Description
These dainty hazelnut sandwich cookies are finished with a drizzle of chocolate. They might look like you went to a lot of trouble, but they are not difficult to make and require no special gadgets.
Ingredients
- 2 cups hazelnuts
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 5 large egg whites
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 5 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
- 6oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Toast and skin hazelnuts. (See notes for details.)
- Turn oven down to 275°F. Grease two large cookie sheets. In food processor with knife blade attached, process hazelnuts and 1/4 cup sugar until nuts are finely ground.
- In large bowl, with mixer on high speed, beat egg whites until soft peaks form when beaters are lifted. Increase speed to high and sprinkle in remaining 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at at time, beating well after each addition, until sugar has completely dissolved and whites stand in stiff peaks. With rubber spatula, fold in ground hazelnuts, flour and melted butter.
- Drop mixture by rounded teaspoons, about 2 inches apart, onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake until cookies are firm and edges are golden, 25 minutes, rotating cookie sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Repeat with remaining batter.
- When cookies are cool, with small metal spatula, spread a thin layer of metal chocolate onto flat side of cookies. Top with remaining cookies, flat side down, to make sandwiches. Spoon remaining chocolate into small zip-tight plastic bag; snip 1 corner of bag to make small opening. Squeeze thin lines of chocolate over cookies. Let stand until set.
- Store cookies with waxed paper in between layers, in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or freeze up to 3 months.
Notes
To toast and skin hazelnuts, spread nuts in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes. When nuts are lightly browned and fragrant, remove from oven, transfer to a clean, dry kitchen towel and rub them until the skins come off.
This recipe is excerpted with permission from The Good Housekeeping Test Kitchen Cookie Lover’s Cookbook (Hearst, 2012),