I often suffer from bouts of insufferable insomnia. It’s usually caused by something, of course, like stress or excitement or restlessness. Sometimes it’s just a random night, other times it lasts for a couple of weeks.
Last night I got a total of four hours of sleep, which for me is unheard of. I normally need a good eight hours just to function properly , so needless to say I’m a bit of a zombie this morning.
You know how it is: you’re enjoying your evening on the couch and then you start to doze. You make your way to bed, only to find that you’re suddenly not tired anymore. Lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, until midnight. Fall into a restless sleep. Wake up at 4am and lay there awake – wide awake – counting down the minutes until your alarm goes off. Two hours till my alarm goes off. One hour till my alarm. Dammit, 10 more minutes, might as well get up now.
When I complain to Matt about it he doesn’t understand. “Just shut your brain off and go to sleep”, he says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. I actually hate him sometimes because his ability to fall asleep as soon as he’s horizontal is completely unfair. He can sleep through anything.
I, on the other hand, cannot. Lately I’ve been worried about a few things, and also stressed about life just in general. I’m realizing that most of the things that I want to strive for in my life are virtually impossible to achieve within the next decade. I have no idea how other people do it.
I’d love to be able to buy a detached house (with a yard! What a concept!), but good luck finding one where I want to live for less than a million dollars. The idea of starting a family (something I do want someday) is incredibly daunting when you’re living in a 700-sf apartment.
I’m fairly certain I’m just having a mid-mid-life crisis. Things work out in the end. And as for the things that I’m worried about, well, there’s nothing I can do about them, so I know I shouldn’t wear out my nerves thinking about them. It’s hard not to though, especially when you’re lying in bed for hours with nothing to do but think.
Usually when that happens I try and think about all the things I want to make for the blog. It’s a good distraction! The idea for these cookies came from a sleepless night, and it was really a great idea.
These cookies are thick and soft and chewy and laced with big chunks of hazelnutt-y Ferrero Rochers. Now that’s something to stay awake for!
It took me a few attempts at making these before I discovered the key to keeping the chunks of Ferrero Rochers from melting in the oven (and turning into a big ugly mess) is to freeze them before baking. This ensures they’re cold enough to keep shape while the cookies bake, so you’re left with big, chunky pieces of Ferrero Rochers inside a perfectly chewy cookie. Yum!
| Ferrero Rocher Cookies | | Print |
- 12 Ferrero Rochers
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup butter (1 stick), softened
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Place the Ferrero Rochers in the freezer until firm, about an hour. Remove from freezer and pulse in a food processor (or hit with a hammer in a zip-loc bag) a few times until they're broken into chunky pieces. Be sure not to grind them too finely: you want thick, chunky pieces. Place back in the freezer until ready to use.
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the full egg, then the egg yolk and the vanilla, mixing until smooth. Add flour mixture in three parts, stirring until just combined after each addition.
- Stir in ½ the Ferrero Rocher pieces. Drop tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto prepared baking sheets, spaced 2 inches apart. Place the remaining Ferrero Rocher into the tops of the cookies, pressing them into the dough slightly.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes until edges are nicely browned. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Sorry to hear about your sleepless nights. You must be exhausted! You should know that these cookies are amazing! A very productive night-time idea. Hope you get more rest.
Thanks so much, Suzy! Hey, if staying up all night means I think up cookies like these, it can’t be a bad thing, right? Ps, love your blog, your photos are gorgeous!
In the ingredients list, it says “1 large egg + 1 egg”. Do you mean an egg and an egg yolk?
I apologise! Yes, 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk. Thank you for mentioning this, I’ve updated the recipe.
I’m going to make a batch for Chinese New Year. Thanks for sharing.
How much is a stick of butter, I’m useless if it’s not in grams or oz’s!!@
1 stick of butter is 1/2 a cup, equalling 4 ounces, or 113 grams. Enjoy!
Thanks, giving them a go tonight
Since I always seem to have Ferrero Rocher on hand, I’ve made these a couple times now and they’ve turned out well. I cut back on the flour a bit the second time, since the dough was super-crumbly even before I added the chocolate pieces. Mine don’t look quite as pristine as yours though – when I stir in the chopped chocolates, the truffle centres mix through the dough and the effect is kind of like a fudge marbling. But the taste and texture are fantastic! The perfect gourmet cookie – crispy edges, soft chewy insides.
Thanks for the feedback, Jen! I’m so glad you like them!
Hey,
I always have an issue with baking. I don’t know why but the bottom becomes darker than the top and the top is always underbaked when I leave it in the oven for longer it just burns from the bottom! Any tips?
Hi Inecia, the bottom will usually always brown much more than the tops of any cookies, due to their contact with a hot surface (the pan). This can be mitigated slightly by using parchment paper or, even better, a Silpat silicone mat. If you are still finding the bottoms overcooked and the tops undercooked, I would recommend lowering the temperature by 25 degrees (Fahrenheit), adding 5 minutes to the cooking time, and trying again. If you are finding this to be a very common occurrence, regardless of the recipe, it could be the heat distribution in your oven- totally common. Keep lowering the temperature by 25 degrees and adding a couple minutes to the cooking time and see where the ‘sweet spot’ is for your oven.
These sound so good and I was just gifted a box of Ferrero Rocher- serendipity! The only sticking point is – I don’t know what a cup measurement is- European so either ounces or grams for me ! Any tips for converting to ounces or grams ?
Thank you
🙂
Go to the Web site to covert measuring cups to ouch or grams & it will give you the convtion for any measuring you need.
Very tasty cookies. Just the right texture. I chopped the candy by hand, loved the large chunks.