Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies with Nutella Filling. Perfect hazelnut shortbread cookies sandwiched together with a Nutella filling. These cookies are nothing short of amazing!
At the end of my optometry residency, when it was time to interview potential new residents, one of my attendings was tasked with bringing in a treat for the interviewees. She was a busy woman with work and kids, so she offered to pay me to make a treat she could hand out. I take it very seriously when someone respects my baking or cooking skills enough to ask me to make something for them. I have always loved Ina Garten, and knew that she would have an appropriate treat recipe for such an occasion. I consulted her cookbook, “Barefoot Contessa, How Easy Is That?“, and found a cookie recipe that fit the bill.
I made Ina Garten’s version of hazelnut shortbread cookies with Nutella filling. I have changed it a bit here and there to turn it into my perfect version of this cookie. Ina certainly deserves credit as hers was the inspiration and basis for this recipe.
I should also note that if you don’t care for Nutella, no problem, these cookies are perfect on their own without it!
Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies with Nutella Filling
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup hazelnuts
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1/4 cup almond flour
- 2 cups all purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with baking mat or parchment paper.
- Place hazelnuts on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove hazelnuts from oven and allow to cool to room temperature. Once cook, grind in food processor until consistency of flour.
- In large mixing bowl or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until well combined. Then, beat in vanilla extract and honey.
- In medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, salt, corn starch, and almond flour. Slowly beat mixture into butter/sugar mixture.
- Once well combined, fold in hazelnuts.
- Shape dough into a large circle, about 1" thick. Cover in plastic and chill for 2 hours.
- Remove from fridge. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Roll dough until about 1/4" thick. Use round cutter or fluted cutter to cut out cookies. Place cookies on prepared baking sheet.
- Bake until golden brown, about 13-17 minutes.
- Let cool. Once cook, spread a generous amount of Nutella on one cookie, then top with a second cookie to make a sandwich. Dust tops of cookies with powdered sugar.
Notes
Disclaimer: All nutritional information provided on this website is an estimate only and is not guaranteed.
If you enjoyed these Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies with Nutella Filling, you should check out these other SugarSpicesLife recipes:
Nutella Mousse Cake
Brownie Pudding
Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
Brown Butter Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
The following are things I used to make this recipe, and recommend:
- Mini Food Processor I use this for small items, like the hazelnuts in this recipe
- Air Bake Cookie Sheets If you don’t have these, you need them. They help bake cookies perfectly – I tend to burn the bottoms on other sheets.
- Silicone Baking Mat If you don’t have these, get them. They’ll save you money on parchment paper in the long run. I use them for almost anything I’m cooking in the oven since they clean so easily.
- Wilton Cut and Roll Mat This is for fondant, but since it’s non stick and large, it’s perfect for things like rolling out these cookies.
- Wilton Fondant Roller This is also for fondant, but since it’s non stick I love it for all doughs that need to be rolled. I also love that it has rings to ensure I’m getting each of these cookies 1/4″ thick.
These are delicious! I made one batch then froze the rest of the dough for ~3 days before thawing and baking, and I didn’t notice a difference between the batches. Will be making again 🙂
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