Its enjoyable to have the oven going again after giving it a rest through the summer months. This time of year the mornings are chilly here on our hill in the woods. If I’m going to be home all day I get the oven going early and bake. It warms the house until the sun rays stream in through the windows and then it can get so warm inside I have to open the windows. I love this time of year. Its the best of everything. I guess we each have a season we love more than the others. This is mine.
The vegetable garden is still producing, at a much slower pace, expending what is left of its energy to keep giving. Without fail, this always makes me a bit sad. Like having to say goodbye to summer friends. And so it goes…
I bought some Cortland apples today and my mom will make a crisp for this coming weekend. Cortlands, Romes, Ida Reds, all make delicious baked goodies. A lot of folks prefer Granny Smiths for pies. I always use Cortlands or Romes. A matter of preference. There is no right or wrong here.
Hazelnut, or almond shortbread cookies are one of the first signs in my kitchen that I’ve surrendered summer to autumns arrival and out come my leaf cookie cutters. They do double duty until Thanksgiving when I use them to decorate pies by rolling out leftover crust and placing them on top of the top pie crust. A bit of extra decoration for the season.
These shortbread cookies are spectacularly nutty and rich. The butter is a key ingredient. You MUST use butter. Nothing else will do.
Finely ground hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts, almonds. Any of these make these cookies divine. But…don’t mix the nuts. Use only one kind of nut in each batch. I tried mixing them once and all I’m going to say is…I won’t make that mistake again. The true flavor of each nut gets lost if they are forced to crowd together. They like to shine individually…as well they should !!!
If I use almonds, walnuts or pecans I always add pure vanilla extract. With the almonds I add pure almond extract as well but be careful…a little of that goes a long way. If you do use pure almond extract a 1/2 teaspoon is plenty per single recipe. This recipe doubles beautifully and I always double it. I want extras to stash so when I’m reading in bed at night I can savor a few !!!
These cookies have a handful of ingredients and once mixed need to sit in the refrigerator overnight. So, make them a day ahead when you know you will have time in the next day or so to bake them.
HAZELNUT SHORTBREAD COOKIES
To a mixing bowl add: (and feel free to double this…it works well)
1 cup (two sticks) of BUTTER softened to room temperature
1/2 cup and 2 TB FIRMLY packed light brown sugar
1 TB corn starch
1/4 teas salt
2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1 cup of finely ground hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts or pecans (I use Bobs Red Mill Hazelnut Meal Flour or Trader Joe’s Almond Meal) Otherwise I finely grind the nuts in my processor. Be careful to stop grinding before you have nut butter!!!
1 to 2 teas of pure vanilla extract and if you are using pure almond extract use a 1/2 teas
Mix all ingredients together until they are well blended and a ball of dough forms. Remove the dough ball from the mixer and place in a covered bowl in the refrigerator overnight or for at least 8 hours. Preferably overnight.
After the dough has chilled remove it from the refrigerator and let it soften a bit. It is easier to handle.
Pre heat your oven to 300 degrees
Remove the dough from the bowl and using a sharp knife or your dough scraper slice it into 3 or 4 thick slices. Place one slice at a time on a rolling surface. Using a rolling pin (and a dusting of flour as needed) roll the dough until it is 1/4 inch thick. Using any type of cookie cutters, cut your cookies and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. These cookies can be placed close together (not touching tho) on the cookie sheet.
Bake one sheet at a time in your 300 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes until the bottom of the cookies turn medium brown in color. Resist lifting a cookie to check how browned they are…they will crumble. You will be able to tell they are browning by looking at them.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the cookies cool for three minutes before moving them to a cooling rack. Let them cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
Repeat this process until you have used up all the dough. A single recipe makes (depending on the size of your cookie cutters) about 24 to 30 irresistible cookies.
A dear friend of mine once commented that these cookies looked “boring” . So, as she had a good point, every so often I drizzle melted dark chocolate on top of them after they have cooled. Let the chocolate dry before stacking them for storage. At the holidays, I also dress them up with red, green or white sprinkles. Do it your way. No matter how they look, their flavor is anything but boring and always wins the hearts of everyone who tries them.
The house smells like cookie heaven and before you share these with anyone else you really should try one or two…or four or six…after all, you wouldn’t want to miss out on them. Cuz once you put them out to share they will disappear! Or, you can always hide a few like I do !!!
Happy Friday! And as always, MANY BLESSINGS…