Hazelnut Shortbread Balls Recipes

HAZELNUT SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add syrup and vanilla. Beat in flour just until combined; fold in nuts. Shape into two 1-1/2-in. rolls; wrap tightly in waxed paper. Chill for 2 hours or until firm. , Cut into 1/4-in. slices and place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 14-16 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. , In separate microwave-safe bowls, melt candy coating disks; stir until smooth. Drizzle over cookies. Let stand until set.

HAZELNUT SHORTBREADS WITH RASPBERRIES

Steps:

• First of all, when the oven is pre-heated you need to roast the hazelnuts. Just spread them out on a tray and pop them into the oven near the centre for 8 minutes - use a timer to help you remember. You can also watch how to roast nuts in our Cookery School Video on this page. Leave the nuts to cool then grind them finely using a mini-chopper or processor. Now, in a mixing bowl, cream the butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy, then gradually work in the sifted flours, followed by the ground hazelnuts, bringing the mixture together into a stiff ball. Place the dough in a polythene bag and leave in the fridge to rest for 1 hour. After that, roll it out to a thickness of 3-4mm, stamp out as many rounds as you can by placing the cutter on the pastry and giving it a sharp tap, then simply lift the cutter and the piece will drop out. Re-roll any trimmings to cut out more (to make a total of 12). Now arrange the biscuits on the baking trays and lightly prick each one with a fork. Bake one tray at a time near the centre of the oven for 10-12 minutes. Leave on the baking trays to cool for about 10 minutes, then carefully remove to a wire rack to cool completely. While the shortbreads are cooling, purée the raspberries with the sugar in a mini-chopper or processor and pass through a nylon sieve to remove the seeds, then place in a bowl, cover and chill till needed. For the custard filling: place the custard powder and sugar in a bowl and mix to a smooth paste with the milk and egg yolks. Then heat the crème fraiche in a saucepan and when it begins to bubble, pour it in to join the custard mixture. Whisk everything together, then return it to the saucepan and, still whisking, bring it up to a simmer. When it begins to boil it becomes thick, so remove it from the heat, add the vanilla extract, then pour it into a bowl to cool. When the custard is cold, fold it into the whipped cream. Cover and chill till needed. Just before serving, spread equal quantities of the custard-cream mixture over 6 of the biscuits, then arrange the raspberries on top, not forgetting to reserve 18. Spoon equal quantities of the purée over, then sandwich by lightly placing the other shortbreads on top. Finally, sprinkle with a dusting of icing sugar and top with the remaining raspberries. Note: while everything can be prepared well in advance, it's important not to assemble the shortbreads until just before serving.

HAZELNUT SHORTBREAD BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Roast hazelnuts on a rimmed baking sheet until light golden, about 18 minutes. Rub the warm nuts in a kitchen towel to remove half of skins. Finely chop 1/2 cup nuts in a food processor. Reduce oven temperature to 325°.
• Put chopped nuts, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, the flour, 1 cup butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, and 1/4 tsp. salt in a large bowl. Blend on low speed with a mixer until well blended.
• Grease a 9-in. square baking pan, line with foil (let it hang over edges), then grease foil. Press dough evenly into bottom of pan. Bake until golden and firm, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, very roughly chop half of remaining nuts to make 1 cup.
• Bring remaining 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 3 tbsp. butter, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 tsp. salt, the maple syrup, and the brown sugar to a boil in a small saucepan, whisking frequently. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup whole hazelnuts and the chopped nuts (2 cups total; you may have leftover nuts). Pour over crust and spread evenly. Bake until set when pan is tilted, about 18 minutes.
• Let cool on a rack. Lift foil with cookie to a board. Cut cookie into 16 squares, then cut each square in half diagonally.
• Extra-Toasty Hazelnut Shortbread Bars: Follow directions for Hazelnut Shortbread Bars. Keep temperature at 350° throughout recipe. In step 3, bake crust until very deep golden, 45 minutes to 1 hour. In step 4, reduce the baking time to about 15 minutes.
• Chocolaty Hazelnut Shortbread Bars: Follow directions for Hazelnut Shortbread Bars. After spreading nut topping on the crust in step 4, scatter 1 cup (5½ oz.) roughly chopped bittersweet chocolate on top, then bake.
• Fruity Hazelnut Shortbread Bars: Follow directions for Hazelnut Shortbread Bars. In step 4, stir 1 cup tart or sweet dried cherries or cranberries into nut topping.
• *Hazelnuts from Oregon--where virtually all the U.S. crop grows--taste much sweeter and fresher than imports. Find them in bulk bins in grocery stores (check the country of origin) and at freddyguys.com, hazelnuthill.com, or yournw.com?
• Note: Nutritional analysis is per bar.

HAZELNUT SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• If the hazelnuts are raw, toast them by spreading them out on a baking sheet and putting them in a 350 degree oven for ten minutes. Shake the pan a few times.
• Put the flour and the toasted hazelnuts in a food processor together and run until the hazelnuts are completely ground up (you are basically making hazelnut flour). Combining the nuts with the flour makes the whole process neater.
• Put all the ingredients into a large bowl.
• Mix by hand, quickly. Don't overmix. You may see flecks of butter, that's okay.
• Form into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and cool in the refrigerator for two hours or overnight.
• Work with half the dough at a time, keeping the rest refrigerated.
• Roll the dough into an oblong, and then cut quickly into equal size pieces, the size of a large walnut. Each piece should be rolled briefly between the palms and then put on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press a whole hazelnut into the cookie, fairly deeply.
• Bake ten minutes at 350 Fahrenheit. They should be very lightly browned when you take them out of the oven.
• Let sit until cool. Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar.

