Hazelnut Praline Oatmeal Cookies
Praline always sounded a bit all-around elaborate to me — it’s in the paris-brest wreaths, it’s in one of the best tasting Häagen-Dazs ice creams, it’s in the cakes that line French patisseries in Manhattan. But really, it's so simple to make and tastes illegally luxurious. When paired with roasted hazelnut, you have a wonderful base for holiday flavors (whatever that palette means). And then, when you hit it with a collapsing-interior, lacy-like-Tates’ oatmeal cookie, you have the ultimate winter cookie. I do confess to having a stockpile of frozen cookie dough in the fridge, so making one batch of these can last you a couple of months, or a few days, if you surrender to the taste.
Hazelnut praline oatmeal cookies are versatile. They’re formal enough for holiday cookie exchanges (check out the cover photo for my Christmas cookie box!), casual enough for 1:00am munching; stiff enough for dipping into a glass of cold milk, chewy enough for crafting an ice cream sandwich. I could wax poetic about these cookies all day, but the best proof is just to make them yourself. These cookies were inspired by Claire Saffitz’s Oatmeal Cookies from her new cookbook Dessert Person, but I threw in hazelnuts instead of pecans (personally enjoy hazelnuts more), changed the ratio of butter to sugar, and added a bit of brandy to truly lock in that holiday kick.
Ingredients:
hazelnut praline:
160g roasted, chopped hazelnuts
150g granulated sugar
57g tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Morton kosher salt
oatmeal cookie dough:
170g unsalted butter (1 1/2 stick) softened at room temperature
80g packed dark brown sugar
75g granulated sugar
2 cold eggs (about 50-55g each)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tsp brandy
175g all purpose flour
2 tsp Morton kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
200g rolled oats
Steps:
Make the brittle. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a sauce pan, melt sugar over low heat, only rotating the pan, stirring minimally, and keep an eye out for burning sugar. Once the sugar is completely dissolved and caramelized (a deep amber shade), add in butter, baking soda, and salt.
When the mixture starts bubbling, pour in roasted, chopped hazelnuts and stir vigorously to ensure everything is mixed properly. Rapidly pour out the mixture (be careful, burnt sugar is extremely hot) onto the lined baking sheet and spread out the brittle with the back of the spoon. Let brittle completely cool and harden for ~10 minutes. Then, roughly chop the brittle and set aside.
Make the cookie dough. Brown half (85g) of the butter in a pan. Once cool, pour into a big mixing bowl with the remaining half (85g) of the softened butter.
With a paddle attachment, mix in brown and granulated sugar until completely aerated, about 3-4 minutes — you should not be able to feel the individual granules of sugar. Then beat in both eggs, one by one. The mixture should be completely smooth.
Mix in vanilla extract and brandy and beat once more.
In a food processor, blitz flour, salt, baking soda, half (100g) of the rolled oats, and half of your chopped brittle until completely powdery and combined.
Pour dry into the wet mixture and mix until just incorporated on the lowest speed of the mixer. Do not over-mix. Then, with a spatula, incorporate into the dough the remaining half (100g) of rolled oats and the other half of your chopped brittle.
With a 3 oz ice cream scooper, scoop out balls of cookie dough and place on a lined baking sheet. You can also hand shape the cookie dough. After shaping around 18-20 balls, place the dough in the fridge to chill for at least 24 hours. Resist the temptation to bake now and do not skip this integral step for flavor development and spread control.
When ready to bake, preheat an oven to 350º F. Defrost 3-4 cookies on a lined baking sheet for around 30 minutes and bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes until golden brown. At each 4 minute interval, take the tray out and gently bang the tray on the counter to deflate the cookies. (This will help the spread of the cookies).
Let cool, and enjoy! Freeze your remaining cookie dough up to 2 months and repeat step 9 whenever you want a freshly baked cookie.
Additional Notes:
Chilling the cookie dough helps the flavor develop more deeply and well rounded; many cookie recipes will tell you to chill your dough and it’s for a well deserved reason!
Feel free to not not use all the brittle and munch on it as you bake or keep it as candy.