German Hazelnut Meringue Cookies
These elegant German Hazelnut Cookies filled with hazelnut meringue and chocolate chips are a traditional German Christmas cookie that is served all through the holiday season.
Ingredients
For the cookie dough
- 200 g butter at room temperature
- 125 g sugar
- 1 egg
- 300 g flour
- 100 g ground hazelnuts
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the filling
- 3 egg whites
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 100 g powdered sugar
- 150 -200 g chopped hazelnuts
- 120 g ground hazelnuts
- 100 g chocolate chips or toffee bits or butterscotch chips
Instructions
For the cookie dough:
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Cream butter and sugar for 5 minutes, add the egg and stir to combine. Mix all the dry ingredients and add to the butter mix. Combine until a smooth batter forms. Dump onto a a layer of cling film, cover with another layer of cling film and shape into a disk. Wrap and chill for 2 hours.
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Let the dough warm up at room temperature for about 5 minutes before rolling it out, especially if it was chilled for a long time.
For the filling
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Whisk egg whites with salt and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add icing sugar bit by bit while continuing to whisk until very stiff peaks form. Fold in the ground and chopped nuts along with chocolate chips using a rubber spatula.
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Preheat oven to 200 C or 392 F and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
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Roll out your pastry to about 4 mm and cut out circles with a round cookie cutter (mine was 10 cm). Spoon a heaping tablespoon of hazelnut meringue onto one half of the circle and fold the upper half over the filling. The filling should peek out the front. It will not run out while baking. The cookies should not be closed or sealed.
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Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, then take out off the oven and let cool on the tray. Dust with icing sugar and store in metal tins. They keep for 2 weeks.
Recipe Notes
- For best results, buy raw hazelnuts, toast them in the oven, let cool and grind them yourself.
- When baking alone, I roll the cookie dough out before making the filling and chill it on a baking tray in the fridge, covered with a piece of parchment paper. That way I can assemble the cookies as soon as the filling is done.
- If your dough is cracking when you're trying to roll it out, it might be too cold. Leave it at room temperature for another 3 to 5 minutes and try again.
- Roll the dough between 2 layers of cling film to avoid sticking.
- Mini chocolate chips work especially well in this recipe, but regular size is ok as well.
- Don't overbake these. They should not turn too brown. Mine are usually done after 12 minutes and they will still bake a bit on the hot tray once you take them out.