Cookies that should win a contest (Salted Cocoa-Hazelnut Cookies)

This is a long overdue post.  It is about cookies I made for our office Christmas cookie swap.  I didn't win and my inner sore loser put the post away to pout.  Just kidding, this is from the batch that was on the missing SD card along with Gentleman Caller's muffins.  I am still mad I didn't win though!

These are really tasty and also pretty fancy for an easy recipe.  I am by no means a baker and these came out very well.  The best part is you can make the dough ahead of time and freeze it for easy on-demand cookies!  Who doesn't love convenient things like that?

I could not find the fancy sugar that the original recipe calls for so I rolled mine in turbinado sugar.  I think you can really leave it out, they are rich and decadent as is.  These are so chocolately, so easy to make uniform and are like deconstructed Nutella.  If I haven't convinced you yet, you clearly don't have a sweet tooth!  Full recipe to follow the montage. Linking up with Meal Plan Monday #109.  Click on over and link up or view a million more great recipes!

I meant it when I said rich and chocolatey

The cast.  It was winter, hence the shadows.

The dry ingredients

Here they are after migling.

I am not sure what happened here.  You do have to make the dough in advance but I guess rolling it into logs and whatever else was going on got crazy.  I will try to explain below,  Make sure you follow the directions.  I did not.  They turned out fine, but I ended up having fits at my own expense.

Rolled in sugar and ready to go!

Salted Cocoa-Hazelnut Cookies (Copied exactly from the New York Times, because Betty Crocker, I am not!)

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped, toasted hazelnuts
Egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water)
About 1/2 cup coarse sugar, for rolling
Flaky salt, preferably Maldon, for sprinkling (get the Maldon!)

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar on medium-high until the mixture is superlight, fluffy and pale, about 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add in the eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla extract, and beat until everything is well combined, about 2 minutes.Add dry ingredients all at once, and mix on low until almost incorporated. Add hazelnuts, and continue to mix until just fully incorporated. Scrape dough out of mixer, and divide it into 2 pieces onto cling wrap. Wrap each piece in cling wrap and roll them into 3 logs about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter, and 12 inches long.  Refrigerate the logs at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Brush the outside of each log of dough with egg wash. Sprinkle sanding sugar (Demerara or regular granulated sugar also work here) onto a piece of parchment paper, and roll the logs in it. Slice log crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Place dough slices on parchment-lined baking sheets 1 inch apart, and sprinkle with flaky salt. Bake until the edges are just set and cookies are baked through (difficult to tell with chocolate cookies, but the center should feel set when pressed gently), 12 to 15 minutes.

Happy Cooking!

Missy