Hazelnut Crescents Food

HAZELNUT CRESCENTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
• Grease and line 2 baking trays with paper.
• Sift flours into a bowl. Add sugar and hazelnut meal. Mix well.
• Rub butter into the hazelnut meal mixture, using your fingertips.
• Stir in egg yolk and essence.
• Stir the mixture until a soft dough forms and then lightly knead on a gluten free flour dusted bench.
• Divide the mixture into two and wrap in plastic cling-wrapfor 15 minutes.
• Roll each portion of dough into a long thick log, approx 2cm thick (1 inch). Cut the logs at 4cm intervals. Shape each piece into a crescent.
• Place crescents on prepared trays. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until light golden in colour.
• Stand on trays for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.
• Dust with gluten-free icing sugar to serve.
• Enjoy!

HAZELNUT CRESCENT COOKIES

Steps:

• Very finely chop hazelnuts in a blender (make sure it is a very fine chop but not pulverized) set aside.
• Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
• Add the vanilla, mixing to combine.
• Gradually add the flour and hazelnuts to the wet ingredients, making sure all is thoroughly combined.
• Cover and chill in the refrigerator 2 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• With hands, take about a tbsp of dough and roll into a rope shape.
• Twist on cookie sheet into a half moon to form a crescent shape.
• Bake for 10 minutes (do not brown).
• Let sit on cookie sheet for 5 minutes (cookies will be fragile).
• CAREFULLY roll in powdered sugar while still warm, then place on cooling rack to cool completely.
• Once completely cooled, roll in powdered sugar a second time.
• Store in tightly covered container.

HAZELNUT CRESCENTS

Steps:

• To prepare hazelnuts, spread nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 7-8 minutes. Remove from oven and allow them to cool for 5 minutes. Place in food processor and grind using the pulse action until you have a coarse powder.
• In a large bowl, use a mixer to beat the butter, water, sugars, vanilla, salt and nutmeg for 2 minutes.
• Beat in egg yolk until mixed in; then the hazelnuts.
• At lowest possible speed, mix in the flour until just blended. Your dough should be stiff but still soft. If it is very soft, add in 1 or 2 additional tablespoons of flour.
• Divide dough in halves and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for one hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• To make the cookies, take about 2 tablespoons of dough and form into a rope about 3 inches long. Turn the ends of the ropes inward to form a crescent (C) shape. Place on baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
• Bake for 13-15 minutes until the cookies have a tan color and dry exterior. Remove from oven and cool on baking racks.
• To glaze the cookies, first melt the two chocolates separately, each with a teaspoon of shortening. Place the chocolate into resealable plastic bags. Clip a tiny corner to create a piping bag and drizzle small stripes of each of the melted chocolates on each cookie. (Place some waxed paper under the baking racks for quick cleanup.) Let the chocolates harden and transfer to an air tight storage container.

CHOCOLATE DIPPED HAZELNUT CRESCENTS

Steps:

• Beat butter, essence, caster sugar, brown sugar and egg in a small bowl with electric mixer until smooth.
• Stir in cream, hazelnut meal, flours and cinnamon.
• Turn dough onto floured board and knead gently until smooth.
• Cover and refridgerate for 30 minutes.
• Shape level tablespoons of dough into crescents by rolling between hands and making horseshoe shapes.
• Place about 3 cm apart on greased oven trays.
• Bake in moderate oven for about 15 minutes or until browned.
• Lift onto wire racks and cool.
• Melt chocolate in a double saucepan or in the microwave.
• Be careful when melting chocolate in the microwave.
• It burns very easily.
• Cook on low for 15 seconds at a time and stir each time until it is melted.
• Transfer chocolate into a deep bowl.
• Dip crescents, open end first, into chocolate and drain well.
• Place onto baking paper to set.
• Dust with icing sugar and serve.