Salted Hazelnut Cookies with White Chocolate Filling

Based off of the best cookie I've ever had in Amsterdam at a wonderful place called Van Stapele Koekmakerij. Not a clue how to say that.

~Makes about two dozen cookies~

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 c sugar

1/2 c hazelnut spread

2 eggs

1 t vanilla extract

1/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder

2 c all purpose flour

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1/2 c chocolate chips

1/2 c chopped hazelnuts

white chocolate (pieces, chips, discs, etc.) for filling

coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir by hand or mix the butter and hazelnut spread until combined. Mix in the sugars and then the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and set aside. In a medium bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly incorporate it into the wet batter until combined, then fold in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts. The dough will be sticky! You can refrigerate it if you have more patience than I do so that it will be easier to work with (and see later note about the benefits of the fridge!). Form the dough into equal sized balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet (keeping in mind that these spread quite a bit).

After that, take two white chocolate discs (or whatever you are using) and press the chocolate into the center of each cookie dough ball. Press the dough over the chocolate so it is covered and remains in the center of the dough (they will look more like patties than balls at this point). You can then refrigerate the dough balls for 15 minutes if you'd like, this will harden the butter preventing the dough from spreading as much. I like these cookies chewy, so I let mine spread away! Before placing in the oven, sprinkle each dough mound with a small amount of sea salt. Bake for about 9-12 minutes, depending on your oven.

These are best enjoyed warm so that the white chocolate is nice and melty!