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These chocolate-dipped Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies are tender, buttery and so flavorful. Made with less than 10 ingredients and a hint of cardamom, these lightly spiced cookies are a crowd-pleasing recipe.
These Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies dipped in chocolate were developed with my mother in mind. Every year around the holidays she makes 100+ cookies for a cookie exchange among her friends, and she’s always looking for something new and interesting that’s also easy enough to bake on a weeknight.
To make a decadent cookie that’s also simple and easy, I decided to take the classic shortbread cookie and turn it up a notch using ground toasted hazelnuts.
A generous amount of cardamom offers a surprising and additive spicy-warmth and a dunk in dark chocolate never did a cookie any harm.
If you love a great cookie recipe, be sure to try my Pistachio Shortbread, Eggnog Cookies or Linzer Cookies.
Made these and honestly they are the best cookies I have ever made.
-Maria
Ingredients Needed
These cookies require less than 10 ingredients, most of which you probably already have on hand!
- Flour: for the best results, use a food scale to weigh the flour. If you don’t have on, fluff the flour and spoon it into your measuring cup before leveling off.
- Toasted hazelnuts: toasting the nuts is essential for flavor!
- Cornstarch: an important ingredient for creating an ultra-tender and crisp cookie.
- Salt: every sweet needs a bit of salt to balance and enhance flavors.
- Butter: I recommend using unsalted. If you’re using salted, putt back on the salt by ¼ teaspoon.
- Sugar: granulated sugar sweetens the cookies and makes them crisp.
- Cardamom: a super aromatic, slightly floral and warm spice.
- Vanilla: pure vanilla is always best.
- Dark chocolate: great for balancing the sweetness of the cookie.
How to Make Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies
The process of making these cookies is somewhat similar to how you make regular shortbread cookies. The largest difference is that ground hazelnuts take the place of some of the flour.
- Process the flour, hazelnuts, cornstarch until they are finely ground.
- Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then beat in the cardamom and egg.
- Next, add the flour-hazelnut mixture and mix until a sandy dough comes together (it should hold together when pinched).
- Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and firmly press it together to form a 7×3-inch rectangle. Refrigerate the dough for 2 hours or up to 3 days.
- Carefully slice the chilled dough into ¼-inch thick slices. Bake the cookies in a 325° (163ºC) oven until their edges begin to brown, this will take about 18 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool on the sheet pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- In a glass bowl, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave on high in 20 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until completely melted.
- Dip the cookies in the chocolate then sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts. Once chocolate has set, store cookies in an airtight container with parchment paper between each layer.
Expert Tips
- Chilling the dough is an essential step—it helps the dough bind together correctly and hydrates the flour, making the cookie very tender when baked.
- The cookie dough gets blended for quite a bit of time and it’s very forgiving. But try not to mix it for more than 4 minutes or you could end up with a tough cookie.
- With shortbread, it’s essential to let the cookies cool all the way before storing. This is key to keeping them crisp!
- If you don’t like the flavor of cardamom, cinnamon also works well for this recipe.
Storage & Make Ahead Instructions
Store these cardamom shortbread cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week. Layer the cookies between parchment paper to keep them from sticking together.
These cookies also freeze very well. We recommend freezing them before they’re dipped in chocolate. When you’re ready to serve, thaw them on the counter until they’re ready to eat. Dip them in chocolate, let it set, and enjoy.
You can also make the cookie dough in advance. The dough can hold for up to 3 days in the fridge.
More Holiday Cookie Recipes
Chocolate-Dipped Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies
Description
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Ingredients
- 1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (5 ounces) toasted and husked hazelnuts
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup (3 ½ ounces) sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 ounces dark chocolate chips
- ¼ cup toasted and husked hazelnuts, chopped
Instructions
- Process flour, hazelnuts, cornstarch, and salt in a food processor until hazelnuts are finely ground, about 40 seconds, stopping to stir halfway through.
- Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl, add cardamom and vanilla and mix to combine.
- Add flour-hazelnut mixture and beat on medium until dough resembles damp sand and holds together when pressed between fingers, 3-4 minutes. (Make sure to mix for at least 3 minutes for best results.)
- Turn dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and firmly press together to form a 7×3-inch rectangle. Tightly wrap with plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 3 days.
- Preheat oven to 325° and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Slice chilled dough into ¼-inch thick slices and transfer to prepared baking sheet, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake 18-20 minutes, rotating pan halfway through, until edges begin to brown. Cool cookies on sheet pan 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
- In a glass bowl, melt chocolate chips in microwave on high in 20 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until completely melted.
- Dip cookies in chocolate, transfer to wire racks, and sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts. Once chocolate has set, store cookies in an airtight container with parchment paper between each layer.
Made these and honestly they are one of the best biscuits I have ever made.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Maria!
Can I replace the cardamon with something else? I’m not a fan of cardamon.
Hi Elle, thanks for the question! You definitely can, I would swap in cinnamon and maybe a pinch of nutmeg.
Do I need the corn starch? I only have corn flour
Hi Zahra! The cornstarch is important for creating a tender, melt-in-your-mouth cookie. You can also use arrowroot starch if you have it! I haven’t tested this, but you could decrease the sugar to 1/3 cup and use 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar) in place of the cornstarch. Hope that helps!
Hello, I don’t have a stand up mixer, but have an electric handheld single whisk mixer. Would this still work in lieu of the stand up mixer with paddle?
I tara, that should work just fine! Be sure to mix the dough well, you want it to look like wet sand, but hold together when pinched between fingers. Let me know how it goes!
I don’t have a food processor, any other option o mix flour and nuts together please
Do you have a blender? That should work just fine!
This recipe came up in my Instagram feed and I knew immediately it was going on my holiday cookie list. I love shortbread because it is so versatile; it can be sweet, savory and in between. And I felt confident that the combination of hazelnuts and cardamom would be delicious.
The instructions are well written and I really appreciate that Lauren has measurements in both ounces and cups. It is so much easier to weigh out ingredients, especially flour, on a scale! I chose not to cut the dough in rectangles as she did because I needed some round cookies to add interest to my assortment, but it didn’t matter, they came out beautifully with my scalloped edged cutter.
I had some Valrhona 72% dark chocolate disks and decided to use those instead of the Nestle chips I had in my pantry. Honestly, I feel like the “boujee” chocolate gilded the lily. The cookie itself is pretty darn perfect. Chocolate adds to the experience for sure, but there are diminishing returns to adding super fancy chocolate. I actually really want to try these again with a high quality milk chocolate. I think they would be wonderful. No matter the chocolate, I highly recommend this recipe!
I made these for Christmas gifts and they were a BIG hit. Easy, too!