Chocolate Hazelnut Snickerdoodles with Nutella-Biscoff Swirl Frosting

Did you know that Oregon is apparently the spider capital of all the land? Possibly even all the world…although I’m pretty sure China is winning right now because of the lady who had to have a spider removed from her ear.

We are not even going to discuss that, ok?

Anyway, I don’t think it’s official or anything; I have a feeling they (the spider overlords, or the people they command…it’s unclear) don’t want this information getting out, but take it from me, it is.

I can understand their reluctance for people to know about this. I , for one, would have reconsidered moving here if I had known I’d be in a constant state of edgy wariness, fending of a never weakening front line of eight legged troopers.

They’re everywhere. Even when I can’t see them, I can feel their beady eyes watching me, waiting. Waiting for the perfect moment to spring out at me from behind a curtain, or dive bomb me from above. Platoons of them lie in wait around the mailbox, and each morning, the sun glints sinisterly off of the sticky strings of webbing they’ve woven across the yard overnight.

Going outside and avoiding the creepy pulling of tiny spider silk strings across your face and body is like trying to get through one of those laser rooms in a fancy museum heist movie. I’ve had to take up gymnastics just to leave the house.

The spiders of Oregon are ballsy, and they’ve banded together to defeat me. I fear the only way to end the tyranny is to defeat their leader; to cut off the head of the entire regime. Never befor have my fears of spider retaliation seemed so valid.

I will fight on, though. Never give up! Never surrender! (Just ignore the gasp-squealing-scream and shuddering “get it off me” dance…it’s um…ahem…it’s all part of the plan.)

Obviously, this fight will be fueled with cookies. It’s going to a brutal and unrelenting war, so they gotta be good cookies. That’s where snickerdoodles chock full of chocolate chips, hazelnuts, Nutella, and Biscoff come into play. Seriously, the spiders have nothing to compare.

They are, by far, the best reward after the exhausting tax of squirming in the corner while you shout out orders to the Hubster and kiddo on how best to execute the latest spider raider. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it.

When I decided to make these cookies, it was really all based on an irresistible urge to have both Nutella and Biscoff in one dessert. Biscoff flavors have always sort of reminded me of snickerdoodles (one of my very favorite cookies), and to bring the Nutella into the cookie, I added the chocolate and hazelnut, but obviously, I needed actual Biscoff and Nutella in these to make them really awesome. So I made frosting. Of course.

Okay, so I wanted two distinct frostings here (even if you wouldn’t really be able to taste them separately once they were both on the cookie), so I made a Nutella frosting (seriously to die for!!) and a Biscoff frosting (better than the actual Biscoff itself!!). All I did for the frostings was basically use my favorite vanilla buttercream, divide it in half, and add about a half cup of each spread to one of the halves of frosting.

To make the swirled frosting that I was going for, I put each of the two frostings in it’s own bag.

Next, I twisted the ends of the bags together and secured them with a rubber band.

I also secured the opposite ends (loosely, so as to allow the frosting to get out).

Finally, I placed the banded-together bags of frosting inside of a third bag and squeezed the frosting into it. I ended up with a bag of perfectly half and half frosting.

Maybe there’s an easier way to do this, or a way that doesn’t require three separate bags, but this is what I found worked best for me.

Now all I had to do was swirl my swirled frosting onto the cookies. I love the way it turned out; the swirl is fun and the cookies sort of turned out half Nutella on one side and half Biscoff on the other.

Alrighty…now. You could also totally just pipe a swirl of one frosting and follow up with a piped swirl of the other frosting. Even easier, although not quite as cool looking. I guess the cool looking factor doesn’t really apply when you’re going to add another cookie on top…

…like so. It’s still showing a bit, though, and if you didn’t want these to be sandwiches, but just a single cookie with frosting on top, then the swirled look is really a lot of fun.

I preferred these plain, just two cookies filled with all that frosting goodness, but I ended up rolling some of the cookies in more mini chocolate chips, and those were most definitely the kiddo’s favorite. Plus, they look fun, too.

Mmmm! I know that all that swirly twirliness is sort of lost in a sandwich cookie, but I still just think it’s so fun.

If you’re a fan of Nutella and Biscoff, or even just of one or the other, then you’ll really love these cookies. The two flavors together are so much better than I anticipated, and it’s all echoed in the spicy flavors of the snickerdoodles, with their chocolate chips and hazelnuts.

I found that these get better the longer they sit, because the cookies soften up more from the frosting. After a couple of hours, if you can wait that long, the cookies are the perfect texture of slightly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, with a little crunch from the chips and nuts. Then there’s the sweet creaminess of the frosting filling. This is one cookie that I couldn’t stop myself from munching on every time I was near one.

These only took about 30 minutes to prepare (most of that was rolling and coating in cinnamon-sugar), combined with the frosting, and after they’ve baked and cooled, frosting them was a snap. They’re still good even after three days in an airtight container, so you can even make them in advance. Enjoy!

Chocolate Hazelnut Snickerdoodles
with Nutella-Biscoff Frosting
Makes 2 dozen sandwiches (about 2.5″ across)

Ingredients

FOR THE COOKIES

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar, plus 3 tablespoons for coating
2 eggs
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
1 tablespoon cinnamon for coating

FOR THE NUTELLA FROSTING
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (about 5.5 ounces, or 160 grams) Nutella spread
1 1/2 cups (grams) confectioners’ sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 ml) heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

FOR THE BISCOFF FROSTING
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (about 5.5 ounces, or 160 grams) Biscoff spread
1 1/2 cups (grams) confectioners’ sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 ml) heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the cookies:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment or spray with cooking spray

In a large bowl, combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, cream together butter and shortening. Beat in 1 1/2 cups of the sugar until well combined. Scrape your bowl bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, mixing each until well combined. Add half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined then add the remaining flour mixture. Continue beating until everything is incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts.

Combine 3 tablespoons sugar with 1 tablespoon cinnamon for the coating.

With 1 tablespoon of dough at a time, roll into balls and throughly coat with cinnamon-sugar. Place the balls on prepared cookie sheets, leaving plenty of room between each one.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges are just browning and centers are still puffy.

Transfer to a wire cooling rack.

To make the frostings: **If you don’t want to make two separate frostings, you can simply combine the two recipes and make them using the following directions.**

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the butter and Nutella until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the sugar, beating until just combined. Stir in 1 tablespoon of cream and the vanilla, then beat on high speed for 4 minutes. If the frosting is too thick, add more cream, up to 1 tablespoon.

Repeat for the Biscoff frosting.

Assemble: Once the cookies are cooled, swirl the bottoms of half f the cookies with the two frostings. Place another cookie, bottom side down, on top of the frosted cookies. These are better if they rest for a couple of hours, which will soften the cookies slightly.

Recipes by Darla

Tagged as: Biscoff, Chocolate, Chocolate Hazelnut Snickerdoodles, Cookies, Frosting, Hazelnut, Nutella, Nutella Biscoff Swirl Frosting, Recipes, Snickerdoodles