Hazelnut Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

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Hazelnut Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

I thought I was the only shortbread obsessive in our family; sure, everybody here does love them but it seems we have a new avid enthusiast recently who has been eating these particular treats straight from the freezer! Yes, Olivia, I know it was you!

I went to pull some out of the freezer the other day when my mom visited and there were only 2 left out of the entire batch! Liv loves toasted hazelnuts and chocolate too, so the combination with buttery shortbread was apparently too much to resist because she practically polished off half the batch over the course of  the week, sneaking them one at a time from the basement freezer. If you are so easily tempted you may want to make these closer to the Holidays as there seems to be no safe place for these to hide.

Hazelnut Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Recipe by Barry C. Parsons

Just a few simple ingredients is all it takes to create these nutty, all-butter shortbread cookies with a light drizzle of chocolate.

Prep time: About an hour or two including chilling time for the dough
Cook time: 15-18 minutes per cookie sheet
Total time: About 2 hours
Yield: 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups toasted, roughly chopped hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp whipping cream

Cooking Directions

1. Toast the hazelnuts on a cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven for about 5-7 minutes until the skins begin to have a cracked appearance.
2. Spread a clean tea towel on the counter top and sprinkle the hazelnuts onto it.
3. Cover with another clean tea towel and roll the hazelnuts with a flat palm between the two towels to remove the skins. They may not all be perfectly clean but a few skins left on is perfectly okay.
4. Let the hazelnuts completely cool to room temperature before chopping them roughly with a large sharp knife. 1/4 to 1/2 sized nut pieces are best.
5. Cream together the butter sugar and vanilla until very light and fluffy.
6. Gently fold in the flour and salt until the dry ingredients are almost completely incorporated.
7. Add the chopped hazelnuts and work into a soft dough.
8. Form the dough into two 1 1/2 inch wide logs.
9. Wrap the dough logs in plastic wrap and chill for a couple of hours. (Note: This dough will be fine in the fridge for several days if you want to bake off the cookies a few at a time as needed.)
10. Preheat oven to 350 degrees when ready to bake the cookies.
11. Using a very sharp knife, cut 1/4 inch slices of dough from the log and place 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.
12. Bake for about 15-18 minutes until the bottom edges are noticeably golden brown.
13. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
14. Melt together the chocolate chips and whipping cream in a double boiler.
15. Using a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off, drizzle the chocolate over the surface of the cookies and let stand until the chocolate is set.
16. Store in an airtight container. Freezes well.
17. You can also drizzle these with white chocolate if you prefer.