My ex-chef friend, Clare, introduced me to these little babies. They are amaaaazing. Chocolately and nutty and chewy and…oh my.

A word of warning. If you’re a mum, do not make them ‘for the kids’. They have nuts so are not school friendly. This means that they will sit there tempting you whenever you are alone in the house and you will eat them all. I speak from experience.

These days, I only make them for work morning teas and when I’m catering for a crowd…it’s safer that way!

what you need

125g unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
1/2 firmly packed cup (100g) brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/4 cups (110g) rolled oats
1 cup (150g) plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
175g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
150g roasted hazelnuts, peeled, chopped

what to do

Preheat the oven to 170C. Line three baking trays with baking paper.

Using electric beaters, beat butter, sugars and vanilla until pale and thick. Beat in egg until just combined. Using a wooden spoon, fold in oats. Sift flour, baking powder, soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt over the mixture, then fold in. When almost incorporated, fold in the chocolate and hazelnuts.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop balls of dough (about one heaped teaspoon) onto the prepared trays 4cm apart. Flatten slightly, then bake (in two batches) for about 10 minutes or until golden. The cookies will feel soft but will crisp as they cool.

tip

Don’t be discouraged at the thought of peeling hazelnuts – there’s a really easy way. Just roast them off in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until they’re aromatic and lightly toasted and the skins have started to crack.

Then just tip them onto a clean tea towel, gather up the ends of the cloth so no nuts escape, and give them a good rub them with the tea towel. This will remove the skins easy peasy!