Whole spelt Giada's incredible cookies. Version 2

Hania, my little one, added the "incredible"...

Recipe adapted from Gray Apron 
time: 20 min preparation + 12 min (times 2) baking + 10 min cooling 
makes 18 cookies

 ingredients 

1/4 cup (35 g) oats, not instant
1 1/4 cups (170 g) regular flour OR, what I used: 1 1/4 cups (150 g) whole spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon (2 g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (4 g) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon (2 g) salt
1 stick (120 g) butter room temperature
3/4 cup (160 g) light brown sugar (no substitute or they won't be chewy)
1 large egg or 1 medium + 1 egg yolk
1 Tablespoon (30 g) home made vanilla sugar
1/2 cup (70 g) whole hazelnuts
6 oz (170 g) white chocolate

 instructions 
Preheat oven to 180C/350F (fan forced function). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 
On a medium skillet set on medium/high, toast nuts for 5 minutes, stirring often. Rub cooled nuts between your hands to remove the thin skin. Chop them in a food processor with steal blades or with a big knife. Chop chocolate the same way. 

Using the same processor, blend oats till fine. Transfer it to a medium bowl and mix it together with flour, baking powder, soda and salt. 

In a bowl of a standing mixer equipped with a paddle attachment, beat butter with sugar till fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in egg. Add the flour mix. Combine it together without over-mixing. Stir in chocolate and hazelnut pieces. 

Using an ice cream scoop or two tablespoons (and some water to dip your tools in), make golf-size balls and arrange on the sheets, loosely spaced, 9 balls on each. Do not flatten. 
Place one baking sheet at the time in the hot oven for about 12 minutes, till cookies just starting to slightly brown around the edges (or one edge). 

Take the sheet out of the oven, let cookies cool on the sheets for 5 minutes and then lift and transfer (using a flat, skinny tool) to a cooling rack for further cooling.

NOTES NOTES NOTES NOTES NOTES NOTES NOTES NOTES NOTES 

• Mrs. de Laurentiis once said that she keeps this cookie dough in her freezer at all times; I almost believe her;
• I've made these countless times...it's just this time I realized I can alter them a bit more;
• first idea was to use whole spelt - no problem;
• second was to use white chocolate instead of dark - nice!
• third was to reduce sugar quite a bit (and only use brown sugar), since white chocolate is a lot sweeter than dark;
• forth...I went back to hazelnuts and I liked it;
• last thing...was to cut the whole recipe in half; I'm not in the habit of freezing cookie dough like  Giada but we are in the habit of eating these one after another...skipping lunch, filling guilty, etc.;
• so...in this white chocolate version, cookies tastes somewhere between vanilla, butter scotch and caramel;
• they are soft and a little chewy, that is, if you don't leave them in the oven too long;
• and they did turned out incredible and worth to stop your day to eat one...or two.