"Life is short. Surround yourself with good people and only eat good cookies." (anonymous) Looks aside, most of us decide if a cookie is great, good, or bad in the first bite. Discounting for the moment there are ingredients we may not find appealling to our taste buds, we seem to all have the ability to identify the 'bad cookie' otherwise known as the 'please don't ever make me eat another one of those cookies'. Differentiating between a good and great cookie is usually a little more complicated. Which may explain in part why there are so many different recipes for the same cookie as well as why it might be impossible to get unanimous agreement on the BEST ever version of a cookie. But for some reason, that impossibility doesn't seem to keep so many of us to stop trying. I have lost count of the number of versions of chocolate chip cookies I have made over the years. And whether or not my current favorite will be replaced with yet another 'favorite' (aka great) is anyone's guess.
Way back when I used to guard some of my cookie recipes like one would protect highly confidential documents. What was I thinking? Apparently I wasn't. Thankfully those closely guarded secret cookie recipe hoarding days are well behind me. Nowadays it gives me immense pleasure when others make some of my cookie recipes and have the same or even better results than I do. I have to admit I get an endorphin rush when someone shares they loved the cookies I made. Because who wouldn't want to take a little bit of pleasure upon learning cookies baked with love were loved?
A couple of months ago we were gifted with a huge bag of hazelnuts. And just recently a flurry of recipes using hazelnuts seemed to suddenly appear. The universe was telling me I needed to make something with them. After spending some time looking for inspiration I realized I could probably adapt one of my shortbread recipes by replacing pistachios with hazelnuts and milk chocolate for white chocolate but keeping all other ingredients the same.
One of the many things I love about this shortbread recipe is that you don't need to chill the dough before rolling it out. Room temperature unsalted butter, confectionary sugar, flour, vanilla, kosher salt and roasted hazelnuts come together to make an incredibly delicious shortbread.
Even though the bag of hazelnuts were roasted and salted, I roasted them again at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. While they were still warm I rolled them in a flour sack towel to help remove some of the skins.
I rolled these cookies out slightly thicker their pistachio shortbread counterpart. With a thickness of slightly more than 1/4 inch, the shortbread cookies bake in a preheated 350 degree (F) oven for 14-16 minutes. Baking time should be adjusted downward if rolled out thinner. Cookies are done when the edges and bottoms are golden in color.
Allow the cookies to remain on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
I used milk chocolate but you could also use dark chocolate. Always allow your shortbread cookies to cool completely before dipping them in warm melted chocolate.
How much chocolate you put on these shortbread cookies is up to you. I dipped half of the cookies in the melted chocolate, topped with more coarsely chopped roasted hazelnuts, and finished with drizzling more chocolate over them. Note: I dip a fork in the melted chocolate to create this Jackson Pollock look.
The cookies looked beautiful, but the more compelling question was 'Were they delicious?'. Did modifying one my shortbread recipes work? Did the combination of milk chocolate and hazelnuts make for a great shortbread cookie? Yes, yes, and yes!!!
If you love shortbread, you are going to absolutely love these cookies. And if you aren't a big fan of hazelnuts, these cookies will turn you into one.
As much as I don't want to think about the Christmas holidays yet, I have already decided these Milk Chocolate Dipped Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies are definitely going into the cookie gift boxes this year. Although I am not going to wait months before making them again. They just ooze cookie love.
Milk Chocolate Dipped Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies
Makes approximately 30-32 3" x 1 1/2" sized cookies
Ingredients
2 cups (264 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup (60 g) confectionary sugar
1 cup (16 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup (80 g) cup hazelnuts, roasted and finely chopped
1/2 cup (80 g) cup hazelnuts, roasted and coarsely chopped
8-10 ounces (226-282 g) milk chocolate, melted
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Roast hazelnuts in a pre-heated 350 degree (F) oven for 8-10 minutes. Transfer to a flour sack towel and roll to remove most of the skins. Don't worry if you don't get all of them off. Allow to cool completely before chopping.
3. Sift the flour. Place the flour and salt in a bowl and set aside.
4. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and confectionary sugar until light and fluffy (approximately about 2 minutes).
5. Add vanilla and blend in to the butter/sugar mixture.
6. Mix in flour/salt mixture and one half cup of finely chopped hazelnuts. Combine until dough comes together.
7. Divide dough in half. On a floured surface roll out dough to the thickness desired. My preference is 1/4 inch. Using a cookie cutter of choice, cut out and place cookies onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
8. Bake for 12-16 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom. If making smaller sized cookies, adjust the time downward. If the cookies are thicker, baking time will be longer.
9. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
10. Coarsely chop remaining 1/2 cup of hazelnuts. Put in bowl and set aside.
11. Dip cooled cookies into chocolate or spoon melted chocolate over the cookies. Place chocolate covered/dipped cookies on a sheet of parchment paper. Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts before chocolate hardens.
12. Allow chocolate to completely set before removing from parchment paper to serve or package.
13. Store cookies in a tightly sealed container.
Notes: (1) Could substitute dark chocolate for the milk chocolate. (2) The hazelnuts used in this recipe were from these from Pacific Hazelnut Farms. (3) Make these cookies using your favorite cookie cutters. I used these Fat Daddio's Oval Fluted edge cookie cutters.
Boston Public Library, Boston, MA (September 2018)
