Hazelnut Bonbon Cookies Recipes

HAZELNUT-MOCHA BONBON COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Combine vanilla and espresso powder until dissolved. Add to creamed mixture. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well., Shape a heaping teaspoon of dough around each hazelnut, forming a ball. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until bottoms are browned. Remove to wire racks to cool., For espresso glaze, place confectioners' sugar in a small bowl. Combine the espresso powder and vanilla until dissolved; add to bowl. Stir in enough cream to achieve a dipping consistency; set aside. For chocolate glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar, chocolate and cream., Dip half of the cookies in espresso glaze. Dip remaining cookies in chocolate glaze; allow excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper and sprinkle with jimmies. Let stand until set.

HAZELNUT BONBON COOKIES

Steps:

• In a small bowl, dissolve espresso powder in hot water; cool. Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream butter, confectioners' sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and espresso mixture. Gradually beat in flour., Wrap 1 heaping teaspoon dough around each hazelnut to cover completely. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool completely., For glaze, in a microwave, melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. Whisk in confectioners' sugar until blended. Dip tops of cookies in glaze; allow excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper; sprinkle with jimmies and let stand until set., Freeze option: Freeze unglazed cookies, layered between waxed paper, in freezer containers. To use, thaw cookies in covered containers. Dip in glaze as directed.

HAZELNUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Place the hazelnuts in a food processor and grind coarsely. Reserve 1/4 cup of the hazelnuts. Grind the remaining nuts fine and add the oil. Blend the mixture thoroughly into a hazelnut butter. Set aside.
• Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy (this can be done in the washed food processor or with an electric mixer in a bowl). Beat in the hazelnut butter, the egg and the vanilla. Mix thoroughly.
• Sift the flour and add with the baking soda and the salt. Mix thoroughly and add the reserved hazelnuts. Using a teaspoon, form the dough into balls and arrange them 2 inches apart on baking sheets that have been greased or lined with parchment paper. Using the prongs of a fork that have been dipped into flour to prevent sticking, flatten the balls into 1 1/2 inch rounds (Tip: If you want a clearly visible criss-cross design on the cookies, chill dough for 30 minutes before doing so).
• Bake in the middle of the oven for 8-to-9 minutes or until the cookies are golden. Cool on racks. The cookies will keep for about a week in a sealed jar.

DARK CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT BONBON SPIDERS

Steps:

• For the hazelnut ganache: Put the chocolate couverture in a medium bowl and set aside. In a medium saucepan, scald the heavy cream. Pour the scalded heavy cream over the chocolate couveture and set aside for 3 to 5 minutes to allow the scalded milk to melt the chocolate. With a rubber spatula, gently stir the chocolate and heavy cream until fully blended and smooth. Add the butter and stir with a rubber spatula to incorporate. Add the hazelnut extract and stir to incorporate. Pour the mixture into a large pastry bag and set aside.
• Pre-treat the polycarbonate chocolate mold with red (or any color desired) cocoa butter. Once the cocoa butter is set, brush each mold with a thin layer of tempered chocolate. Fill the entire mold with the fluid tempered chocolate and tap on work surface to release air bubbles. Quickly invert the mold and tap out excess chocolate. With a putty knife, scrape off the rest of the chocolate, let the mold rest upside down for 1 minute, and then scrape off surface of mold again. Let the chocolate set. Fill each mold with hazelnut ganache, 3/4 of the way full. Let the hazelnut ganache set. Pour the fluid tempered chocolate over the mold and spread thin, scraping off any excess. Tap mold on surface to release any air bubbles, and then scrape excess chocolate again. Transfer the finished mold to the freezer and let set for 2 to 3 minutes. Pull out the mold, invert, and tap on clean work surface to release finished bonbon.
• To assemble: Dip the hazelnuts in fluid tempered chocolate and let set. Attach to finished bonbons with a small dab of tempered chocolate. With a small pastry bag, pipe the tempered chocolate on parchment paper in a 1 1/2-inch upside-down V-shape. Repeat to make 80. Once set, lift the piped tempered chocolate and attach to the bonbons with a small dab of tempered chocolate to look like the legs of a spider.
• Over a double boiler, melt 1 pound 4 ounces chocolate to 115 to 120 degrees F. Bring the bowl with the melted chocolate to a flat, clean work surface (preferably marble or stainless steel ), wiping away any access water or steam from the bowl. With a rubber spatula, fully incorporate the remaining 2 ounces chocolate. Bring down the temperature of the chocolate to 80 to 84 degrees F by either stirring constantly in a figure 8 motion, or tabling (see Cook's Note). Once cooled, test the chocolate by dipping a small strip of parchment paper into the melted chocolate, and then lay it down on a clean work surface. If tempered, the chocolate on the parchment paper should be dry, hard, shiny, and without any streaks in 3 to 5 minutes. If any of these occur, keep stirring (agitating) the chocolate, or table it again, until a parchment paper test shows that the chocolate is tempered. When tempered, bring the chocolate back to the double boiler and reheat to NO HIGHER than 89 degrees F. (Bringing the temperature back up aids in a more fluid working consistency.) Transfer the chocolate to a chocolate warmer or set the bowl on top of a heating pad (at medium setting) to keep in temper.

HAZELNUT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Line 2 heavy baking sheets with parchment paper. Finely chop the oats in a food processor. Transfer the oats to a medium bowl. Mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
• Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and stir just until blended. Stir in the toffee, hazelnuts, and chocolate chips.
• For each cookie, drop 1 rounded tablespoonful of dough onto sheet, spacing 1 inch apart (do not flatten dough). Bake until the cookies are golden (cookies will flatten slightly), about 15 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely. (The cookies can be prepared 1 day ahead. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.)

HAZELNUT AND ALMOND COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C). Grease cookies sheets.
• In a large bowl, beat egg whites until frothy. Add sugar and beat until mixture is thick and white. Stir in chopped almonds and chopped hazelnuts.
• Pour mixture into saucepan over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until thick and beige, about 10 minutes. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets about 1 inch apart.
• Bake about 20 minutes, until cookies are dry to the touch. Let cool on wire rack.

HAZELNUT BONBONS (COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or cover with parchment paper.
• Spread the nuts on an ungreased baking sheet and place in the oven. Toast for 8 to 10 minutes, shaking occasionally, or until aromatic. Remove from the oven ad turn onto a terry towel. Rub off the papery skins and set the nuts aside. Don't worry if all the skins don't rub off.
• In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar and vanilla. Stir in the flour and salt; mix until the dough is smooth and pliable. Wrap about 2 teaspoons of dough around each nut, shaping the cookie into a perfect round. Place on the prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until light brown. Cool. Slide the parchment onto a countertop to cool or remove the cookies and cool on a rack.
• For dipping the cookies, chop the white chocolate and place in a small heatproof bowl with 1 teaspoon of the shortening. Chop the bittersweet chocolate and place in another small heatproof bowl with the remaining 1 teaspoon shortening. Place the bowls, one at a time, over a saucepan of simmering water until the chocolate is melted. Stir occasionally.
• Dip the cookies halfway in one of the chocolates. Place on waxed paper to harden. Dip the second half in the other chocolate. When the chocolates have hardened, place the cookies into paper bonbon cups. Store in an airtight tin in a cool place until ready to serve. Makes about 48 bonbons.
• The Great Holiday Baking Book B. Ojakangas.