Hazelnut Sandies

Hazelnut Sandies ~ I love the toasted nutty flavor, the buttery shortbread texture, and the sandy finish of these easy slice and bake shortbread cookies.

These melt in your mouth hazelnut sandies are the perfect blend of innovation and tradition. A little swiche-er-oo in the nut department and you’ve got a whole different cookie, but in a comforting, familiar sort of way. I think you’re going to love them too. Recipe tips for hazelnut sandies:

Make sure you use fresh hazelnuts. If you’ve had them in the cupboard forever don’t use them, nuts have a short shelf life. I like to keep mine in a zip lock freezer bag in the freezer.

I like to toast my nuts for a full 15 minutes before I grind them, the flavor payoff is huge.

Your butter should be at room temperature.

Make sure you mix the dough until it comes together without dry spots, and really take a minute when forming your log to make sure it is firmly packed. This will help it stay together later when you slice it.

Use an oven thermometer to be sure of your temperature, many ovens are not accurate.

Ingredients:

2 sticks (1 cup, or 226g) unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling later

1/2 tsp almond extract

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup finely ground toasted hazelnuts (If you grind your own measure AFTER grinding, see instructions for roasting below*)