A fun and delicious recipe for Nutella and Hazelnut Rolled Biscotti topped with sugar granules. These orange scented, once baked biscotti are made with pasta frolla, which is basically an Italian sweet pastry dough. It renders these Italian filled cookies ever so tender with a crumbly bite.
As family and friends know me well…I LOVE to bake cookies. As you can attest to the many cookie recipes on my blog! So it’s pretty safe to say that this is my favourite time of the year.
These pre-holiday days are a prelude to all the sweet delectable treats just waiting to happen.
So when recently a colleague of mine asked if I had a Nutella cookie recipe…well I knew it wouldn’t be long before one made an appearance here!
These hazelnut biscotti filled with Nutella stand apart from the more traditional twice baked variety.
For one, they’re made with an Italian sweet pastry dough. This type of dough is often used in Italian baking to make crostata, tarts and even cookies.
It’s quite easy to make and you can use a stand mixer, a food processor or simply your hands.
Also, notably different is that the dough is rolled out flat, spread with Nutella, re-rolled into a log and baked once.
Let me tell you friends…the Nutella filling makes for one heavenly hazelnut biscotti recipe.
You’ll find the Nutella’s unique creaminess makes it a perfect spreadable concoction over this rolled out biscotti dough.
How to Make Pasta Frolla for Nutella and Hazelnut Rolled Cookies
- Place the flour, finely ground hazelnuts, sugar, baking powder, salt and orange zest in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- With the paddle attachment stir to combine.
- Alternately, you can use a food processor to follow the same directions. Simply pulse to combine.
- Add in the cold cubed butter.
- With the paddle attachment, mix on medium low speed until you achieve a coarse sandy consistency. If there’s a few larger pieces that’s ok.
- Mix in the slightly beaten eggs along with both the vanilla and amaretto extracts until well combined.
- You will have a soft workable dough ready to be divided into two fairly equal portions.
How to Shape Nutella and Hazelnut Rolled Biscotti
To shape and fill these Italian rolled cookies is really quite simple.
You’ll need a rolling pin and two sheets of wax or parchment paper to easily shape and roll the stuffed biscotti.
Also have ready a parchment lined cookie sheet standing nearby so you can easily transfer the biscotti logs onto the baking sheet.
Now we’re ready to roll these Italian chocolate filled cookies!
- Divide the biscotti dough into 2 portions.
- Working with one piece of dough at a time, keep the other piece covered with cling wrap so it doesn’t dry out.
- On a work surface, roll out the piece of dough between two sheets of wax paper to approximately 12 inches long, six inches wide and about 1/4 inch thick.
- Remove the top sheet of wax paper while leaving the bottom sheet underneath the rolled dough. (you’ll be using it to help roll the biscotti log)
- Spread some Nutella over the rolled out dough to about a half inch off the edges.
How to Roll Nutella Biscotti
- Start rolling the log from the longest width with the help of the wax paper underneath it by lifting the paper up and easing the dough over the Nutella.
- Continue rolling by hanging on to the wax paper as you roll.
- Seal the edges by pinching the dough together and tucking them underneath.
- With the help of the wax paper, lift and transfer the logs onto the prepared baking sheet, seam side down.
- Make sure to leave enough room between the 2 logs because they will spread out somewhat.
- Brush the biscotti logs with the beaten egg white. This helps the decorative sugar granules to adhere and gives the Nutella biscotti a lovely sheen.
- Alternately, you can substitute the decorative granular sugar with Sanding or Turbinado sugar or not.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for approximately 35 minutes.
- The Nutella biscotti will be golden brown in colour when ready and will feel firm to the touch.
This is a delicate dough so you’ll need to allow the Nutella cookies sufficient time to cool off before slicing.
I let them cool off by placing the cookie tray directly over a cooling rack for about 20 to 30 minutes.
This way you’ll get nice neat cuts when slicing the cookies.
I wouldn’t recommend a serrated knife for these rolled cookies because they’ll easily break apart.
Do use a sharp sturdy knife with the tip pointed downwards to make swift fluid cuts.
Also, you can slice them at a diagonal or straight up. Diagonally cut biscotti will yield more of an elongated shaped cookie. It’s just a matter of preference!
What can I use instead of Nutella
If you’re not a fan of Nutella…well we might just have to reconsider our friendship!
But all kidding aside, you can replace the Nutella for any chocolate spread of your choice. And nowadays that’s saying a lot as there are so many to choose from.
Peanut butter would also work and is just wonderful in these Chocolate Peanut Butter Biscotti.
Jams also make a perfect substitute and is my choice when baking Italian Bocconotti Cookies which are also made with an Italian pastry dough.
How Long Do Biscotti Keep
Because of the higher fat content in these Nutella and Hazelnut Rolled Biscotti they’ll have a shorter shelf life then ones made with a little or no fat.
Biscotti with no fat, such as butters or oils, tend to keep for about a month in an airtight container. Whereas ones with little fat content usually keep for about 2 weeks.
These Nutella filled biscotti are at their freshest stored in an airtight container for up to one week for optimal flavour. However, at my house they only last a few days.
They’re all perfectly delicious and perfectly dunkable.
Happy Baking!
Nutella and Hazelnut Rolled Biscotti
Ingredients
- 2¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole roasted hazelnuts (see notes below) (finely ground)
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (I used fine sea salt)
- orange zest (from a medium size orange)
- 3/4 cup cold butter (cubbed)
- 2 large eggs (lightly beaten)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon amaretto extract
Biscotti Filling
- 2/3 cup Nutella (or any hazelnut spread of choice)
Topping for Biscotti
- beaten egg white (from a large egg)
- 1/2 cup sugar granules (optional)
Instructions
- Place the flour, hazelnuts, sugar, baking powder, salt and orange zest directly in the bowl of a stand mixer and stir to combine.
