Stuffed German Chocolate Hazelnut Christmas Cookies
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Deutsch (German)
These melt-in-your-mouth Hazelnut Chocolate Cookies with a soft, molten hazelnut centre are one of my favourite German Christmas Cookies. The secret ingredient is nougat, an easy-to-make hazelnut-chocolate-paste.
A note about affiliate links in this post: some of these links will take you to Amazon where I may receive a small percentage of sales, at no extra cost to you
These German Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies are like Nutella-stuffed cookies – just better!
The recipe for these little Hazelnut Chocolate Cookies aka. Nougat Balls is one of my most cherished German Christmas Cookies recipes. The secret ingredient to these melt-in-your-mouth hazelnut cookies is a heavenly, creamy Hazelnut-Chocolate-Concoction called nougat!
If you’ve ever been to a German or Austrian grocery store, you might have seen it in the baking aisle! I buy the stuff in bulk every time I go see my parents in Germany, and I recommend you to do the same, should your travels ever take you to that area.
Imagine Nutella, but just 10 times better – bursting with hazelnut flavour. Nougat is addictive stuff.
What is German Nougat and where can I buy it?
German nougat, not to be confused with the white nougat available in North America, is a paste made from hazelnuts, sugar and chocolate. Smooth delicious and bursting with hazelnut flavour, this stuff just melts in your mouth.
The bad news: nougat is really hard to buy on this side of the ocean! But don’t worry – we’ll get this sorted!
The quick ticket to authentic nougat flavour would be this nougat chocolate
. Another option would be a high-quality Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
. I want to stress the importance of high quality here. You want hazelnuts to be one of the first ingredients listed.
That said, if you really want to go all the way, you should make Nougat at home! It’s easy and soooo rewarding!
How to make German Nougat at home:
To make nougat at home, you need a good blender to get a nice and smooth hazelnut chocolate paste. There should be no pieces whatsoever in it, but really, with the right blender this should be no problem.
I recommend the use of milk chocolate as opposed to dark chocolate for a softer nougat, which we need for these Stuffed German Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies!
All you need for making the best Nougat at home is:
- 250 g hazelnuts
- 250 g powdered sugar
- 300 g milk chocolate, melted
- High Speed Blender
- To roast hazelnuts, spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 275 degrees F. for 15-20 minutes. Check on them regularly as nuts can scorch quickly.
- To remove the skins, wrap warm hazelnuts in a dish towel and let them sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Rub vigorously in a towel.
- Put the hazelnuts in the blender and blend them for some seconds. Add powdered sugar and keep blending until smooth. The mixture should be quite warm now.
- Add the melted chocolate step by step and keep mixing.
- Take breaks! If the paste gets too hot, it will curdle.
Whether you are going for the real thing, the chocolate or the hazelnut spread – you’ll need about 400 g of nougat or nougat-substitute, as we need it for the Hazelnut Chocolate Cookie Dough AND the yummy soft filling!
You can also mix and match and use melted Nougat Chocolate
for the cookie dough and hazelnut spread for the filling!
The best thing about these Stuffed German Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies is the molten hazelnut centre. In the picture, you see how the chocolate hazelnut centre looks in hazelnut cookies that have come to room temperature, so you don’t need to eat them warm in order to have a soft filling.
You could, of course – I am sure they would be delicious.
How do I store these Stuffed German Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies?
For storing these German Christmas Cookies, I recommend metal tins or plastic containers with a tight-fitting lid. That way, they keep for up to 3 weeks.
My product recommendations for this German Christmas Cookie recipe:
 Rigoni Di Asiago Nocciolata...Shop on Amazon |
 Ritter Sport Nougat-Pack of...Shop on Amazon |
 Viba Schicht-Nougat Chocola...Shop on Amazon |
 My Berlin Kitchen: Adventur...Shop on Amazon |
A note about affiliate links in this post: some of these links will take you to Amazon where I may receive a small percentage of sales, at no extra cost to you
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Stuffed German Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies (Nougat Balls)
These melt-in-your-mouth Hazelnut Chocolate Cookies with a creamy hazelnut centre are one of my favourite German Christmas Cookies. The secret ingredient is nougat, an easy-to-make hazelnut-chocolate-paste.
