These cookies are a staple in our house during the festive season. They are the perfect cookies if you are looking for a fun, quick and uncomplicated recipe that will have everyone asking for more! The hazelnut cookie in combination with the milk chocolate glaze works its charm and your creativity finds no end with the different shapes you can make them into. I always prefer just a simple milk chocolate glaze that lets the cookies speak for themselves. But you could also go all out with sprinkles and decorations of your choosing!
What you will need for this recipe:
Cookies
- 125g of butter (room temperature)
- 100g of caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar
- A pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- 100g of ground hazelnuts
- 150g of flour (plus a bit for your countertop)
Glaze
- Melted milk chocolate
Baking utensils
- Cookie cutters of your choice
- A rolling pin
- A basting brush
- Optional: A thin spatula
- Optional: A stand mixer or hand mixer
Timings and quantity:
1 ½ hour work time
½ hour rest time
Makes about 40 cookies
This is what you will need to do:
1. Mix the butter, caster sugar, vanilla sugar, salt and the egg.
2. Add the hazelnuts and the flour.
3. Knead the dough with your stand mixer. If all the ingredients are blended, continue kneading a bit more by hand on your countertop. If you don’t have a stand mixer you can also use a hand mixer or knead solely by hand. This may take longer.
4. Once your dough is formed, let it rest in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.
5. Tip: Don’t worry if your dough is sticky. Cooled down it gets easier to work with.
6. Preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius, top and bottom heat. Prepare 2–3 baking trays with baking paper. (If you only have one tray you can just wait until the first batch of your cookies has cooled of and use that tray again.)
7. Take your dough out of the refrigerator. Put flour on your countertop and on your rolling pin. This prevents the dough from sticking to your countertop and rolling pin.
8. Roll your dough about 4 mm thick.
9. Now take your cookie cutters and cut out your cookies.
10. Transfer the cut-out cookies onto your baking tray. You can use a thin spatula to help you with that task. Remember to leave enough room between each cookie on the tray as they will become bigger during baking!
11. When there is no more space left on your dough to cut out cookies, start kneading the leftover dough until all of the dough is blended together again. Roll out your dough again and continue cutting your cookies. It is important that you cut your cookies really close together and get as many cookies as possible out in one go as you don’t want to knead the dough anew too often. The more often you knead it, the more difficult it gets to work with!
12. Put one tray in the middle of the oven. If you don’t have a spot exactly in the middle, then opt for one a little higher than midlevel.
13. Bake your cookies for about 5 minutes (this really depends on your oven) until they are golden.
14. Let your cookies rest on one tray while you put your other tray in the oven.
15. When your cookies are no longer hot, you can carefully transfer them onto a plate or a wire rack to let them cool down completely.
16. Once all your cookies are completely cooled down, brush them with the melted milk chocolate plus decorate them with sprinkles if you want to.
17. Let the chocolate dry completely before storing the cookies.
18. Enjoy your festive hazelnut cookies!
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