the edges, about 10-12 minutes. Use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool. 

My Italian Grandmother is a weekly column from Michele Brigante, an accomplished home cook who draws inspiration from her first cooking teacher–her Italian grandmother. Join her every week and she will walk you through a recipe you never thought you could manage. Some are original recipes, some are adapted from cookbooks–we can't wait to try them.

Michele is from Morris Plains, and when she's not whipping up delicious dishes, she works as a design consultant for Willow House.