Directions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar, on medium speed, until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

2. Beat in the egg and vanilla, scraping the sides of the bowl, until the egg is just combined, another minute or so. Add the flours and spices and mix to combine completely. Empty the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap, shape into a disk, and wrap up the dough with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut it in half. Return one half to the refrigerator.

5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to ¼-inch thickness. Using a 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out circles. In half of the 2-inch circles, cut out a smaller ¾ inch circle in the center (or use a fun shape, like a flower). Reroll the dough for another 16 cookies.

6. Place the cookies and the cut-outs onto the baking sheet and bake about 10 minutes, until very lightly golden. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet and repeat the process with remaining dough.

7. Once cooled, place the chocolate hazelnut spread into a piping bag fitted with a medium star tip (Ateco #844) on the solid cookies. Lightly dust confectioners’ sugar on top of the cookies with the cutout in the center.

8. Place the sugared cutout cookies on top of the solid cookies to create a sandwich cookie. Sprinkle flaked salt on the chocolate hazelnut in the cut out.