Hazelnut Praline Linzer Cookies: My Favorite New Recipe

I just baked the best cookies I may have ever made - they were a bit of an experiment, but in this case, they’re the Penicillin of holiday baking.

The adaptation was based on 1) my love of linzer cookies, 2) my large container of Hazelnut Praline Paste that I wanted to use honorably. Linzer cookies are usually a buttery shortbread recipe made with a large amount of ground almonds and/or hazelnuts, and sandwiched with jam. So, how to adapt a linzer cookie dough to utilize this hazelnut paste (which includes sugar)?

I dug up a sturdy peanut-butter-cookie recipe (the texture is the same as the praline, the paste just increases the sugar significantly). The recipe was fairly standard in construction - butter, flour, PB, sugar, egg. No leavening, for a crisper, more manipulable end-result. I knew I wanted the crisp-crumbly texture of nut flour included, plus need the structural integrity of A/P flour.

The end result is a very soft dough that needs to stay well-chilled, but no more so than many other soft butter-cookies I’ve worked with in the past. The cookies benefit from an additional chill on the baking sheet after shaping to prevent significant spreading in the oven. They’re tender, flavorful, delicate, and when sandwiched around some homemade blueberry jam, borderline life-changing. Try this recipe and let me know your results (it was only a first run, but extremely successful - looking forward to hone it further)!

Note: I used prepared pastry-chef praline paste, but I imagine this would be great with homemade praline paste…. if you try it before I do, share your outcome!

HAZELNUT PRALINE CUT-OUT COOKIES

Ingredients

  • 1 cup hazelnut praline paste

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

  • 1.5 cups granulated sugar

  • 2 large eggs, cold

  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour

  • 1.5 cups almond flour

  • 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

  • With an electric mixer, combine praline paste, butter, and sugar until smooth.

  • On low speed, add eggs, one at a time, and vanilla and mix until just combined.

  • Sift salt and flours together and add to the mixture, stirring just until combined evenly.

  • Turn dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap or parchment, pat into a disk, wrap tightly and refrigerate overnight.

  • Preheat oven to 375.

  • Roll dough 1/4” thick (or to desired thickness), and cut into shapes. Transfer to parchement- or silpat-lined baking sheets.

  • Chill cut-cookie-covered sheets for 15-20 minutes before baking.

  • Bake cookies for 8 minutes; rotate baking sheets, and continue baking for 2-4 minutes until very lightly browned.

  • Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

  • Eat all of them.

  • Repeat.

Holiday, KitchenTorrence O'Haireholiday, baking, cookies, pastryComment