Coffee Hazelnut Cookies

Here's another recipe I made during the holiday season. I found it off Fresh From the Oven's food blog and surfed over to Cafe Fernando where I found out that the original recipe came from Alice Medrich’s new book Pure Dessert. Whew!!! Even found out that the original recipe was made with walnuts (not hazelnuts) but all in all...verdict? EXCELLENT cookie! Especially to go with coffee! I took them to the office the first day back from the holiday break and they were gone by the time I had gone back into the kitchen for another one mid-morning!!!

I didn't have any whole beans on hand but had some dark chocolate covered espresso beans from Trader Joes in the closet which I placed on the cookie as soon as it came out of the oven and wow--what a hit!!! SCORE!!!!

Coffee Hazelnut Cookies

Makes 45 2-inch cookies

2 cups flour
1 cup hazelnuts (whole)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp fresh finely ground medium-roast coffee beans, plus 45 whole beans
14 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine the flour, hazelnuts, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the hazelnuts are finely ground. Add the ground coffee and pulse to mix. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Drizzle in pure vanilla extract and pulse until the dough begins to clump up around the blade. Remove the dough and press it into a ball. Knead a few times to complete the mixing.

At this point, either roll the dough into a 12×2 inch log or divide the dough in half and form into 2 flat patties. Wrap it and refrigerate at least two hours (or overnight).

Preheat your oven to 350*F.
If you rolled the dough into a log, cut into 1/4 inch slices and place on ungreased sheets 1 inch apart. Press a coffee bean into the center of each cookie. If you formed the flat patties, roll the dough between two pieces of wax paper to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Using cookie cutters, cut out cookies and place on ungreased sheets 1 inch apart. Press a coffee bean into the center of each cookie.

Bake until golden at the edges, 14-16 minutes. Let cookies cool to room temperature before transferring to a rack. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for at least a month.