These are the easiest chocolate hazelnut cookies you’ll ever make. “Brutti ma buoni” means “ugly but good” in Italian, and we’d argue our version is the most delicious one yet.
We start with hazelnuts from Alta Langa in Piedmont, prized for their sweet, intense flavor. Already skinned and toasted to perfection by Terra delle Nocciole, all that’s left for you to do is give them a quick chop before folding them into the whipped egg whites. Then comes the magic: a generous spoonful of Marco Colzani’s chocolate hazelnut spread—50% of which is made from those very same hazelnuts. No wonder it’s been crowned best “crema spamabile” at the Tavoletta d’Oro year after year.
These chocolate hazelnut cookies will keep in a sealed container for a long time, but we suspect you’ll finish them off within a few days. Dunk them in your coffee, crumble them over gelato, or simply eat them on their own. They’re so easy you’ll be making them any time you’ve got a few spare egg whites laying around!
Ingredients
TIME: 1h 30mins (active time: 15 minutes)
YIELD: about 24 cookies
- Egg whites, 2, at room temperature
- Sugar, 100g / ½ cup
- Fine sea salt, a pinch
- Chocolate hazelnut spread, 2 tbsp
- Hazelnuts, 100g / ¾ cup, chopped
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 120°C / 250°F.
- Mix the salt and sugar together in a small bowl.
- Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low. When the eggs become foamy, increase the speed to high. Add the salt/sugar mixture, a tablespoon at a time, mixing well after each addition, until the mixture forms stiff peaks.
- Drizzle the chocolate hazelnut spread and sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts over the whisked eggs. Carefully fold them in with a spoon until just combined. Be careful not to overmix!
- Line two baking trays with parchment paper and dollop about a tablespoon of the mixture for each cookie.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until dry. Let cool before storing.
MERINGUE CHEAT SHEET
- Make sure your egg whites are at room temperature when you start to whisk them.
- Your mixing bowl, whisk attachment, and any spoons or spatulas need to be completely oil-free and bone dry.
- If you like, you can add ¼ tsp of cream of tartar when you first begin to mix the egg whites to help stabilize the meringue.
- Once you’ve reached stiff peaks, sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts over evenly and drizzle the chocolate hazelnut spread in narrow streaks (as opposed to heavy dollops). This way, you won’t have to work as hard to incorporate them into the egg whites and risk overmixing the batter.
