Hazelnut &Olive Oil Shortbread

There's a lot of fantasy about what Scotland is, and the shortbread tins and that sort of thing. -Sean Connery

Well, this is not a Scottish shortbread, more Italian . Hazelnuts paired with another citrus.( I have left over HAZELNUT meal from my Nutella pound cake.) This time -lemon. This classic combo I also adore. The tart lemon, and buttery nuttiness. Sandy, light, a bit salty. The original recipe is all olive oil. I did add butter because I wanted to press then into shapes. I was afraid oil alone would not be enough. I also added all the lemon juice  into the cookie.vs using it as a glaze with powdered sugar. I bet this would  have add another layer to the cookie, as well as sharpening up the beauty factor. They r surprisingly delicious. A nice rainy day, hot tea and these :)

Hazelnut & Olive Oil Shortbread

 Adapted from : From: ArcaMax Publishing's "Variety Menu," by Faith Durand (2/12/2012)

(Faith Durand is managing editor of TheKitchn.com, a nationally known blog for people who love food & home cooking.)

 

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup hazelnut meal
3/4 cup A-P flour  ( I used wheat because it was all I had )
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon  fine sea salt
1 lemon, zested
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4cup extra-virgin light olive oil
1/4 cup unsalted butter

Directions:

• Heat the oven to 375ºF.
• Cream butter with brown sugar, powdered sugar - until light
• Stream in olive oil and continue to blend until mixed.
• Add lemon zest, and juice, vanilla - mix until blended 
• Whisk together the hazelnut meal, flour, salt . 
• Mix dry  into wet oil, until dough pulls together off sides of bowl.   The dough will be sandy & quite crumbly
• Roll the dough out onto parchment paper- approx-1/4-1/2 inch thickness.  I think thicker is better because how crumbly the dough is.
• Cut with cookie cutter or hand cut into shapes. ( I used a simple large cutter. Anything too intricate will break when placing.) 
• Sprinkle with Demara sugar ( optional)   or  glaze with lemon juice and powdered sugar- after baking
• Bake for approx 7 minutes/ -on parchment paper- or  until edges are light brown. 

STACKED

 

NEXT TIME:

• I will cut them a bit thicker. Shortbread should be FAT!
• I will make the lemon glaze :)  
• I'll have white flour ..LOL 
• MAYBE I'll actually find my camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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