Spiced Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

Medically reviewed by Christiana George Updated Date: December 17, 2022

My house is a real disaster zone right now. I am up to my eyeballs in boxes, packing tape, and bubble wrap. I have about three quarters of the house packed so far, and can’t wait to be done. In an effort to keep sane, I thought I would take a short break and make some cookies. I was in the mood for something dark and chocolatey. When Oh! Nuts sent me those dried pineapple bits and sliced guava I used for my last recipe, they had also sent a huge bag of hazelnuts. Dark chocolate and hazelnuts sounded like a great match!

I based this recipe off my Chocolate Ginger Cookies recipe. I liked how soft and chewy they were and I liked the chocolate and spice combo. But I didn’t want a ginger flavor, so I went for nutmeg this time around and I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa for a darker, deeper flavor.

The hazelnuts that Oh! Nuts sent were already skinned, so that saved me a lot of time. They taste delicious right out of the bag, but I wanted to toast them a bit in the oven before adding them to the cookies. It gave them a more woodsy flavor, which I thought would go nicely with the spices I was using. I just laid them out on a lined cookie pan and toasted them for 10 minutes at 350ºF.

If you are looking for a different nuts, seeds, or nut butters, Oh! Nuts has a wide variety. Just go to

This picture just makes me want to dig in right now and eat the dough right out of the bowl.

Wow! I think I may like nutmeg more in my cookies than ginger. It really brought the dark chocolate and toasted hazelnuts to a new level. I love all the textures too, the chewiness of the cookies themselves, the gooeyness of the dark chocolate chips, the crunchiness of the hazelnuts. They were a hit with my daughter and husband. I had to freeze some before we ate them all. We are going to need snacks on moving day.

Spiced Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

by The Sweet Chick

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Keywords: bake dessert snack dark chocolate dark chocolate chips hazelnut nutmeg cookie American fall winter

Ingredients (36 cookies)

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1/4 cup dark molasses
1 large egg, beaten
4 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped, toasted hazelnuts

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375º F.

In a stand mixer, place the flour, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, cocoa and sugar. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes.

Then add the butter, molasses, egg, and milk. Mix on low until well blended.

Next add oats, chocolate chips, and hazelnuts. Mix on low until all incorporated.

With a cookie scoop measure out dough and place on greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake 8-10 minutes at 375º F ( I found that 8 minutes was enough time to keep the cookies soft and chewy with a slight crispiness on the outside, but everyone’s oven is different).

Remove from the oven and place on cooling racks until completely cooled.

Grab a glass of cold milk or a mug of coffee and a couple of cookies and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Oh! Nuts did provide me with some of the products used to make this recipe, but I was under no obligation to develop a recipe for them nor provide a favorable review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Pear And Blue Cheese Tart

Baked Dessert

Christiana George

Updated Date:
June 8, 2023

Oops, an unintentional hiatus. And now an entire week has passed with hardly a check-in.

Weeks like the last can feel strange once they’re over. It was busy. BUSY. So that all other activities fell by the wayside. I don’t think I touched the stove at all except to heat up some canned soup (again, clam chowder). I also didn’t get the chance to take any photos for myself. Not even yesterday, when we ventured out of the city to go hiking in Cold Spring, New York.

Let me tell you, the fall foliage is stunning! We hiked to the top of a hill, where we stopped for lunch and peered down into the valley. Total tableau moment. A mottled, vibrantly-colored blanket of trees that swooped down into the valley, the Hudson River, gleaming and wide and slow, train tracks leading to the small town of Cold Spring along the shores of the river. And gosh, the town was cute. Do all New England towns look like this? Are they all so picturesque? It’s utterly foreign, just like the sight of palm tree-lined roads might be foreign to some of you. But they really do exist in California, even in random, unglamorous suburbs.

I can see why people love this season most of all. It answers the question of how the unbearable heat could possibly give way to unbearable cold. It’s done in increments, step-by-step, although on some days you feel that winter is very imminent. And on others, like today, you make sure to go outside and enjoy the sun for as long as you can.

I’m glad I have a down-filled jacket in my closet.

I made this pear and blue cheese tart a couple weeks ago. Chris gobbled it up, although he removed every chunk of blue cheese in his mouth’s way. Without the blue cheese, the tart reminds me an awful lot of a bear claw. Which I find irresistible. I mean, pear-scented puff pastry covered with almonds? Am I right?

The blue cheese fancies up the tart. I’m not opposed to that at all. It becomes sweet and salty and, well, peculiar in the way that blue cheese makes everything a little peculiar. Delicious. And perfect for the fall.

PEAR AND BLUE CHEESE TART

Adapted from Leite’s Culinaria

Makes 1 square tart

Ingredients:

1 9-inch square frozen puff pastry, defrosted
1/2 pound blanched almonds
1/4 cup sugar
1 to 2 pears, unpeeled, stemmed and thinly sliced (I used Asian pears)
Honey for drizzling
2 to 4 ounces blue cheese
1 egg white, beaten with a small drizzle of water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Use a pairing knife to score a line around the perimeter of the rectangle about 1/2 inch from the edge to make a border. Use a fork to poke holes inside the border so that the dough will remain flat as it cooks while the border will puff to create a lip for the tart.

Combine the almonds, sugar, and 1/2 tablespoon of water in a food processor and grind to a paste. Spread the paste over just the portion of the puff pastry inside the border. Arrange the pear slices over the almond paste. Drizzle with the honey and crumble the blue cheese over the top. Lightly brush the border with the egg and bake until the pastry is puffed and golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool slightly before cutting into squares.