This recipe for Hazelnut Cookies from Little Upside Down Cake came into my life the way most good ideas do. Casually. Confidently. With zero warning that it would humble me aesthetically while emotionally nourishing me through butter.
On paper, these are hazelnut cookies. In practice, I did not have expensive hazelnut flour. What I did have was almond flour, which I swapped in without regret or apology. The result was less “elegant European hazelnut biscuit” and more “luxury almond shortbread that could ruin your self control.”
The dough itself is extremely pleasant. Butter and sugar get creamed together until they look rich and smug, an egg joins the party, and then the flours come in and suddenly you are mixing with your hands like a pioneer woman who knows her worth. The dough is soft, cooperative, and deeply unthreatening. This is important because the shaping step will emotionally betray you.
You are instructed to form U shaped cookies. Reader, I tried. I truly did. What emerged from my oven cannot in good conscience be described as U shaped. They looked like cat poop. Uniformly. Consistently. As if I had followed a different recipe titled “Litter Box Chic.”
But here is the thing. Once baked, lightly golden, and dusted with powdered sugar while still hot, none of that mattered. These cookies tasted unbelievable. Rich, buttery, tender, and delicate in that way only shortbread can be when it knows it is better than you. The almond flour gave them a subtle nutty depth without overwhelming the butter, and the texture was melt in your mouth perfection.
These are the best shortbread style cookies I have ever made. Full stop. I would serve them to guests. I would hide them from guests. I would lie about how many I ate. Shape them however you want. U shapes. Logs. Blobs. Crimes. It does not matter.
Five stars for flavor.
Zero stars for structural integrity.
Infinite stars for emotional support.
I will absolutely make these again. Possibly in secret.
