Thursday, December 4, 2008

HazelNut SnowBalls

These are simple and easy cookies made with hazelnuts and rolled in powdered or confectioners sugar.Hazelnuts or Cob Nuts are widely used in confectionaries and hazelnut butter is an excellent spread.If you still do not know,delicious 'Nutella' is hazelnut and chocolate spread. I got this recipe from a magazine site and since I had hazelnuts on hand I tried it.

Ingredients:

Hazelnuts: 1/4 cup roasted
All Purpose Flour: 1/2 cup
Unsalted Butter: 1/2 stick cold cut into pieces
Finely Powdered sugar/Confectioners Sugar: 7 tbsp+
Vanilla extract: 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

You can use store bought shelled/chopped and even roasted hazelnuts.I had unshelled hazelnuts,so I had to shell them and roast them.I shelled around 30-40 of these.You can roast these by spreading them on a baking sheet and roasting them at 350F for 10-12 minutesuntil they are browned.Then wrap these on a cloth towel and nice rub it till the brown skins come off.Then pick out the nuts and finely chop them into fine pieces by hand or processor.I managed to remove most of the brown skins,but since I was running out of patience,I allowed some to retain it.

Once the nuts are finely chopped,add half of the sugar and blend,then add vanila,cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces and blend well.Add the flour in batches and blend until a dry crumbly dough is just formed.Keep the rest of the sugar in a plate big enough for rolling the cookies.

Pinch pieces of dough and spread one inch apart on a ungreased baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 325F for 15 minutes or until the edges start to brown.Pull it out and cool for 2 minutes.The cookies will still be crumbly and delicate.Gently take a cookie by hand and roll it in confectioners sugar and place it in another plate.Do so for all the cookies.You can see that within a minute,as the cookie cools more,the sugar will melt and form a creamy layer on the cookie-the cookie will look like it is topped with white choco chip.Allow the rolled cookies to cool for 5-6 minutes and then again roll them in sugar.Allow to cool completely and then serve.


The cookies are moist and flaky -with the cold butter creating the flakes and sugar adding moistness.For me one or two came out crunchy,but most of them were soft and melt in the mouth.I baked in batches and also finely chopped the nuts-so the difference came I suppose.So I rested the dough to cool in fridge while baking one batch.

The above estimate gives about 1 dozen + cookies.The actual recipe here was for 64 cookies/snowballs,but I was not sure I wanted to crack that many hazelnut shells and also end up with a load of sugary cookies.So I reduced the recipe to one fourth.Also the recipe mentioned around 2 cups of sugar-3/4th of it was for rolling only,which I slashed as per my taste.But still,they are sugary sweet and roasted nuts can be tasted-roasting brings out the flavour.They are a sweet lovers delight.If you want to bite into them or make them crunchier do not chop/process these finely but do so roughly.They are a bit messy,sugar is left everywhere they are kept.Exactly like snowflakes I must add. :)



'And last but not least add your love to make them yummy.'

Well you guessed it right,these melt-in-the-mouth snowball cookies are on their way to Lubna of KitchenFlavours, where she is hosting FIC: White and what better than wintery snow to celebrate this colourful event started by Sunshinemom of TongueTicklers

Update: These cookies are also on their way to HappyCooks' HomeMade Christmas Gifts.THANKS CHAM for this.



FYI:
Hazelnuts contain a high concentration of vitamin E which prevents oxidation of the polyunsaturated fats, and it is also one of the few nuts which contain vitamin A, which is a natural antioxidant and has cancer-preventing properties.The B-group vitamins are also well represented in hazelnuts, particularly vitamin B5 and B6. Moreover, hazelnuts are an excellent source of minerals, particularly the minerals manganese, selenium and zinc,but they are bit low in protein.(Source:A2Z of health & Beauty-Online health magazine)

25 Comments:

anudivya said...

They do look like snowballs, very pretty and flaky. I have somehow not worked much with hazelnuts even though it is my favorite for sweet dishes (like chocolate).

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

hazelnut in cookies tastes awesome..looks delicious.

Cham said...

Perfect for this snowy winter holidays ... U can even send to Happy cook who is hosting Holiday homemade goodies , check her site :)

Yasmeen said...

Decadent edible snow balls.Hazelnuts are such rich nuts evidently its so good with chocolates in Nutella.

Suganya said...

Snowballs looks so cute. Nice recipe. So different. Will try it soon...

kamala said...

Free from all of my hectic schedule..Drooling over all of your baked goods..Having a sweet tooth cant resist all cookies..

Uj said...

They look so cute...

lubnakarim06 said...

Looks melt in mouth. Iam drooling over. Thanks for the entry.

Pavani said...

it looks yummy yaar...wht r hazelnuts yaar

Finla said...

Thankyou for sendng this to my event and thanks for Cham to informe you.
These look yummy delicous. I am sure if i make this we all will love them too.

Unknown said...

sweatha check my strata recipe that inspired by you thank u somuch

Priya Suresh said...

Snowballs looks really cute..would love to grab some from the plate..

Vikis Kitchen said...

Hazelnut snowballs looks delicious and healthy. Good for the season and FIC event:)

Unknown said...

So you decided not to take any chances this time :)

Cookies look lovely, and very different from anything I've ever baked

Joie de vivre said...

My mother in law make something similar with pecans. And you're right, love always makes them taste better. :)

Usha said...

Snowballs looks really cute and tempting :-)

PG said...

that's something so new to me. looks really delicious and for winters just the right thing.

Sujatha said...

perfect holiday treat! And a very different recipe! They indeed look like snowballs..

Unknown said...

cute snow balls sweatha hazelnuts are my fav.

Sagari said...

wowwwwwwwww love those snowballs

Deepthi Shankar said...

lovely snowballs .. i love the flavour of hazelnuts

Varsha Vipins said...

i loved this cookies..looks like real snowballs dear..:)

Sunshinemom said...

Lovely snowballs. We don't get hazelnuts here so I am yet to taste them. Meanwhile I will ogle:)

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home said...

These look delicious!

Anonymous said...

These really look wonderful, and except for shelling the hazelnuts yourself fairly simple. I also didn't know about the specific health benefits of hazelnuts. I'll use them more often!

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