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.
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! 🙂
Love this recipe, Julia! I'm absolutely nutty about shortbread cookies and hazelnuts. Nutty, I tell you! Thanks for sharing this quick and easy recipe!
Love nuts in cookies and chocolates! Just got my husband a whole package of See's Candy: Dark Chocolate Nuts and Chews. So GOOD!
These look so delicious Julia, I love shortbread. The powdered sugar makes them look so much more Christmasy... perfect for holiday gift giving! I hope that you and your family have a blessed and peaceful Christmas! x
Thank you, Laura! I love shortbread as well! I always have to sprinkle them with powdered sugar - it makes them look really pretty! They are so tasty~
Pinning! The only thing better than a shortbread cookie is a shortbread cookie with hazelnuts!
Thanks, Christin! 🙂 Shortbread cookies are truly the best, especially during the holidays!
Of course I must PIN:)
Happy Holidays Julia!
Thanks, Monique! 🙂
Love shortbread cookies - and dont think I've had any with hazelnuts before - Thanks so much for sharing! Your photos look fabulous!
Love hazelnuts...these are my kind of cookie too!
Happy Holidays!
These look like my kinda cookie! Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and all the best in 2014!
This recipe couldn't ahve come in more handy. I've still haven't started making gifts for my family (shameful, I know!) due to the exams and these will be perfect since they're super simple to make! Do you think I can use already-toasted hazelnuts to gain time?
Thanks for the lovely recipe & have a nice holiday! xo
Consuelo, of course, you can use already toasted hazelnuts! Do they sell those? 🙂 I only see raw hazelnuts in the stores and not at every store! Happy Holidays!
Shortbread cookies are my absolute favourite for the holidays and I love hazelnuts! I stocked up on butter and ready for action. 🙂