Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies
These crunchy chocolate chip cookies are made with buttery, nutty, ground hazelnuts and loads of chocolate chips, then baked until crispy, golden, and irresistible!
Coming together quickly, these crunchy chocolate chip cookies are made with your everyday pantry staples and only 1 hour and 20 minutes of chill time. Then, with just 15 minutes in the oven, you’ll have crispy, golden chocolate chip cookies ready to enjoy with a cup of tea or to dunk in a cold glass of milk!
These incredibly delicious chocolate chip cookies are only made better with the addition of ground hazelnut, which gives it an elevated buttery, crispy, nutty flavor. Ground hazelnut, otherwise known as hazelnut flour, is often used in gluten-free baking, so it blends nicely with all kinds of other flours without overpowering any other ingredients.
Crunchy cookies can be made into thin chocolate chop cookies or thick chocolate chip cookies, or perhaps you could make a couple of batches of each. Sure, chewy cookies will always have a place in our hearts, but this time we’re giving crunchy cookies centre stage!
So, go ahead and whip up a batch of these irresistible cookies. Let me know what you think. Oh, and good luck eating just one!
Table of Contents
Crunchy vs Soft chocolate chip cookies
What makes a cookie crisp and what makes it soft? The answer is actually in the amount of certain ingredients and how it changes the ratios. You see, both types of cookies use the same ingredients, but depending on how they’re made is what will determine how soft or hard your cookie is!
Crunchier cookies usually have a higher ratio of white sugar to brown, as brown is what gives it a chewier texture. This recipe doesn’t use brown sugar at all. It also uses cold butter which helps create a crispy cookie rather than using melted butter to create a soft chewy cookie.
How to Make It
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ground hazelnuts, baking powder, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until just combined.
While continuing to beat, add the vanilla, egg, and flour mixture. Beat until almost combined.
Add in the chocolate chips and continue beating until fully incorporated.
Transfer dough to a flat surface and gently knead into a ball or disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Roll the dough out to desired thickness, with cookie cutters and place individually cut out cookies on a prepared cookie sheet.
Place back in the fridge while the oven is preheating. Bake until edges are golden and the centre is still soft, but baked. It will continue to crisp up as it cools.
Allow cooling on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
Tips
- Don’t just fold in the chocolate chips. Beat them in. Mixing as much as you are with this recipe, will help yield crispy cookies.
- If using unsalted butter, add 1/4 tsp of salt to the dry ingredients.
- The thickness of these cookies can be made to varying tastes. It all depends on how thin you roll them.
- If hazelnuts aren’t your favourite, swap it out for ground almonds instead.
- Be sure to use a higher protein flour 11.5+% this will keep the cookies from spreading too much while baking.
FAQs
Simply put, yes! Hazelnut flour/meal is just ground up hazelnuts. It is much the same way that ground almonds make up almond meal and almond flour. Hazelnut meal is a little harder to find than almond meal, so it comes in handy to just grind your own.
When you bake with cold ingredients, it takes longer for everything to melt in the oven while baking. This means the dough won’t spread as fast, which would create a thinner cookie. When you’re aiming for a nice thick cookie, you want to give it the least amount of chance to spread.
I doubt you’ll have any leftover by then, but if you do, these cookies will keep at room temperature for up to 1 week, covered.
If you have made lots and would like to freeze a batch for later, make sure they are completely cooled before transferring them to an airtight container or freezer-friendly bag for up to 3 months.
Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup ground hazelnuts
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt*
- ½ cup sugar (granulated or fine)
- â…” cup butter (cold – cubed) (150 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet or a mixture)
*If using unsalted butter then add ¼ teaspoon of salt.
Instructions
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, ground hazelnuts, baking powder and salt.
- In mixing bowl beat on medium speed the butter and sugar just until combined, continue to beat on low speed and add the vanilla, egg and dry ingredients, beat until almost combined then add the chocolate chips beat for approximately 20 seconds.
- Move to a flat surface and gently knead to form a compact dough, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Roll dough to desired thickness (think or thick â…› – ¼ thickness) cut with round cookie cutters (2 ½ inches/ 7 cm), place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and refrigerate while the oven is pre-heating, about 20 minutes.
- Pre-heat oven to 350F (180C).
- Remove from the fridge and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are golden and the centre is soft but baked. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 15 minutes then move to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!