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Pastries and Cookies

Crunchy Nutcracker Cookies with Caramel and Chocolate, Just Like from the Pastry Shop

by Lisa

Trained pastry chef

Round caramel hazelnut nutcracker cookies with a chocolate-coated back

4.6 (10)out of 5, 10 ratings

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Prep
5 min
Bake
18 min
Total
23 min
Makes
25 pieces

As soon as the caramel nut mixture starts to bubble in the pot and the smell of caramel fills the whole kitchen, I remember why I love these nutcrackers so much. Known in Germany as Nussknacker, they are a classic long-keeping cookie made with roasted hazelnuts, a close relative of Florentines, only rounder, crunchier and with a really lovely chocolate back. If you ask me, this is exactly the kind of cookie that slowly gets you in the mood for the holiday season without being too Christmassy yet.

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What makes this recipe special is the combination of just five ingredients and a little trick when coating: I coat the cookies twice with couverture chocolate (a chocolate with a high cocoa butter content that melts smoothly for coating; in the US use good-quality baking chocolate bars or couverture wafers, not chocolate chips; in the UK couverture chocolate or a good-quality cooking chocolate bar), so nothing shows through on the back and the chocolate sits nice and thick. The first coat seals the underside smoothly, and the second coat gets the pattern from a cake comb. One thing is still important, or your cookies will turn out crooked: work on a completely flat baking sheet with a reusable baking mat, otherwise the caramel nut mixture spreads out unevenly. Here is my recipe for crunchy nutcrackers with caramel and chocolate:

Ingredients

Makes 25 pieces

  • ½ cup plus 2 tbsp120 ggranulated sugar
  • 2 ½ tbsp40 gheavy creamGerman cream for whipping has about 30 to 32 percent fat. In the US use heavy cream or heavy whipping cream; in the UK, whipping cream (double cream also works but whips faster, so watch it).
  • 2 ½ tbsp50 ghoney
  • 3 ½ tbsp50 gunsalted butterGerman butter is unsalted and has about 82 percent fat. In the US use unsalted butter; European-style unsalted butter is closest. In the UK, unsalted butter.
  • 14 oz400 ghazelnutsskinned (important!)

Method

  1. To skin the nuts, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) convection (fan) and spread the nuts in a baking dish or on a baking sheet.

  2. Roast the nuts for about 20 minutes, until your kitchen smells wonderful, then let them cool completely.

  3. To skin them, put the nuts on a kitchen towel, gather it up into a bag and rub the nuts firmly against each other inside it.

  4. Once the nuts are skinned, shake off the skins and set the nuts aside.

  5. Preheat the oven again to 350°F (180°C) convection (fan). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

  6. For the caramel nut mixture, bring the remaining ingredients to a rolling boil in a pot over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the nuts and stir them in.

  7. Turn the stove down to the lowest setting and place small portions of the mixture on the baking sheet. Stir the mixture in the pot regularly so it doesn't burn. If the mixture gets too firm, turn up the heat a little and wait until everything is warm again.

  8. After baking, use a greased round cookie cutter to twist the nutcrackers back into shape right on the baking sheet, then let them cool. Do this immediately after baking, while the caramel nut mixture is still hot!

  9. Let the nutcrackers cool completely before coating them!

Questions and answers

What exactly are nutcrackers as a cookie?
Nutcrackers are a classic long-keeping German cookie made from a caramel mixture with roasted nuts, coated with couverture chocolate on the back. They are closely related to Florentines, just a little rounder and often made with hazelnuts instead of almonds. A typical Christmas cookie that keeps for a long time.
Can I replace the hazelnuts with other nuts?
Absolutely. If you have an allergy or simply prefer something else, you can swap the hazelnuts for almonds, walnuts or a mix. The only important thing is that the nuts are roasted first and skinned if possible, so the caramel mixture holds together nicely with them.
Why should the hazelnuts for the nutcrackers be skinned?
Hazelnut skins add bitterness and come off unpleasantly when you bite into the cookie. When I roast the nuts briefly in the oven first, the skins crack and I can rub them off really easily. That gives the caramel mixture a rounder flavor and keeps the cookies looking neat.
How long do the nutcrackers keep?
Nutcrackers are a true long-keeping cookie. In a dry cookie tin with a lid they easily keep for a few weeks, so they will last until the first Sunday of Advent with no trouble. It's important that the chocolate is completely set before you close the tin and that the tin is kept somewhere dry, otherwise the caramel absorbs moisture.
What can I do if the nutcrackers spread out in the oven?
Don't worry, that almost always happens a little. I take a round cookie cutter or tart ring, dip it briefly into a small bowl with a little oil and run it around the outside of each mound while it is still warm. That pulls the nutcrackers back into a nice shape on their caramel base.
Can I coat them without tempered couverture?
Yes, definitely. If you don't feel comfortable tempering, you can simply use chocolate cake coating (a ready-made compound chocolate coating that sets glossy without tempering; in the US chocolate candy melts or compound coating, or chocolate melted with a little coconut oil; in the UK chocolate cake covering, or chocolate melted with a little coconut oil) or a good chocolate bar that melts and sets just as firmly. My trick of coating them twice works just as well this way, and the chocolate back turns out nice and thick and glossy.