Hazelnut Linzer Cookies

After my hamentashen baking session 2 weeks prior, I had plenty of pie filling left over, and I didn't want it all to go to waste.  So I skimmed through my cookbooks and in The Craft of Baking I came across a recipe for Hazelnut Linzer Cookies.  They looked delicious, and I knew that my sister-in-law was going to be giving birth pretty much any second, so I wanted to make a treat to bring to her and my brother.

These were very simple to make, and I only had a few "I have no idea if I'm doing this right" moments.  First off, I realized I didn't have any cookie cutters, so I quickly ran to my favorite kitchen gadget store Chef Central and bought this 6 piece linzer cutter set then I got down to business.  The recipe calls for finely ground hazelnuts.  I decided to use my manual food processor from The Pampered Chef that I received as a bridal shower gift.  It took a little while to get all those hazelnuts ground (and I had to pick out the large pieces still in there after I was grinding them for a while)  but it ended up working out pretty well.

My other "is THIS how it's supposed to be??" moment was when I took the dough out of the fridge and rolled it.  At first, it was too hard and was cracking, so I let it sit for a few min before rolling it out.  It warmed up very quickly (maybe due to the gorgeous weather outside), so once I started rolling it, the dough became very soft and a little too malleable.  I ended up having to use my icing spatula to help lift the dough intact off of the counter to get the cookies looking right (and fitting together in the same shape).

In the end, the cookies came out looking wonderful and tasting scrumptious.  I even got to use the "duster" that came with my sifter to add the powdered sugar to the top.  I always like using new kitchen gadgets!

Hazelnut Linzer Cookies (recipe from The Craft of Baking)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, finely ground
12 tbsps (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for sprinkling
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
finely grated zest of 2 oranges
3 large egg yolks
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
2 tsps ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp kosher salt
approx 1/4 cup fruit preserves (I used Raspberry pie filling)


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spread the ground hazelnuts on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes, until lightly toasted.  Remove from the oven and set the baking sheet on a rack to cool.  Turn the oven off if you won't be baking the cookies right away.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, confectioners' sugar, and the lemon and orange zests on medium speed until well mixed, about 4 minutes.  Beat in the egg yolks, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt.  With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredient to the butter mixture and beat until combined.  Add the hazelnuts and beat until combined.  Turn out the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and shape it into a flattened disk.  Wrap it in the plastic and chill until firm, 30 minutes or up to 2 days (the dough can be frozen, well wrapped, for up to 1 month).

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thickness.  Using a 2 inch round cutter, cut out 36 cookies.  Transfer the cookies to parchment-covered baking sheets, spacing them at least 1/2 inch apart.  Using a 1/2 inch round cutter, cut out and remove the centers of half of the cookies; these cookies will be the tops.  Chill the tops and bottoms in the refrigerator until firm, 10 - 15 minutes.

While the cookies are chilling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees (if necessary).

Bake, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the cookies are golden brown, 15 - 20 minutes.  Transfer the cookies, still on the parchment to a wire rack and let cool completely.

When they are cool, sprinkle the cut-out top cookies with confectioners' sugar.  Spoon about 1/2 tsp preserves on each whole bottom cookie then set the cut-out cookies over the whole ones to sandwich them together.

Unfilled, the cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.  Once filled, they are best eaten on the same day.

Hamentashen

It's the time of year again - Purim!  Ok, so it's not a big holiday to most.  Even I rarely know what day Purim is, and when a co-worker asked me what it was I said something along the lines of "there's Queen Esther (she's pretty) and Hamen (we don't like him) and then Vashti and King Ahashverosh...ummm....and they all did something...."   For the record, according to Jewfaq.org, Purim commemorates a time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination

Growing up, I remember making hamentashen with my mom every year for Purim.  These are the delicious triangle cookies (symbolizing Hamen's hat) that are filled with yumminess (aka pie fillings or chocolate).

I was going to a party last weekend, and decided to try my hand at baking hamentashen for the first time in years.  I went classic with most of my fillings.  I bought Solo Pie Fillings in apricot, raspberry, prune, and poppy.  I'm not a huge poppy fan, but those are the most traditional and my father and husband both love it.

I went a little more creative with my chocolate ones.  Originally I put in chocolate chips, as I had done as a child.  They weren't melting well and they were actually spreading out, so I started using a single rectangle from a Hershey bar and folding the dough around it into the triangle.  Then for this one, I brushed the dough with egg white and sprinkled cinnamon sugar over it.  It came out super yummy!

A few opened up and didn't keep the triangle shape, but it seemed to work better if I didn't just pinch the corners, but also folded the sides in a bit.

Hamentashan (My family's recipe with a few adjustments)

Ingredients
3/4 c sugar
2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 c margarine
1 egg
2-3 tbsp water (I used 2 1/2 tbsps)
Various fillings- you can get cans of apricot, raspberry, prune, poppy seed, etc. in the baking aisle by the pie fillings.  You can also use any jam or jelly that you like.  Or chocolate!  Be creative!

Directions
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Put the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and mix well, counting 35-40 strokes to blend thoroughly. (I just mixed it in my Kitchenaid)


Cut the margarine into little pieces and add to the bowl.  Mix until you have an evenly crumbly mixture.  Be patient- it'll take a few minutes.  Add the egg and water.  Mix until the dough sticks together in a ball.


Sprinkle flour on your board or wax paper (or countertop).  Pinch off a piece of dough and roll it between your hands into a 1 1/2 inch ball.  Sprinkle a little extra flour onto the ball and roll it flat with a rolling pin to about 1/8 inch thickness.  Or you can roll out the dough and use a glass to cut the circles if you wish.


Take a teaspoon of filling and put it in the middle of the circle.  Fold up three edges and pinch together to make a triangle.  Put it on the cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.