How to Make Iginio Massari's Danish Cookies: The Best Chocolate Cookies You've Ever Tasted

A rich dough made with butter and hazelnut flour, shaped into sticks and topped with dark chocolate: this is the secret behind Iginio Massari’s famous Danish pastries, perfected through the master pastry chef’s technique.

Danish Hazelnut and Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 300 g 00 flour (sifted)
• 170 g softened butter
• 170 g powdered sugar
• 150 g hazelnut flour
• 100 g eggs (about 2 medium eggs)
• 80 g whole milk
• 80 g dark chocolate chips
• 2 g fine salt
• 1 vanilla bean (seeds only)

For decoration (optional):

• 200 g dark chocolate (to be tempered)

Instructions

1. Preparing the Dough

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, attach the K-beater (paddle attachment). Add the softened butter, powdered sugar, the seeds scraped from the vanilla bean, and the salt.
2. Start mixing at the lowest speed to combine the ingredients, then increase the speed until the mixture is light, fluffy, and airy.
3. Add the first egg and wait until it’s fully incorporated. Next, add a small portion of the hazelnut flour.
4. Once it is fully incorporated, add the remaining hazelnut flour, followed immediately by the second egg.
5. Once everything is well combined, pour in half the milk.
6. Gradually add the 00 flour (already sifted), one tablespoon at a time.
7. Finally, add the remaining milk and mix until the batter is creamy and smooth.
8. Add the dark chocolate chips and stir just enough to distribute them evenly.

Note: While mixing, use a silicone spatula (Marisa) to scrape the batter from the sides of the bowl.

2. Shaping and Baking

1. Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a 1-cm plain tip.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and shape the cookies into straight sticks about 5 cm long.
3. Bake in a preheated conventional oven at 180 °C for 20 minutes.
4. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool completely before decorating.

3. Decorating

1. Melt and temper the dark chocolate for the coating.
2. Take the cooled cookies and dip one end into the melted chocolate (you can dip them halfway along the long side, the short side, or diagonally).
3. Drain off the excess chocolate by gently scraping the cookie against the edge of the bowl.
4. Place the decorated cookies on a tray lined with parchment paper or on a cooling rack.
5. Let them rest in a cool place until the chocolate coating has completely hardened.

Tips and Variations

• Nuts: Hazelnut flour can be replaced with the flour of almost any other nut (e.g., almonds or pistachios). Just avoid walnuts, as they would be too fatty and have a flavor that’s too overpowering for this recipe.

Iginio Massari’s website