- Add in the cubed butter and mix together till you get a sandy texture.
- Mix in the beaten eggs and extracts until well combined and you have a soft workable dough.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces.
- Work with one piece at a time while keeping the other covered.
- Place one piece of dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper.
- Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to approximately 12 inches long and 6 inches wide. And, approximately 1/4 inch thick.
- Remove the top parchment paper while keeping the bottom one in place.
- Spread half of the Nutella over the dough till about a 1/2 inch from the edge.
- Gently start rolling the log from the longest width with the help of the wax paper underneath it by lifting the paper up and easing the dough over the Nutella.
- Continue rolling by hanging on to the wax paper as you roll.
- Seal the edges by pinching the dough together and tucking them underneath.
- With the help of the wax paper, lift and transfer the log onto the prepared baking sheet, seam side down.
- Repeat with the remaining piece of dough.
- Make sure to leave enough room between the 2 logs because they will spread out somewhat.
- Brush the tops of the logs with the beaten egg whites.
- Sprinkle the tops of the biscotti logs with the sugar granules.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F., for approximately 35 minutes.
- When ready the biscotti logs will have a deep golden brown colour and will feel firm to the touch.
- Allow the biscotti logs to cool for about 20 to 30 minutes before slicing into 1 inch slices.
- Cool completely before storing in an air tight container.
Lou burns says
Nutella lovers, this cookie is delicious and easy to make. Thanks so much, I will file this recipe under a 5star rating and make it often.
Loulou
Marisa says
Thanks so much Lou! I’m happy to hear this and yes it’s definitely a must try for Nutella lovers! We can never get enough of these biscotti…they’re a keeper!
Janice says
Can one make this without adding hazelnuts to the flour?
Marisa says
Hi Janice since I’ve only ever made these cookies with the addition of ground hazelnuts I can’t say with certainty! You may simply need to replace the hazelnuts with a little more flour!
Marysol Espinosa says
Nice recipe, but I have a question, do I bake the biscotti again after cutting the logs?
Marisa says
Hi! No, these biscotti only have one bake. Enjoy!
Maria Cicero says
Love these cookies, easy to make. Definitely a 5 star keeper.
Marisa says
Thanks so much Maria! It’s one of those cookies that disappear in a flash!
Sally says
I’m afraid to try these because they’re not twice baked as a biscotti should be. They sound good though.
Marisa says
Growing up all cookies were called biscotto which is the singular form and also a generic term for us.
These have more of a butter content than the usual twice baked biscotti and they’re not much different than baking a regular buttery cookie.
Baking these twice would be over baking them and not quite the same end result.
We love them and I hope you get to try them!
Thanks for dropping by and commenting!
ehn says
awesome and very easy despite rolling out dough. Only suggestion is that in step 6, the bottom sheet of paper is parchment, while in step 10, it is waxed paper. Tried both, found wax paper on bottom and parchment on top worked best.
Marisa says
Thanks so much for your feed back! I actually used parchment paper but will definitely try the wax paper next time. And I’ll correct that type-o.
Stefanie says
Do you think I could sub almond flour for crushed hazelnuts?
Marisa says
Hi Stefanie, although I haven’t tried it with almond flour I don’t see why not. Just not sure if it’s equal part ratio to the ground hazelnuts. If you give it a go, let me know how it turns out!
Marisa says
Simply delicious! First time making these and they instantly became part of my ‘redo’ list. I used left over jams (one log with pear & cranberry and the other log with sour cherry jam) and they were just spectacular. The cookie dough is exactly how you described, tender and crumbly. The orange zest reminds me of childhood cookies my mom used to bake. Thank you again for sharing this recipe
Marisa says
You’re very welcome Marisa! So happy to hear you love them and that jam variation sounds delightful. Thank you for commenting!
Carla says
The cookies are delicious but not sure why the top of the cookie log cracks There are no cracks when rolled out. Not sure what I am doing wrong?
Marisa says
Carla, you are not doing anything wrong! The biscotti dough is naturally prone to cracking and leaves a distinctive cracked appearance.
julie says
What is the measurement after the hazelnuts are already ground? I want to substitute already ground hazelnuts for the whole ones.
Marisa says
Julie round it off to 2/3 cup finely ground hazelnuts.
Theresa says
just wondering if you could make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate it till ready to use?
Marisa says
Theresa, you can make the dough the day before you’re ready to bake and allow the dough to come to room temperature before rolling.
Crissy says
Hi Marisa, these (once baked) biscotti were so delicious, they have become my new favourite! I will definitely be making these on repeat. Thankyou so much!
Marisa says
Hi Crissy, who can resist a Nutella-filled biscotti?!
Maria Cicero says
can I use gluten flour free for this recipe?
Marisa says
Maria, I haven’t tried it with GF, so I couldn’t say. But if you give it a go do let me know.
Robert J Pandola says
A few additions if i may.
1-Its much better to weigh out the dough and evenly split in half.
2- Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or 15 in freezer before rolling.
3- Spray some pam on the wax paper before rolling out dough. Top and bottom.
4- Re-chill dough nutella logs after you assemble and before backing.
It was so much easier to work with the dough after chilling and spraying paper.
Enjoy
Marisa says
Thanks for taking the time to write some excellent tips, Robert. Powdered sugar sprinkled over the wax paper also helps prevent sticking.