The holiday season calls for Christmas cookies and this year, I wanted to make just slightly more sophisticated biscuits than usual and so opted for a hazelnut dough.

All in all, the recipe remains as simple as it gets and the biscuits come out delicious. Top with royal icing and some colored sprinkles – and done!

Sanni

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 150 grams of ground hazelnuts
• 80 grams of icing sugar
• 250 grams of flour
• 150 grams of butter (room temperature)
• 2 egg yolks (oom temperature)
• 1 shot of dark rum

For the decoration:

• 2 egg whites
• 115 grams of icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon of white rum or water
• Colored candy sprinkles

Preparation:

Preparing the dough:

1. Sift the dry ingredients.
2. Add the egg yolks, the butter and the rum.
3. Quickly knead into a smooth dough (you can use an electric mixer with kneading hooks).
4. Form a ball and cover in cellophane. Let rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour (best overnight).
5. Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius (fan oven).
6. Take the dough out of the fridge. Use 1/2 to roll out while the other half remains in the fridge.
7. Use different types of Christmas biscuit cutters to cut out individual biscuits. Place on an oven tray lined with parchment paper. Bring the leftovers together again and let rest in the freezer wrapped in celluphane while using the other half of the dough to cut out more biscuits in the same manner. Alternate between the two batches until used up.
8. Once one tray is filled up, bake immediately for approximately 13 to 15 minutes until nicely browned. The bake the next tray. Let all biscuits cool down completely.

Decoration:

1. For the royal icing, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks just begin to form (should not be beaten too much).
2. Add the icing sugar and continue beating until you obtain a smooth icing mass. Finally, mix in the rum (or water).
3. Use a pastry brush to brush onto the biscuits and sprinkle immediately with the sprinkles. Let dry in the air for approximately 1 to 2 hours.

The biscuits will preserve well in an airtight container.