These hazelnut shortbread cookie sticks are gluten free and egg free. Properly buttery, melt-in-the-mouth, with a real crunch running through them from toasted crushed hazelnuts worked into the dough. You roll the dough out, cut it into sticks, bake them for about 15-18 minutes, then dip them in melted milk chocolate. Milk chocolate and hazelnut belong together, so the dip is not optional as far as we’re concerned.
They are made for dipping into coffee, cocoa or hot chocolate. If you want a deeper, earthier flavour, add the quarter teaspoon of mahleb.
What you’ll need
Gluten free hazelnut shortbread
- 100g granulated sugar
- 130g unsalted butter, softened
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 240g gluten free pastry flour blend
- 50g cornflour
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp mahleb spice (optional, for a deeper flavour)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 120g toasted and finely chopped hazelnuts, divided
Chocolate dip
- 150g milk chocolate, melted
Method
Gluten free hazelnut shortbread
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
- Mix the sugar, the softened butter and the vanilla well with a spatula until combined.
- Sift in the gluten free flour blend, cornflour, cinnamon, mahleb (if using) and salt. Mix it all together until you get a fairly dry mixture.
- Add 80-90g of the chopped hazelnuts and mix well until the cookie dough starts coming together.
- Give it a thorough knead until it comes together in a smooth ball.
- Roll the dough out between two sheets of parchment paper into a rough rectangle about 1cm thick.
- Use a sharp knife to cut it into cookie sticks of your desired thickness.
- Carefully transfer the cookie sticks onto the lined baking sheet.
- Bake at 180°C for about 15-18 minutes, until they’re light golden all over with only slightly darker, golden brown ends.
- Leave them to cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then move them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Chocolate dip
- Melt the chocolate in bursts of about 20 seconds, whisking well after each one.
- Pour the melted chocolate into a narrow glass, or another narrow container that gives you a deep layer of chocolate.
- Dip the cookie sticks in. Shake them gently afterwards so the excess drips away, then lay them on a lined baking sheet.
- Decorate them with crushed hazelnuts.
- Refrigerate to set well.
A couple of tips
- Keep back some of the hazelnuts. Only 80-90g of the 120g goes into the dough; the rest is for scattering over the wet chocolate.
- Watch the ends for colour. They’re done when the sticks are light golden all over and only the ends have gone a shade darker.
- Give them ten minutes on the tray. Shortbread is fragile straight out of the oven, and gluten free shortbread more so. It firms up before it reaches the rack.
Kept in a closed air-tight container somewhere cool and dry, they last about 1-2 weeks.
We bake ours by hand, in-house, every morning. If you’re in Budapest or Bucharest, come and see what’s on the counter — walk-ins only. #webelieveinhandmade
