This recipe for Hazelnut Lime Pepper Cookies was sent by a fellow cookie-loving baker named Therese. Therese credits both The Chicago Sun Times and a cookbook author named Gracie Howaniac, who writes for a Wisconsin paper. The Hazelnut Council used to have a version of this recipe, which has a full cup more flour and is much thicker, but we like this thin and chewy version the best.
Old Notes
The cookies, when made with 1 ¼ cups flour, are incredibly thin. When I pulled them out of the oven, I thought maybe I'd left something out. That happens quite often when cooking with a 4 year old. Still, I wanted the cookies to work, so I let them sit on the sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Luckily, after a little cooling, they held their shape.
When the cookies were cool, I broke off a piece. The taste was incredible. The lime flavor was distinct but not overpowering and the pepper gave the cookies a nice little after-bite. All of the flavors just worked really well together.
Melt Chips or Add to Dough
The recipe says to melt the white chocolate and dip the cookies in the white chocolate. My cookies are a little different because I just dumped the chips in with the dough. I wasn't planning on doing that, I just sort of did. Whoops.
Anyway. Here's a picture of my cookies. The flavor combo was so good that I'll definitely try the other version as well.
More Tips
I had a lot of fun making these again for photos and have added some tips.
- You will use 1 cup or about 150 grams of hazelnuts in the dough, then the rest will be sprinkled on top.
- If you don't have freshly ground pepper, you may want to increase the amount to 1 teaspoon total.
- If you are a citrus lover you can increase the lime by a teaspoon.
- The dough is pretty thick, so I recommend dividing it into parts, shaping the parts into long logs/cylinders and cutting off chunks. Roll chunks into balls.
- I noticed quite a difference when baking on different baking sheets and using or not using parchment. The cookies baked up thicker on parchment lined sheets and didn't spread quite as much, while the cookies baked on an ungreased AirBake spread quite a bit (photo below)
- For perfectly round cookies, have an English muffin ring or a hollowed out tomato can can ready. Invert it over any misshapen cookies and scoot it round and round to shape the cookies into perfect circles.
Hazelnut Lime Pepper Cookies (Half Batch)
½ cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (90 grams) -- Go by weight
¾ cup hazelnuts, toasted, finely diced (divided use)
½ teaspoon baking soda
⅜ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
½ cup butter, room temperature (salted)
1 tablespoons finely grated lime peel
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon lime juice
½ cup white chocolate chips (365 brand mini white chips are really good!)
In a medium bowl, combine flour, 1 cup (150 grams) finely chopped hazelnuts, baking soda, pepper, and salt; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream sugar, butter and lime peel on high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg yolks until smooth. Stir in lime juice until blended. Stir in reserved flour/hazelnut mixture until well blended. If you are using white chips, you can add them now, otherwise you can melt them later and dip.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on ungreased baking sheets, 3 inches apart (cookies flatten and spread).
Bake in a 375-degree oven for 10 minutes or until golden. Cool 2 minutes and remove from pan to wire rack to cool.
Meanwhile, melt white chocolate in small bowl in microwave or on stovetop over low heat, stirring every 30 seconds until just melted. Dip edges of cooled cookies into white chocolate and place on wax paper. (or just drizzle white chocolate all over the entire cookie!) Sprinkle with remaining diced hazelnuts.
Recipe
Hazelnut Lime Pepper Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour (180 grams)
- 1 ½ cups hazelnuts toasted, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- 1 cup butter, salted (room temperature) (230 grams)
- 2 tablespoons finely grated lime zest
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Have ready two ungreased baking sheets. For thicker cookies or personal preference, you can line the sheets with parchment. For more spread, do not line the sheets.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, 1 cup finely chopped hazelnuts, baking soda, pepper and salt; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream sugar, butter and lime zest on high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg yolks until smooth. Stir in lime juice until blended. Stir in reserved flour/hazelnut mixture and white chips until well blended.
- This makes a very thick dough. You can shape the dough into balls or try this: divide dough into quarters and make 4 long rolls of dough, then just cut off chunks of dough and shape into balls.
- Place the 1 inch balls on ungreased or parchment lined baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart. The cookies will flatten and spread.
- Bake in a 375-degree oven for 10 minutes or until golden. Cool 2 minutes and remove from pan to wire rack to cool. If your cookies are misshapen, use an inverted can, English muffin ring or small bowl to round them out (see note).
- Meanwhile, melt white chocolate in small bowl in microwave or on stovetop over low heat, stirring every 30 seconds until just melted. Dip edges of cooled cookies into white chocolate and place on wax paper. (or just drizzle white chocolate all over the entire cookie) Sprinkle with remaining hazelnuts.
Amy says
They're very good! I definitely like both the flavor combination and the texture.