Hazelnut shortbread cookies recipe - perfect for the Holidays! These Christmas cookies have a perfect texture - crumbly and buttery, they just melt in your mouth.
This recipe is ridiculously easy: only 5 ingredients. The hazelnut cookies are phenomenal! You'd be thinking you're eating a very special cookie, and not something that you just whipped up in 20 minutes. Of course, in a large part, we have to thank hazelnuts for the deliciousness of this recipe - they really make these shortbread cookies so ... what's the word? ... hazelnutty. Dusted with powdered sugar they become perfection.
Your Christmas cookie tray is not complete without these hazelnut cookies. It is also not complete without pecan shortbread cookies, or amaretto shortbread cookies, or cranberry noels.
The cookies have the consistency of crumbly, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread, with a distinctive hazelnut flavor. Perfect to serve as a little dessert alongside a cup of coffee, tea, or a glass of milk. It's a highly unassuming cookie, very easy to make - just make sure to chill the dough before baking, and you should be all set. Also, the cookie dough wrapped in plastic wrap can be kept frozen up to a month.
Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup hazelnuts (2 oz)
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 oz unsalted butter , cold, cut into small pieces
- ¼ cup powdered sugar , for dusting
Instructions
- Toast raw hazelnuts at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 5-7 minutes until fragrant. Cool the nuts to room temperature, then husk them by rubbing a handful of hazelnuts between your hands. This should do a pretty good job of getting rid of most of the skins. Some will remain – that’s OK.
- To make finely ground nuts, place toasted and husked hazelnuts and ¼ cup sugar into food processor and process until finely ground.
- Add ¾ cup and 2 tablespoons of flour and a pinch of salt to the food processor and pulse to combine. Add butter and process until dough forms, scraping the sides of the food processor bowl with spatula if necessary. The dough will be soft.
- On a flour-dusted surface, roll dough into 2 logs, each about 1 inch wide. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and place wrapped cookie dough in the freezer for 30 minutes, then in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 325 Fahrenheit.
- After cookie dough has been in the freezer and in the refrigerator, unwrap plastic and slice each log into thin cookie slices.
- Place cookie slices on a parchment-lined ungreased baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart.
- Bake for about 12-15 minutes, don’t let the cookies get brown.
- Cool cookies on baking sheet for 5 minutes, after that transfer cookies to wire rack to continue cooling. Using sifter, sprinkle cookies with powdered sugar.
- Store cookies in airtight container – they can last about 2 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Also adding that I got barely any dough out of this? Am I missing something.
Hi, I am making these, but my dough just feels like butter. It is super soft. Is it supposed to be like that, or should I add more flour?
Very flavorful cookie dough, not too sweet, great use of bulk purchase of hazelnuts! Having a gluten sensitivity, I selected Bob's Red Mill GF blue bag, cup for cup mix. Not having a food processor, I had ground the nuts to a course texture. Not sure if the crumbly dough texture after refrigeration was due to the course nuts, the gf flour or the absence of a food processor in achieving the right dough texture but I experienced the same issue as a couple others at first. Then I cut the dough roll length wise, then cut those into one inch sections. They baked up nice without crumbling! Maybe because the bottom side was flat against the cookie sheet before I cut them?
Thank you so much for your detailed review and feedback!! I should definitely review and revisit this recipe (it's one of my older ones), to troubleshoot it for any potential issues. Glad it worked well with the GF flour!
“They can last for a week.”
Are you kidding?
In my house these last a day at the most.
Thank you for the great recipe.
Ha-ha-ha! Larry, you made me laugh really hard!
These were easy to make and they were delicious.
Merci beaucoup Julia
Martine, so glad you loved these cookies! 🙂
Hi, could I use spelt flour instead of all-purpose?
Kat, yes you can - without changing quantities!
Great, thank you!
Enjoy!
Made in Vitamix and froze dough for 20 minutes. Whipped these up for a late night craving. Super good. Will make again.
Ian, I am so glad the recipe was success!
Hi,
I purchased hazelnut meal instead. Can this be used measuring 2oz of meal and no other adjustments? This recipe looks so yummy.
Christie, I think that should work!
Hi! I also have a bunch of ground hazelnut meal. Did this work in the recipe?
These did not work for me. I've made a lot of shortbread and worked with tricky doughs, but this was a disaster. No matter how cold the dough was, it crumbled while cutting.
Will love to make this recipe …
I was wondering what’s the amount of butter in cups? Please HELP ME !
4 oz of butter is 1/2 cup or 8 tablespoons or 1 stick of butter. Hope this helps and enjoy the recipe, it's delicious!
I made these and found out that one stick of butter is 4 ounces
Hi! Could I use a blender instead of a food processor for this recipe? It looks delicious!
I used a blender. Didn’t work great bc it sticks in the bottom and hard to scrape up bc it’s a stiff dough. I ended up transferring it to finish in my stand mixer. lol. The food processor is the smartest fastest option.
Amy, great feedback! Thank you!
Fantastic recipe, have made it lots of times, just keep logs in the freezer until ready to cook!
Jan, thank you so much for such a generous comment! Glad you've enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
One of the best shortbread I've ever made. Now in my recipe box.
Hi all
Anyone have any ideas as to why my biscuit Dough is hard to cut and the biscuit spreads a lot? I am using very chilled dough
Hi, made these and they were so light and buttery and disappeared very quickly. I have a family member who can’t tolerate gluten, could I make using GF flour?