Big City, Little Kitchen

How to translate the all-American chocolate-chip cookie into dessert, Italian-style?  Take the sweetness down a notch; ratchet up the bittersweet chocolate, both in the dough itself and in the chips; and, for added complexity, blend in ground hazelnuts.  These cookies, from Gina De Palma’s Dolce Italiano, are stealthily addictive.  At first bite, I thought, Okay, not bad.  But as I went back for another, and then another, I began to notice how the crumbliness, similar to shortbread, did not detract from the softness, and imagined how delicious one (or three) of these would be with an espresso.

Babbo’s Chocolate-Chip Cookies (adapted from Bittersweet Chocolate and Hazelnut Cookies in Dolce Italiano by Gina De Palma)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup high-quality cocoa powder (I like Valrhona)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup whole hazelnuts, toasted and cooled
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 ounces chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.  In a food processor, pulse hazelnuts until finely ground.  Whisk into dry ingredients.  Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in egg and vanilla; mix well.  On low speed, mix in dry ingredients just until combined.  Fold in chocolate pieces. 

Roll tablespoon-fuls of the dough between your hands until they form a ball; flatten slightly between hands, then place onto cookie sheet about one inch apart.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or just until set and dough in the middle no longer appears raw.  Allow to set on cookie sheets for a couple of minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.