Maple Hazelnut Cookies

One of the nice things about cookies is once you've learned a few basic recipes (shortbread, spice, chocolate chip etc) most other recipes are just variations on that theme. Without spending a lot of time becoming a baking expert, you're able to quickly start modifying your own recipes. You get to be creative and almost always the results are totally delicious.

For example, I was at the store the other day and I saw they had hazelnuts in the bulk bins, for not too expensive. I got (probably a little too) excited and bought a bunch. i didn't know what I wanted to do with them but I knew I wanted to make something delicious

So I was thinking, what can I make with hazelnuts. And cookies were the obvious answer. My first thought was to do something with shortbread but I had just made shortbread so I wanted to do something else. I thought I should use some maple syrup too because I love it and it seemed like it would go really well with hazelnuts. I ended up going with a pretty standard recipe, similar to chocolate chip cookies.

They turned out really well, which is always gratifying. And by really well I mean they tasted delicous, which is really the most important thing. Normally I like my cookies straight out of the oven (actually we don't really need to involve the oven at all, cookie batter, yum!), but these I liked after they had been in an airtight container overnight. They softened up a little and were much chewier. I think maybe because I cooked the second batch a bit too long.

I would encourage you to try different flavor combinations. It's a lot of fun and results in cookies, which makes everyone happy.

Maple Hazelnut cookies

1 cup butter, room temp
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped hazelnuts
1. Beat the butter in an electric mixer then cream with sugar and maple syrup.
2. Add eggs and beat until smooth.
3. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Beat slowly until combined.
4. Stir in hazelnuts.
5. Shape by tablespoons into balls and bake in a 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

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