Eggless Hazelnut Cookies With Caramel Sauce

“Joy to the World , the Lord has come…”. This is one of my favourite Christmas Carol that I like to hear since my childhood. Now that we have less than a fortnight to celebrate Christmas, what better way than prepare for it other than baking unique cookies and set the mood. Frankly speaking, I have started using whole hazelnuts in cookies recently as these were rare to get, only now I know where to get these.

 I have got only handful of photographs as I was more busy in preparing and then packing them for order. Roasting hazelnuts is the best part perhaps as the aroma is wonderful. Who knows someday, Santa Claus would tiptoe in my living room where I would spread hazelnut cookies and after tasting them , would be so pleased that he would leave me a nice present!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
3/4 cup Hazelnut (whole)
1/2 cup unsalted Butter, room temperature 
1/4 cup Brown sugar 
1/2 cup Granulated sugar
1 tsp Instant coffee powder
1/2 tsp Salt

I have decorated them with Caramel Sauce{Next on Blog} and silvered almonds. Besides this you need cling film, rolling pin and baking mat.

Method:
Take a pan and roast hazelnut over medium heat until the nuts have darkened little and you can smell the nutty aroma.

Cool it and grind it until you get a fine and crumble texture. CAUTION: Don't make a paste of it !

In the mean time in a mixing bowl cream butter and 2 types of sugar together until light and fluffy. Add flour, hazelnut powder, coffee powder and salt in it.

Mix together everything and use your hand to scrap the dough onto the kitchen platform. Knead till you get a nice soft ball. Divide the dough, cling wrap and chill the dough in fridge for 1/2 hour.

Pre-heat Oven to 180 Degree Celsius. Place a baking mat on tray or you can use aluminium sheet as I did and set aside. Remove one dough (take each one out to work on one ball at a time) from the fridge and shape into small balls. With the help of rolling pin, press it in the center to make a small well. This step is done to fill the caramel sauce later. Place it on sheet 1 inch apart. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden on edges. Let the cookies cool completely and then place them on wire racks. Once they are cooled you can decorate the cookies with Caramel Sauce and silvered almonds. 

Linking this recipe to Priya's 60 Days to Christmas Event, co-hosting with Divya 

Also to Siri's event where she is celebrating first anniversary of her blog