When I met Rowena from Apron and Sneakers in Rome last month, she introduced me to one of her favorite Italian chocolates, Venchi Nougatine. It was love at first bite for me – the caramelized ground Piedmont hazelnuts covered in 56% dark chocolate are absolutely divine. Needless to say, I visited Venchi Bologna later in the trip to pick up a few more packages of Nougatine to bring home with me.
For these tender and chewy cookies, I mixed in a handful of coarsely chopped Nougatine and then aged the dough overnight to allow the flavors to blend (stash the dough in the back of your refrigerator so you won’t be tempted to dig in early!). The caramelized hazelnuts add a nice brittle texture to the cookies; these are a must-try for chocolate-hazelnut lovers! Now that my jet lag has subsided, I’m ready to fly back just for Nougatine – place your order in the comments ;).
Dark Chocolate & Hazelnut Nougatine Cookies
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
2/3 cup (100 g) Venchi Nougatine, roughly chopped
Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, sugars, and vanilla in a large mixer bowl at medium speed until creamy. Add egg and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture; beat just until incorporated. Fold in Nougatine. Cover dough and refrigerate 24 hours.
When ready to bake cookies, remove dough from refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper. Form 1 1/4″ balls of dough and place two inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
Bake, rotating pans halfway through, for 9 to 10 minutes or until golden. Cool for 2 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.
Yield – 36 cookies (serving size: 1 cookie)
Calories – 70
Carbs – 8
I have never had nougatine but it sounds fabulous! These cookies look scrumptious!
Freaking amazing. I seriously need to get my hands on those nougatines!
I’ll happily fly over with you for some Nougatines! :D These cookies are beautiful…they look so chewy!
Hi Laura! I’ll fly back with you for the nougatine,lol!
Your cookies look delightful;-)
Oh my! I adore how you brought home a piece of Italy to share with us!
What an amazing cookie for a splendid food memory! Now if I could only locate some of those nougatines!
I’ve never had nougatine but it sounds delicious! I need to find some of those for myself!
Ahhhh Italy! And its chocolates!! I need these cookies in my life…they look incredible.
This is kinda funny, we made tons of nougatine in class last week. It looks like I may be making some cookies with it this week.
In my head chocolate and hazelnut are just the perfect pair. These cookies look amazing Laura!
Oh these cookies look amazing, but I don’t think we have those sweets in Australia??? I love the fact that you have produced a calorie calculation for the cookie too, very important :)
Sounds fabulous Laura, I know I would love this candies and the cookies. Chewy and crunchy is so good in a cookie!
How on earth have I never heard of nougatine before in all my years traveling to Rome? I want to fly there JUST to buy this, but am SO relieved you can order it online. I am certain these cookies are incredible. So glad you had a great time in Italy and how fun that you met Rowena!
Laura, it makes me so happy that you loved the nougatines enough to buy some more to take home and you even used them in a cookie recipe!!! What a talented person you are! My pack is almost finishing because once I start eating one, I end up eating way too much! I’m currently using them as a prize and incentive for my daughter to finish her meals. It’s working very well. :-) Going back to Eataly soon again to stock up so I can also try your recipe. Thanks!
Gorgeous gorgeous cookies Laura! I’m going to check the Italian shop for some nougatines. Wish I had a couple to dip into my coffee.
Laura, those cookies are so delicious looking and your pictures lately making me crave sweets more and more! Well done!
I’ll take a dozen please. ;) These are absolutely fabulous Laura!
Fab cookies. I’m trying to decide which ones I’m going to make for Christmas and I think these are IN. :)
I’m so jealous! My sister worked in Italy for almost two years and last year when I visited her back in Romania she had kept some of these nougatine for me. Oh my! They are addictive! Now I want some more!
Great idea to add them to cookies, mmm
What a delightfully delicious cookie! I’d be happy to go with your to Italy to bring back some nougatine…I’m just SURE you’ll need my assistance, right???
I have a couple of great Italian markets here in Mpls and I wonder if I could find Nougatine at one of them? After laying eyes on these cookies, the search is on!
Beautiful photos! And the cookies sound incredible.
