Hazelnut Shortbread Thins – Quick & Easy Baking

I don’t think I know a single person who doesn’t love a nice shortbread biscuit.  I most certainly do.  This recipe is for a hazelnut flavoured shortbread.  Not only that but they are thin biscuits too, with a lovely snap to them.

Although my recipe calls for ground roasted hazelnuts you can easily make your own, or a version of them, if you only have whole skinned hazelnuts.  You simply need to roast some hazelnuts on a tray in the oven until you can smell the aroma coming off the nuts.  Then take them out and let them cool down.  Then you can process them in a food processor, into a fairly fine crumb, being sure not to go too far that they become a paste.  That is best done by pulsing them rather than letting the processor run continuously.   Alternatively you can chop them into very small pieces by hand.  I am lucky as a local supermarket sells them already roasted and ground.

As with all shortbread recipes this one is very simple.  But it does require the dough to be chilled before cutting out, and again whilst heating the oven to temperature.

Mine turned out very well indeed.  So well in fact that it was quite an effort not to eat too many right away.

• 115g(1 cups + 2tbps) ground roasted hazelnuts
• 150g(1 cup) plain flour
• 80g(1/2 cup) rice flour (an alternative would be potato starch or cornflour)
• 150g(10 1/2 tbsp) softened unsalted butter
• 68g(1/2 cup + 1 tbsp) icing sugar.

Method:

1. Place the butter into a large bowl, with the icing sugar and use a spatula to press the sugar into the butter.
2. Continue to work the mixture into a smooth and fluffy paste( I used my hand mixer)
3. Add the rice flour, salt and the hazelnuts and mix into the butter mixture until all is combined.
4. Add the flour and use a spoon or a spatula to fold it into the mixture until there is virtually no dry flour visible.
5. Tip the mixture onto a large piece of parchment paper and use your hands to pull the mixture into a dough, incorporating any dry areas.
6. Place another sheet of parchment paper on the top and roll the dough out to a thickness of about 1/4 inch(5 to 6 mm).
7. Slide the paper onto a tray and place in the fridge to chill for an hour.
8. Use a cookie cutter to cut out rounds, about 3 inches(7.5 cm) in diameter. 
9. Poke some holes in the rounds, using a fork perhaps. I made my holes before removing the cookie cutter.
10. Place them on a parchment lined baking tray, leaving a gap between each, and re-roll the dough to make more shapes.
11. Place the baking tray(s) into the fridge to chill the dough while you pre-heat the oven to  180C/160C Fan/350F.
12. Take the baking trays out of the fridge and place them in the oven and bake the shortbread thins for 12 to 15 minutes until they have begun to turn a light brown colour.
13. Take them out of the oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. The longer you bake them the crisper the biscuits will become.