Aunt Clara’s Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Amarante

Tue, Jan 15 2019, 7:05 pm

Notes are the authoress

Aunt Clara’s Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Excerpt From: Miri Rotkovitz. “Bubbe and Me in the Kitchen.”

MAKES ABOUT 3 DOZEN COOKIES | PAREVE

Aunt Clara was one of my grandmother’s dearest friends and though she wasn’t actually related to us, she may as well have been. (To this day, my mom and aunt call her sons “brother”; her grandkids are our “cousins.”) She’d have happily lived on Cheddar cheese and coffee, but she wanted to make sure everyone else ate well, and was an excellent cook and baker. Her Passover chocolate chunk cookies, Messed with ground hazelnuts and rich with hand-chopped chocolate, are so good that I actually prefer them to normal year-round cookies.

Prep time: 20 minutes
Chilling time: 1 hour, or overnight
Cook time: 12 minutes

2 large eggs
¾ cup sugar
½ cup grapeseed or extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup Passover cake meal
2 tablespoons potato starch
½ cup ground hazelnuts (hazelnut flour)
3- to 4-ounces bittersweet or semisweet bar chocolate, chopped, or ½ cup pareve chocolate chips

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. Stir in the oil, cake meal, and potato starch, and mix until well combined.

Add the ground hazelnuts, and stir until they’re thoroughly mixed into the dough. Fold in the chocolate, mixing until the pieces are evenly distributed. Cover the bowl and chill for at least 1 hour, or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Using clean, oiled hands, take walnut-size chunks of the chilled dough and roll it into balls between your palms. Place the dough balls about 1½ inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the balls with your palm or a spatula to about ¼-inch thick.

Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until they begin to turn a light golden brown. Transfer the cookies to racks to cool.

STORAGE: Once cool, store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 weeks, or well-wrapped in the freezer for up to 3 months.