CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT BITES
Messing with tradition—especially when it comes to holiday recipes—is a risky endeavor. Christmas cookie making was a highly anticipated event in my home growing up, using the tattered and stained recipe cards passed down from one generation to the next. Buttery vanilla spritz cookies: spritzed and sprinkled, then baked in into festive shapes; flaky-crusted pecan tassies: bite-sized pecan pies—so sweet your cheeks would tingle!; almond-y sugar cookies decorated with generous shakes of holiday sanding sugars; and finally: boozy, boozy rum balls. The camp was sharply divided on rum balls—some loved them for their potent, stomach warming punch, while others feared premature holiday tipsiness!
Looking back at my grandmother’s old recipe card, I saw it would’ve taken A LOT of rum balls to catch a buzz. Still, I decided to break with tradition this year, replacing the rum with Fra Angelico—a delightful hazelnut liqueur. I also played with proportions and changed several ingredients, making this an almost entirely new treat…which somehow makes me feel a little less guilty. And I’m happy to share that the camp is no longer divided: These (slightly less boozy) Hazelnut Chocolate Bites are a new holiday favorite for all who have tried them. Traditions have to start somewhere!
Tattered and stained, my grandmother’s rum ball recipe card.
CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT BITES
This recipe could not be easier! It is incredibly fast using a food processor (as written written below), but my grandmother did it by hand—chopping the nuts, crushing the cookies in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin, and stirring it all together in a big bowl.
makes about 32
INGREDIENTS
8 ounces (1 ½ cups) toasted hazelnuts
8 ounces chocolate wafer cookies (this will make about 2 cups of cookie crumbs) I use Dewey’s Bakery brand
¼ cup powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup Fra Angelico (hazelnut liqueur)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract (not paste)
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons granulated sugar (for rolling)
INSTRUCTIONS:
Toast hazelnuts:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spread nuts out evenly on a large sheet pan. Toast for 10-12 minutes, shaking pan once or twice during toasting time. Nuts should be fragrant and light golden.
Lay a clean dish towel flat on counter, then carefully dump nuts onto towel. Fold ends of towel up and over the hot hazelnuts, covering them completely so none escape in next step.
Working on the counter, rub nuts carefully but vigorously between the towel layers to loosen the skins (you’re not going for perfection—just removing as many of the loosened skin pieces as possible).
Pick the nuts from towel and place in bowl of food processor fitted with chopping/mixing blade (discard nut skins). Allow to cool before next step.
Pulse a few times to break up, then process on low until finely chopped with a few bigger pieces remaining (be careful not to over-process—you might end up with hazelnut butter!)
Divide hazelnuts: Place ⅔ in a large bowl and ⅓ in a small shallow bowl.
2. Place wafer cookies in the food processor (no need to clean it out). Pulse to break up, then process on high until they are crumbs but not powder. Add powdered sugar and salt to food processor, pulsing to distribute evenly.
3. Pour Fra Angelico, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons corn syrup into food processor, pulsing until combined.
4. Add chopped hazelnuts from the large bowl back into food processor and pulse until all is completely combined. Scrape mixture into the large bowl.
7. Add granulated sugar to small bowl of toasted hazelnuts, stirring to combine.
8. Using a #100 cookie scoop (this small scoop holds about 2 teaspoons of dough—if you don’t have one, measure out two teaspoons to form your first one to get a sense for size, then eyeball it after that), scoop a level amount of mixture from bowl into your hand and roll around between your palms into a ball shape. Drop into sugar/hazelnut mixture and roll around to coat, pressing a little if necessary. Place on sheet pan.
9. Repeat step 8 until mixture is gone (saving any extra hazelnut/sugar mixture for morning yogurt or oatmeal). Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
cook’s note: These Chocolate Hazelnut Bites will relax in shape when you place them on the cookie sheet. If you prefer a perfectly round shape, allow finished bites to sit out on the cookie sheet for about an hour, then gently reshape by rolling them around in-between your palms before storing.
