It’s almost Christmas and being half German I am obviously in the Christmas Biscuit Baking mood! This year I tried out this new recipe for Nuss Nougat Plätzchen! These Nuss Nougat Plätzchen are chocolate and hazelnut-flavoured biscuits that are sandwiched with German Nut Nougat (a bit like firm Nutella) and then have their ends dipped in more dark chocolate!
I really love these Nuss N0ugat Plätzchen and I think they will become a future staple in my German Christmas biscuits selection in future years! Below, I am sharing with you a few ideas for substituting some of the German ingredients you may not be able to find in your country (as I would as well if I were making these back home in the UK) and the recipe to make about 15 biscuits. However, this recipe is easily doubled or tripled if you want to go big and make them last for longer!
What ingredients do you need to make these Nuss Nougat Plätzchen and what substitutes can you use?
I actually waited to make these Nuss N0ugat Plätzchen until I was in Germany so that I could use some German ingredients! These mainly included ground hazelnuts (I can’t seem to find them in the UK!) and the hazelnut nugat for the filling.
However, you can obviously use alternatives if you cannot buy these ingredients where you live either. If you have a coffee grinder or food processor, you could of course finely grind some whole blanched hazelnuts. You don’t need a lot for the below recipe, so that might be easy enough to do. Alternatively, you could use ground almonds. This will alter the taste slightly, but chocolate and almond is almost as good as chocolate and hazelnut! 😉
Nuss-Nougat (nut-nougat) is something I have only ever seen sold in Germany. Nuss-Nougat is not like the French nougat which is white and made with sugar and nuts into a chewy bar. Instead, it’s a firm chocolate and hazelnut paste – think of it as a firm version of Nutella! Firm but not solid like a block of chocolate. It’s hard to describe, but basically you can melt it as you would chocolate, use it to sandwich the biscuits together, and it will harden again once cooled. As a substitute to this, you could therefore use Nutella (or any other chocolate and hazelnut spread), the only thing is that it won’t set at room temperature. However, the melted chocolate either end of the biscuit is dunked in will set, so that should hold everything in place!
More German Christmas Biscuits
Making biscuits, known as “Plätzchen” are a big thing at Christmas time in Germany! There are so many different types of Plätzchen out there, and every family has their own traditions and favourite recipes. Below, you can see some of my absolute favourites, and I’d definitely recommend checking some of those out, too!
- Vanilla Crescents | “Vanillekipferl”
- Traditional Scottish Shortbread Recipe
- Gingerbread Men
- Hazelnut Shortbread with Dark Chocolate “Haselnussbrot”
- Chocolate Orange Crescents | Schoko Orangen Kipferl
- Coconut Macarons | Kokosmakronen
- Spritzgebäck | German Piped Christmas Biscuits
- German “Baumkuchenspitzen” with Rum
- Salted Peanut and Apricot Florentines
- Christmas Light Cookies
- Coconut Star Christmas Biscuits
- German Schwarz-Weiß Gebäck | Checkerboard and Pinwheel Biscuits
- German Lebkuchen (Elisenlebkuchen) | Traditional German Gingerbread
Nuss Nougat Plätzchen | Hazelnut & Chocolate Biscuits | German Christmas Biscuits
Recipe
Ingredients (makes about 15 biscuits, easily doubled):
FOR THE BISCUITS:
- 115g butter or margarine, softened
- 60g icing sugar
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 large egg, yolk only
- 100g flour
- 15g cocoa powder
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 50g ground hazelnuts
TO DECORATE:
- 50g nougat (alternatively, use Nutella or any other chocolate-hazelnut spread)
- 150g dark chocolate
- Small handful of chopped hazelnuts, optional
Method:
- Line two large baking trays with baking paper and set aside until needed.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter for 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add in the icing sugar, and cinnamon and beat for a further 2-3 minutes until smooth.
- Add in the egg yolk and beat well (if you are doubling the recipe, add each egg yolk individually and beat well in between additions).
- Next, mix together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and add them to the bowl. Carefully mix them into the remaining ingredients until just combined. Finally, fold in the ground hazelnuts until everything is smooth and well combined.
- Stand a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle in a large glass and fold the top over the rim of the glass. This will keep the piping bag sturdy while you fill it. Transfer the mix to the piping bag and then push it down until it reaches the nozzle, making sure there are no air pockets.
- Pipe short lines (about 4cm) of biscuit dough onto the prepared trays, making sure you end up with an even number.
- Place the baking trays in a cold place (either the fridge or outside if you live somewhere cold) for 15-20 minutes to allow the dough to firm up. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan.
- Bake the chilled biscuits in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, then remove the biscuits from the oven and leave to cool on the tray for a few minutes to firm up. Carefully transfer the biscuits to a wire cooling rack and leave to cool completely.
- Melt the nougat in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of hot water. Then spread the melted nougat onto the underside of half of the biscuits. If you cannot buy nougat, you can use a chocolate-hazelnut spread. Then take a second biscuit and press it on top to create a sandwich.
- Next, melt the dark chocolate over the water bath. Then dip each end of the sandwiched biscuits in the melted chocolate. Place the biscuits on a sheet of baking paper and wait for the chocolate to set completely before storing the biscuits in an airtight tin.
