Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies - Pihikete Hānati Me Te Tiakarete
A delicious hazelnut cookie with Nutella cream piped on top of freshly roasted hazelnuts, smothered in hazelnut chocolate.
Servings 35 Forerro Rocher Cookie
Ingredients
Hazelnut Biscuits - Pihikete Hānati
- 100 g hānati (hazelnuts, whole and raw)
- 80 g pata kūteretere (softened butter)
- ⅓ C (65 g) C huka hāura (brown sugar)
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) wanira (vanilla)
- ¼ teaspoon tote (salt, fine)
- ⅔ C (100 g) puehu parāoa noa (plain flour)
Chocolate Hazelnut Cream - Te Kirīmi Tiakarete Hānati
- 90 g pata kūteretere (softened butter)
- ⅓ C (75 g) hinu kokonati (coconut oil, make sure it is soft but not runny)
- 3 tablespoon (20 g) kōkō (cocoa)
- 2 tablespoon (20 g) puehu huka (icing sugar)
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) wanira (vanilla)
- 1 ¼ C (350 g) pani hānati (nutella)
The Hazelnut Chocolate - The Tiakarete Hānati
- 220 g tiakarete hānati (hazelnut chocolate). Choose what chocolate you like.
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) hinu kokonati (coconut oil)
- Rau kōura (gold leaf, optional)
Instructions
Preheat the Oven:
- Preheat the oven to 120 °C, bake setting or 110 °C fan bake setting.
Toast the Hazelnuts:
- Add the hānati (hazelnuts) to a tray and roast for 15 minutes. Remove them from the oven.
Adjust the Ovent Temperature:
- Turn up the heat to 150 °C bake setting or 110 °C fan bake setting.
Remove the Hazelnut Skins:
- Place the hānati (hazelnuts) in to the centre of a tea towel. Gather them up and rub the tea towel vigorously to remove the skins.
- Reserve 35 of the hānati (hazelnuts) and leave them to the side.
Make a Hazelnut Crumb:
- Add the remaining hānati (hazelnuts) in to a tāwhirowhiro (food processor) or blender and process them just until a fine-ish crumb forms. Leave them to the side.
Whip the Butter and Sugar:
- Add the pata kūteretere (softened butter), huka hāura (brown sugar) and wanira (vanilla) in to a small bowl. Whisk for a couple of minutes or until light in colour.
- Add the kongakonga hānati (hazelnut crumbs) and puehu parāoa (flour). Stir until a dough comes together. Kua rite te pokenga - the dough is ready.
Cut out the Cookies:
- Roll out the dough between 2 pieces of baking paper until it is 0.5 cm thick.
- Pull off the top piece of baking paper, cut out rounds with a 3 cm cutter and remove the excess dough. Roll it out again and cut out more cookies, making sure to total a minimum of 45 cookies just in case some over bake in the oven.
- Eat the excess dough as a snack (optional but essential)! 👍
Chill the Cookies:
- Refrigerate the cookies on the trays for 30 minutes.
Bake the Hazelnut Cookies:
- Bake the cookies for 12 minutes.Turn the tray half way through baking to ensure even baking.
- Remove from the oven and add a hānati (that you reserved at the start) on to each pihikete. Leave aside to cool.
Make the Chocolate Hazelnut Filling:
- Add the pata kūteretere (softened butter), hinu kokonati (coconut oil), kōkō (cocoa), puehu huka (icing sugar) and wanira (vanilla) to a medium bowl and whip on high for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the pani hānati (nutella) and whip for 30 seconds.
Pipe on the Filling:
- Add a quarter of the mixture in to a piping bag at a time so it doesn't melt too fast as you go. Pipe the cooled cookies using a 1A piping tip.
- You can also spoon on the mixture but the piping bag gives much more control.
Chill the Cookies:
- Chill the tray of cookies for 20 minutes in the refrigerator. Don't chill them too much longer than this because the chocolate will set too fast when you are dipping them.
Melt the Chocolate:
- Process the tiakarete hānati (hazelnut chocolate) in the tāwhirowhiro (food processor) until crumbly or chop it finely with a knife.If you are using a chocolate that does not have whole hazelnuts in it, skip this step.
- Add the tiakarete hānati (hazelnut chocolate) to a medium sized bowl with the hinu kokonati (coconut oil).
- Melt it gently in a heat-proof bowl that is sitting over a pot of barely simmering water (around 3cm deep). Make sure the base of the bowl is not touching the water.You can also do this in 15 second bursts in the microwave, stir gently after each 15 seconds.
Dip the Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies:
- Line a large tray with baking paper.
- Remove the chilled pihikete (biscuits) from the fridge.
- Dip each pihikete (cookie) in to the tiakarete (chocolate) with a fork and spoon it generously over top.
- Give the pihikete (cookie) a shake and scrape the bottom to remove the excess chocolate.
- Place each one on to the tray with baking paper, with a little bit of space between each one. Repeat the process with each one.
Decorate the Cookies:
- Chop any remaining hānati (hazelnuts) in to a fine crumb and sprinkle them over the chocolate covered cookies.
Chill the Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies:
- Set in the fridge for an hour.
- When they are set add some rau koura (gold leaf) to each one for a touch of pizazz. It is simple to do, just add some on your matimati (finger) and press it on top of the cookie.
Chill the Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies:
- Keep these pihikete (biscuits) stored in a sealed container in the fridge. I serve them straight from the fridge. They will keep a good week if they are stored this way.
- If you are travelling these anywhere, place them in the freezer for an hour before hand.