Lemon Hazelnut Cookie Sandwiches Recipes

HAZELNUT SANDWICH COOKIES

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In a food processor, pulse hazelnuts with 1/4 cup flour mixture until very finely ground. Add remaining flour mixture and process to combine. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add egg yolks and vanilla and pulse until dough just comes together. Form dough into 2 disks, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between floured parchment paper to 1/8-inch thickness. Stack dough in parchment on a baking sheet; refrigerate until firm, 30 minutes. With a lightly floured 2 1/2-inch fluted round cutter, cut out dough. (If dough becomes too soft, refrigerate a few minutes; reroll scraps, if desired.) Place cookies, 1 inch apart, on two parchment-lined baking sheets. With a 1-inch cutter, cut out dough in centers of half the cookies. Bake until cookies just begin to brown at edges, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. If desired, bake small cutouts separately, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool completely.
• Lightly sift confectioners' sugar over cutout tops. Spread about 2 teaspoons chocolate or jam on bottoms of remaining cookies and sandwich with sugar-dusted tops.

HAZELNUT AND LEMON COOKIES

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• 2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt onto a piece of waxed paper.
• 3. In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk 2 of the eggs until they are foamy. Gradually whisk in the sugar and continue whisking until the mixture is pale yellow and light, about 4 minutes. Whisk in the oil, then add the lemon zest and mix well. Mix in the dry ingredients alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Then quickly and thoroughly mix in the hazelnuts.
• 4. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it in half. Shape each half in an 8-inch-long log and 2 inches thick. Flatten the tops slightly and place the logs about 2 inches apart on one of the prepared baking sheets. Mix the remaining egg with 2 teaspoons water for an egg wash and brush it lightly on the logs.
• 5. Bake the logs in the center of the oven until they are puffed and golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Leave the oven on.
• 6. With a sharp knife, cut each of the logs on the diagonal into about 24 pieces. Place the slices, cut side down, on the parchment-lined sheets and bake until they are golden on one side, about 15 minutes. Turn the slices and bake until golden on the other side, about 10 minutes more. Remove from the oven and let cool on wire racks.

LEMON HAZELNUT COOKIE SANDWICHES

Steps:

• Finely grind flour, nuts, salt and cinnamon in processor. Using electric mixer beat butter and 1/2 cup sugar in large bowl until smooth. Beat in lemon peel and vanilla. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix just until dough holds together. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 1 hour.
• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325°F. Butter large baking sheet. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Using 3-inch round cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Gather scraps into ball. Reroll dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out additional cookies, forming total of 12. Transfer rounds to prepared sheet. Using 1-inch round cookie cutter, cut out center of 6 cookies and remove. (Can be baked for snacks.)
• Bake cookies until golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to rack and cool 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to rack and cool completely.
• Spread 1 1/2 teaspoons marmalade evenly over each cookie without a hole, leaving 1/8-inch border uncovered. Sift additional powdered sugar over cookies with holes; arrange powdered sugar side up atop jam-covered cookies. (Can be prepared up to 2 days ahead. Store cookie sandwiches in single layer in airtight container at room temperature.)