CHOCOLATE DIPPED HAZELNUT SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Place hazelnuts on baking sheet. Bake until they're a shade darker and fragrant, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
• Lower oven to 325 degrees F.
• Place hazelnuts in blender or food processor and pulse to coarse bits; set aside. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt to blend; set aside.
• Beat butter and sugar together with a wooden spoon until smooth. Beat in egg. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Add the chopped hazelnuts and mix until distributed evenly throughout.
• Form into long cookies and place on greased cookie sheets. Bake until firm, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on racks.
• In a saucepan over lowest heat or in a double boiler, melt chocolate. Dip 1 end of cooled cookies into melted chocolate. Place back on cookie sheet to harden.

HAZELNUT SHORTBREAD BALLS

Steps:

• Butter an 8 1/2-inch cake or springform pan; set aside. Sift together flour and salt into a small bowl; set aside. Place butter in bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Cream until fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add sugar, and continue to beat until very light in color and fluffy, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, about 2 minutes more. Add vanilla, if using. Add flour mixture, and combine on low speed, scraping with spatula if necessary, until flour is just incorporated and dough sticks together when squeezed with fingers.
• Pat dough into prepared pan. If rolling out dough to cut into shapes, form into a flat disk; wrap in plastic. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Add 1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnuts (or pecans) to creamed butter-and-sugar mixture. Roll dough into 1-inch balls with your hands; chill.
• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Bake until firm and just starting to color, 20 to 25 minutes.

OREGON HAZELNUT SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grind roasted hazelnuts in a food processor to a coarse grind.
• Add butter and sugar, and process thoroughly.
• Place nuts, butter and sugar mixture in mixing bowl, and add flour (1/2 cup at a time) mixing each addition completely. Combine mixture into a ball.
• Make 1 1/2-inch balls and place on a non-stick cookie sheet, about 1/2-inch apart.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.
• Refrigerate remainder of the dough until ready to bake.

CHOCOLATE-HAZELNUT SHORTBREAD SQUARES

Steps:

• Crust: Preheat oven to 375 degrees with rack in middle. Butter a 9-inch square cake pan. Line bottom and 2 sides with parchment, leaving a 1-inch overhang. Butter parchment.
• With a mixer on medium speed, beat butter with brown sugar, vanilla, and salt until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low; beat in flour until combined and a soft dough forms.
• Spread dough in prepared pan, pressing evenly with the bottom of a dry-measure cup. Prick all over with a fork. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack.
• Truffle: In a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat; whisk in chocolate until melted and combined. Add liqueur and salt, whisking until blended, then stir in nuts. Let cool slightly.
• Pour chocolate mixture evenly over cooled crust. Refrigerate, uncovered, until cold and set, about 2 hours.
• Remove shortbread from pan using parchment; place on a cutting board. Dust top completely with cocoa powder. Cut into 48 squares, dipping knife in hot water and wiping clean before each slice. Refrigerate in a single layer until ready to serve, up to 1 week.

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Cream butter, Nutella and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in egg. In another bowl, whisk flour, cinnamon and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Add hazelnuts; mix well., Divide dough in half; shape each into a disk. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-1/4-in. scalloped round cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake until bottoms are light brown, 8-10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. If desired, dust with confectioners' sugar.

HAZELNUT ORANGE SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F with racks in upper and lower thirds. Process nuts in a food processor until finely chopped, about 20 seconds (do not overprocess). Transfer nuts to a large bowl; add flour, granulated sugar, butter, zest, and salt. Mix with hands until dough just comes together and forms a ball.
• Halve dough; shape each into a disk. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. With lightly floured hands, shape one disk into a 7-inch round and score to mark 12 equal wedges (do not cut all the way through). Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sanding sugar. Repeat with remaining disk and sanding sugar.
• Bake, rotating halfway through, until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. While shortbread is warm, cut wedges to separate completely. Let wedges cool slightly on sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

HAZELNUT SHORTBREAD STICKS

Steps:

• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325°F. Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until smooth. Beat in 1/2 cup finely ground hazelnuts and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture until just combined.
• Shape dough by tablespoonfuls into 3-inch-long logs. Place on prepared baking sheet, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake cookies until light golden brown around edges, about 20 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 5 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool cookies completely.
• Stir milk chocolate in top of double boiler over barely simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Place 1/3 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts in small bowl. Dip 1 end of cookie into melted chocolate, then into coarsely chopped hazelnuts. Return to rack. Repeat with remaining cookies. Let stand until chocolate is set, about 1 hour. (Cookies can be made 2 days ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)

CHEDDAR & HAZELNUT SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Blitz 85g of the hazelnuts in a food processor until ground. Cut the rest of the hazelnuts in half.
• Pulse the ground hazelnuts, butter, flour, cheddar, ½ tsp salt and the egg in the food processor a few times. Don't pulse for too long - you want the mixture to look like breadcrumbs rather than coming together in a ball. Tip the mixture onto a large piece of cling film and, using the cling film to shape it, mould it into a ball, then leave in the fridge for a couple of hours.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Pull off chunks of the dough - about a tablespoon at a time - and roll each piece into a ball. Place on a baking sheet and flatten each biscuit to around 3.5cm across, leaving room between each one. Push 3-4 hazelnut halves into each biscuit. Cook for 10 mins, or until the biscuits are golden brown. Leave to cool on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack. Will keep for up to three days in an airtight container.