Gluten Free Almond/Hazelnut Cookies

I mostly make these cookies with almond meal, however, I have a friend who is very partial to the hazelnut and even more so with a little melted chocolate spread on the base. Sometimes I make very small balls and sandwich pairs of biscuits with melted chocolate. Walnuts can be ground and used but make sure that they are not bitter or combine almond and walnut.

Gluten Free Almond / HazelnutCookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup pure icing sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract ( or substitute 1 teaspoon hazelnut/almond essence for 1 teaspoon of the essence)

1 cup ground hazelnut/ almond meal

Decoration

Slivered/flaked almonds

Whole blanched almonds

Roasted hazelnuts

Method

Beat the egg and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Stir in ground almonds/ hazelnuts and essence and mix well until dough forms a thick paste.

Pipe mixture or roll into small balls

Place on a tray lined with baking parchment.

Optional – decorate with a whole nut or dip into the slivered almonds pressing slightly to push almonds into the mixture and slightly flattening at the same time.

If possible freeze the cookies for an hour or so, this helps prevent the cookies from spreading. Preheat oven whilst waiting for the cookies to freeze. It is not essential to do this.

Bake at 160 Deg C until pale golden brown, approximately 12 minutes.