Chocolate Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies

Shortbread is a simple and delicious cookie that is super adaptable! One of my favorite cookies are these chocolate hazelnut shortbread cookies! The main components are just butter, flour, and sugar. This is my base shortbread recipe that I always come back to! It's buttery and crumbly without being too dry. Once you have the base recipe, you can adapt it an infinite number of ways!

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 1 ¾ cup all purpose flour
• ¼ cup nut flour (almond, hazelnut, etc)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

This recipe incorporates chopped hazelnuts and is dipped in dark chocolate (to die for) but you can use the same outline to make almond shortbread dipped in white chocolate or a lavender shortbread with a lemon glaze.

My favorite trick that I use for almost all baked goods, is substituting a portion of the regular flour with nut flour (usually almond flour). This helps keep your cookies, cakes, etc super moist and delicious and can add a little extra flavor too. Since these are hazelnut cookies, I used hazelnut flour and it was such a good call. 

You can buy almond and hazelnut flour at most grocery stores and online (Bob's Red Mill* is my favorite brand for nut flours) but you can also make it yourself to save a little money. Hazelnuts can be pricey so buying in bulk is always the best bang  for your buck. Trader Joe's has big bags of toasted hazelnuts that are much cheaper than elsewhere that you can easily use to grind up your own hazelnut flour. 

Make Hazelnut Flour

If you have hazelnuts that are already toasted, wrap them in a kitchen towel and rub them until the skins fall off.

If you have raw hazelnuts, spread them out evenly on a cookie sheet and toast them at 325 degrees for about 5-10 minutes until the nuts are browned slightly. Then wrap in a towel and rub to remove the skins. Let the hazelnuts cool completely to room temperature before grinding. 

Make sure your food processor is completely dry and room temperature (not warm from the dishwasher or something), as well as the nuts. This is super important for making sure that you don't turn your nut flour into nut butter.

Place clean hazelnuts in a food processor and pulse in 1-2 second increments for about 1 minute total, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently to make sure they are ground evenly. Be careful not to over grind the nuts because, once again, you don't want nut butter.

You can also add a little bit of sugar to the nuts to help absorb the oils, but I prefer not to. I'm sorry I just said nut butter so many times but it's a real concern! The same process can be used for almond flour or any other nut flours!

Making the Cookies

These are super easy to make and come together quickly!

Cream together the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the flour, hazelnut flour, and vanilla until fully combined. Mix in the chopped hazelnuts.

Place the dough in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight (minimum of 2 hours if you can't wait overnight). This allows the butter to firm back up and the flour to hydrate which will keep the cookies from spreading too much.

Roll the dough out to ¼ inch thick and cut into your desired shapes. Place 1-2 inches apart on your baking sheet (they won't spread much). Note: your dough will be super firm after being in the fridge, so you may need to let it sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes before working with it. 
Place the baking sheet in the fridge for minimum of 20 minutes before baking so the butter can firm back up again (the freezer is even better if it will fit). This might seem unnecessary but I promise it is! Firm butter leads to the yummiest crumbly shortbread!  

While the cookies are chilling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are set and just starting to brown. Bake on the middle rack of the oven and rotate the pan halfway through baking for the best results. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes. Then remove and let finish cooling on a cooling rack. The cookies are done if the bottoms are browned but the tops are still pale.

Let the cookies cool completely before decorating.

Place your chocolate in a microwave safe bowl along with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil (a 2 cup glass measuring cup is perfect) and microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring until completely melted. The coconut oil adds a glossy shine to your chocolate once it hardens and also helps the chocolate harden faster.
Note: if you prefer, you can properly temper your chocolate instead of mixing it with coconut oil (here's a great link on tempering chocolate from Epicurious) but I find it unnecessary and a tedious extra step.

Dip the cookies ⅓ of the way (or as much as your heart desires) and place back on wire rack. Then sprinkle with chopped nuts before the chocolate cools and hardens. Let the chocolate harden completely before removing from the cooling rack. 

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week (but I doubt they'll last that long). 

If you make this recipe, please leave us a star rating at the bottom of the page! This provides helpful feedback to both me and other readers.

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