Oh what a lovely treat, those noughats look delicious:-). You cookies look ooey gooey……AND well AWESOME! Hugs,Terra
The nougatine sounds amazing. I have been in my husbands ear to plan a food tour of Italy for a while. When it finally happens, I am seeking some of these out!
This sounds YUMMMMmmmmm! Its so fabulous! Thanks ton for sharing.
These look like they’d have such a gorgeous flavour to them! :)
I was looking forward to reading this post from picture you posted! Ahh you need special Nougatine to make this!? Okay, I’m coming with you! I’ll bring extra suitcase for all the goodies. Seriously, your cookies look so delicious. With the dark background and lighting on the cookies, this shot is one of my favorite pictures of yours. Wish I could make these here.
I love the idea of aging the dough though it would be hard to leave it alone. This is a great idea to use the rest of the nougat.
I’ll take a case of nougatine please, I can borrow you an extra suitcase if you need one :). Laura these look amazing and how fun that they were inspired by your travels! Thanks for sharing.
all i know is, these look effing amazing. i love that you left the batter in the fridge overnight for some mingling of ingredients — it’s my fave way to make homemade choc chip cookies.
I think you’ll need help carrying all the nougatine back with you so I’ll generously volunteer to fly back with you. :)
Wow, these cookies look awesome–I don’t get excited by cookies very often but your description has me wishing I had a batch with me now. :)
These look beyond delicious.
I wonder why hazelnut is not as popular here as it is in Italy – it’s so tasty and perfect with all chocolates and sweets! You probably should consider deliveries – seriously! :)
These are absolutely stunning. I just can’t get over how pretty they are!
They look rich and sophisticated and love the aged dough for flavors to marry!
I adore Venchi nougatine! I get it here in Toronto from the Pristine family and the Pasquale family, who both own their Italian specialty stores! I will definitely try out your recipe, and maybe even make cupcakes out of them?? LOL!
I have never had Venchi nougatine before but now I need to try this delight. So cool that you met Rowena in person – how fun. These cookies look and sound amazing!!!
Venchi makes the most incredible chocolate. There is a gelateria here that sells their chocolate (lucky me!).But I wouldn’t mind going back to Italian to get a box;)LOVE these cookies, Laura:)
I can see myself transported to Italy with these cookies! So perfect for the holiday season and i thank you!
Ciao,
Roz
These sound incredible – I love that chewy texture! I need to find some good quality nougatine and then I am making these beauties!
These look like some seriously good cookies! I need to get my hands on some of that nougatine. Perhaps I can convince my husband to take a trip to italy for them :)
I’ve never heard of Nougatine (not surprisingly, I’ve barely been out of California, haha) but it sounds like a scrumptious candy, and then put into these dark chocolate cookies–heavenly! I’m so happy you had an awesome trip to Rome, girl!
Perfect for the cookie exchange!
The texture of these looks absolutely perfect! I can tell just by looking at these (oh yeah, and from the fact that they contain both chocolate and hazelnut…my favorite combination) that I would need to eat at least 5 in one sitting.
I think I need to get my hands on some of that nougatine, not to mention these cookies!
I am so jealous you got to meet up with Rowena. What a great cookie – I want those nougatine!
1st off – I’m SO happy I found your gorgeous blog!!! Now onto these cookies… whoa!!! So stunning.
I like the texture of the cookies and it sounds like something to definitely give a try!
Your cookies look amazing!
I love the flavors of chocolate and hazelnut, so I’m sure I’ll LOVE these cookies!
I haven’t heard of nougatine either. What a gorgeous cookie! Looks like you were definitely inspired by your trip to Italy!
Hazelnut nougatine?! Incredible! Probably the depth of the flavors in these cookies is so rich, elegant. Very sophisticated yet they look deceivingly simple. Beautiful!
LOVE nougats! “tis the season for baking cookies!! Can’t wait to get back to Orlando and do just that. Meantime, I’ll keep drooling over this recipe :D
Dark chocolate and hazelnut….mmm that is my idea of heaven. These cookies look amazing.
I love that chewy texture. I have never had nougatine but can’t wait to try it after the way you described it! :)
Hi, I like hazelnuts and I really like your cookies. I love making cookeis, especially at Chirstmas time, and give them away as present… this is what we do in Italy.
Ciao.