Hazelnut shortbread cookies recipe – for the Holidays!
This recipe is ridiculously easy: only 4 ingredients. The cookies are phenomenal! You’d be thinking you’re eating a very special cookie, and not something that you just whipped up in 10-20 minutes. Of course, in a large part, we have to thank hazelnuts for the deliciousness of this recipe – they really make these cookies so … what’s the word? … hazelnutty. Dusted with powdered sugar they become perfection.
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 dough wrapped in plastic wrap can be kept frozen up to a month.
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Ingredients
- 1/2 cup hazelnuts (2 oz)
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1/4 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 1/4 cup sugar into food processor and process until finely ground.
- Add 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. 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
Adapted from Epicurious
Hello! I mean to try these soon, but I wanted to make sure I read he instructions correctly. The logs should only be 1″ wide? The cookies in the picture look much bigger. Do they spread a lot while baking? Thanks in advance!
Just made these and WOW! They really are “hazelnutty”! Shortbread cookies are my favorite and I’ve been looking for a great hazelnut cookie recipe, so I got very excited when I saw this. They turned out perfect; soft and buttery and crumbly with just the right amount of crunch from the ground hazelnuts. The only difference I did is just when I took them out of the oven I pressed half a hazelnut in the middle of each cookie before they cooled down. Absolutely scrumptious!
Thanks a lot Julia, this is going into my permanent recipe collection!
Hi Julia
These look and sound amazing. I have a bag of already ground hazelnuts I’d like to use. What would the measurement in the recipe be for already ground hazelnuts instead of whole ones.
Thanks
Louise
I’m going to whiz up some red and green decorating sugars in my mini food chopper, until powdered, and decorate these for the holidays! Can’t wait to taste them. Just curious, have you tried them with any other nuts, like macadamias? I may also try some Ghirardelli sweetened cocoa powder for dusting. You’ve inspired me, thanks!
Thanks for the cocoa powder idea! I think I will lightly put powdered sugar first and then a generous dusting of cocoa powder to be sure it has that added sweetness intended in the recipe 🙂 awesome idea!
What beautiful cookies. They look like they would be simply perfect with a cup of tea. And with hazelnuts? Yum! My favorite nut of all.
I love hazelnuts too! Hazelnut in a cookie, or hazelnut and chocolate – those combinations are always winning! 🙂
hazelnuts are amaziiiing!!
I love hazelnuts and they aren’t used often enough. Beautiful cookies!
Thank you, Laura! 🙂