Mini Chocolate and Hazelnut Biscuits
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Difficulty:
easy
Difficulty
Preparation:
25 min.
Preparation
ready in 1 hr 25 min.
Ready in
Ingredients
for
35
- Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups Hazelnuts (toasted)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (sifted)
- ½ cup softened unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup plain semi-sweet chocolate (chopped)
Preparation steps
1.
Place whole hazelnuts in a food processor and pulse them until about the consistency of coarse polenta.
2.
Place the ground nuts in the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer and add the rice flour and stir together. Add the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla to the dry ingredients. Blend together on low until the butter is evenly dispersed and the nut mixture starts to come together and clean the sides of the bowl.
3.
The dough should be very smooth and hold together. If not, knead it until it does. Keep kneading, either by hand or in the mixer until it comes together.
4.
Divide the dough into three equal pieces and roll each piece to 3/4-inch round ropes on parchment paper. Try to get them as smooth as possible, with no cracks. If it breaks, pinch it back together. Place the three ropes of dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
5.
Chill the dough logs until firm for about 45 minutes.
6.
Preheat oven to 325ºF and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
7.
Working with one section of dough at a time, keeping the others in the refrigerator, cut off equal-sized pieces about the size of a large marble, using a knife or pastry cutter. Once you’ve cut a rope of dough, roll the individual pieces into little round balls and place them on the baking sheet, leaving a little space between them. Continue cutting the dough and rolling it into little balls until you’ve used all the dough.
8.
Bake the cookies for 10 to 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheets in the oven midway during cooking, until the tops are lightly golden brown.
9.
Carefully slip the parchment paper off the baking sheet and onto the wire cooling racks, sliding the cookies with it. Let the cookies cool completely before continuing.
10.
When they are cool, match the cookies into twos that are just about the same size. Set half the cookies flat-side up on a baking sheet with its partner next to it.
11.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the chocolate until smooth, stirring often with a flexible spatula. Transfer the melted chocolate to a piping bag or resealable plastic bag. Cut a small hole in the bag and squeeze a chocolate chip-sized dollop of melted chocolate on the bottom of one cookie and top it with a similar-sized cookie, flat sides together. Wiggle the top cookie gently to spread the chocolate to the edges, sandwiching the two halves together. Once filled, set the cookies back on a wire cooling rack until the chocolate is firm. The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