Ingredients
For the cookie dough
- 200 g Nougat , nougat chocolate or chocolate hazelnut spread see text for recipe
- 100 g soft butter
- 1 large egg
- 250 g flour
- 50 g cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- 1/4 tsp chili powder optional
for the filling
- 200 g nougat or high-quality chocolate hazelnut spread
for decoration
- 50 g dark chocolate
Instructions
-
Heat 200 g nougat or nougat chocolate in the microwave just until it can be stirred to a smooth paste. It should not be hot, so let it cool down if needed.
-
Beat the butter for about 2 minutes, then slowly add the nougat to the butter while continuing to whisk. Add the egg and stir until combined. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and combine everything into a smooth dough. Dump the dough onto a large piece of clingfilm and shape into a 40 cm roll. Wrap tightly in clingfilm and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.
-
Cut the nougat or nougat chocolate into 50 little pieces and refrigerate.
-
Preheat the oven to 180 and prepare 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
-
Cut the cookie dough roll into 50 slices. Place a piece of nougat in the middle and shape the dough into a smooth ball, rolling it between your palm. Place on the cookie sheets and freeze for about 7 minutes. Then, bake for 14 minutes and let cool completely.
-
Melt the chocolate in the microwave and spoon it into a freezer bag or a piping bag. Cut a tiny hole into the tip of the piping bag and decorate the cookies with chocolate.
SPANNEND mit CHILLI,,,,
schoooo gedruckt,,,,freu,,freu
wünsch da no ah feine WEIHNACHTSZEIT
bis bald de BIRGIT
Hi, just wondering if it is correct that there is no extra sugar added to the dough? Thanks!
Ich bin ja nicht soooo die Naschkatze. Aber bei den Dingern kann ich mich nur schwer zurück halten….. Die sind wirklich krass ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Hallo, das liest sich ja superlecker und scheint relativ zügig machbar zu sein, will ich auf jeden Fall mal probieren! Allerdings habe ich ja ein paar Fragen:
1. Kann ich anstelle Vanillezucker auch echte Bourbonvanillenmark mit Zucker mischen?
2. Ich verstehe nicht, warum das erste Blech mit den ersten 25 Nougatkugeln für 5-8 Minuten ins Gefrierfach muss? Ich vermute mal, damit die nicht zerfliessen oder der Nougat etwas resistenter ist gegen die Backhitze danach? Ansonsten wüsste ich nicht, wieso das nicht gleich gebacken werden kann 🙂
3. Dasselbe gilt dann auch für das zweite Blech, ja? Also ich muss das dann auch 5-8 Minuten ins Gefrierfach tun?
Danke und schöne Grüße!
Rezept ist ausgedruckt! Das hört sich wirklich sensationell an 🙂
LG
Mona
Blöde Frage vielleicht aber sind die beide Nougat in der Zutaten Liste Schnittnougat? Also kein Nutella? Danke
Lese jetzt: Schnittnougat oder Nut… mhm.. hier gibts ja beides. Aber Schokoladenaufstrich ist ja aus dem Glas schon viel flüssiger. Macht es keinen Unterschied im Rezept?
(Suche schon eine Weile ein Rezept für einen Nougatfanfreund. Das hört sich hier doch perfekt an 🙂
Hallo,
Habe dein Rezept gerade ausprobiert und die Nougatkugeln schmecken wirklich superlecker! Vielen Dank!
Das Rezept hört sich super an, danke!!
Werde es heute gleich mal probieren.
Nur eine Frage: gehen die Plätzchen im Backofen sehr auseinander (nur damit ich weiß, wie viel Abstand ich lassen muss (habe leider nur ein Backblech))
Liebe Grüße
Nicky
Hallo in die Runde,
Ich hab in den Teig nur 100g Nougat (hatte noch Reste) dafür noch Reste von Zartbitter Kuvertüre und 2 TL Kakaopulver und keinen Zucker! Das geht sehr gut und so ist der Teig angenehm unsüss…
Die Plätzchen sind echt die Wucht!!! Danke!
Das klingt total lecker! 🙂 Ich frage mich grade nur, was mit ‘warmer’ Butter gemeint ist, da das Ei ja nur zimmerwarm sein soll.
Reicht bei der Butter auch Zimmertemperatur, oder muss sie in der Mikrowelle aufgewärmt und flüssig gemacht werden, damit sie warm ist?
Danke für die Antwort. 🙂