Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies – Shortbread cookies made with hazelnuts and vanilla sugar, topped with Nutella and glitter.
Did I just take the kids to McDonald’s Playplace? Did I really do that?! The one thing I swore I would never do?!?!
Yes. Yes, I did.
All I wanted was a few moments (2 hours) to stare at nothing and drink a cup of coffee. or Three.
Sue me. (Please don’t)
The thingamajiggers is that when I try to keep up with everything, I end up falling over. Well, not really falling over. Just feeling overwhelmed… Looking ahead, but can’t see through the piles of to-do… You know what I’m sayin’.
I know that if I had a few of these Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies, I would totally be back on track. It would take .03567 seconds for me to go from blah to wooooot! But, I ate them all last week. No, not all of ’em. My husband helped. And the kids.
See, when you make shortbread cookies with hazelnuts, topped with Nutella and glitter, people wanna eat ’em. Fast.
I have been trying to make these cookies “work” for quite some time. In the end, my gut feeling was right – vegetable shortening. Because, you know, shortbread cookies aren’t soft and buttery enough already.
To add, I figured out that these cookies get better with age! They taste that much better the next day.
Also, the hazelnuts made it into this recipe by accident. I was more about using some almonds, or even walnuts, but the jar of hazelnuts jumped up and I had to use ’em. Besides, they made it all the way to me from Macedonia – my MIL sent me a bag filled with hazelnuts, and I still don’t know how we managed to get them through customs. {shrug} I even had a story in case they stopped me; “I’m a food blogger… I’m testing recipes… I’m going to feed the squirrels…”
The cookies literally take 10 minutes of hands-on prepping. The remaining of the time they will either be baking or resting.
They are SO easy to make, they are delicious and stunning. You will not regret it. Save thy recipe!
ENJOY!
Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- 1 cup finely ground hazelnuts
- 2 sachets (0.35-oz each) vanilla sugar
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- Nutella
- Edible Glitter
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl sift together flour and corn starch.
- Stir in hazelnuts, vanilla sugar, and powdered sugar. If you don't have vanilla sugar or can't find it, leave it out.
- Using a pastry blender or your fingertips, work in the vegetable shortening; work it in until it all disappears and it's well blended.
- Cover dough with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Line two baking sheets with silpat mat or parchment paper; set aside.
- Remove dough from fridge and let rest for 5 minutes.
- Flour your work surface and rolling pin; roll out the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness.
- Cut out cookies with a round cutter and transfer to prepared pan. You don't have to space them a lot - the cookies will not spread.
- Bake for 13 minutes.
- Let cool on pan for 5 minutes; remove and cool on wire racks.
- When completely cooled, dip them in Nutella and top with edible glitter or raw sugar.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
