If you want to prepare crumbly, fragrant pies or cookies with a special flavor, hazelnut shortcrust pastry is the perfect base: simple to work with and roll out, it guarantees excellent results whether you’re thinking of making cookies in particular shapes – decorated Christmas cookies, two-tone heart cookies, stained glass cookies – or if you’re looking for a different base than usual for your jam tart or with chocolate cream. Also, if you are celiac, you can prepare this hazelnut pastry with naturally gluten-free flours: rice flour and corn flour. The result will be perfect! To prepare the hazelnut shortcrust pastry, you can use hazelnut flour, if you can find it, or whole hazelnuts: you just need to finely chop them in a mixer before incorporating them into the shortcrust pastry. The hazelnut shortcrust pastry recipe is very simple and will probably become one of your favorite recipes when you want to bake different pies and cookies!
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- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 45 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 500 g
- Cooking methods: No Cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
- Energy 511.45 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 53.15 (g) of which sugars 22.67 (g)
- Proteins 9.56 (g)
- Fat 31.17 (g) of which saturated 12.65 (g)of which unsaturated 17.75 (g)
- Fibers 2.82 (g)
- Sodium 97.76 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 100 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for about 500 g of hazelnut shortcrust pastry
These doses are sufficient for about 30 medium-sized cookies or for a 9.5-inch diameter pie. For the gluten-free hazelnut shortcrust, I substituted all-purpose flour with 140 g of rice flour + 60 g of corn flour, both very fine. If you are celiac, remember that corn flour, rice flour, and any baking powder or hazelnut flour must be labeled “gluten-free”.
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (for gluten-free version: 1 1/8 cups of rice + 1/2 cup of corn)
- 3.5 oz hazelnuts (shelled and peeled, or 3.5 oz of hazelnut flour)
- 7 tbsps butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg (whole)
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch baking powder
Tools
- 1 Mixer large
- Plastic wrap
- 1 Mat silicone
How to Prepare Hazelnut Shortcrust Pastry
To prepare hazelnut shortcrust pastry, first finely grind the hazelnuts (unless you are using hazelnut flour, in which case skip this step). Put them in a mixer along with a tablespoon or two of the sugar required by the recipe (1).
Grinding them with the sugar will ensure that any oils released by the hazelnuts during grinding are absorbed by the sugar. Grind using short pulses initially, to avoid overheating the motor. Then continue for a few seconds until you obtain a flour-like consistency (2). Put it in a bowl and set it aside.
Now prepare the shortcrust pastry in the same mixer: put in the butter cut into pieces – it needs to be cold, just taken from the refrigerator – and the flour (or rice and corn flours, in the case of gluten-free pastry); also add a pinch of salt (3).
Grind for about ten seconds, until you get a sandy mixture (4). Then add the ground hazelnuts (or hazelnut flour), the remaining sugar, eggs, and baking powder (5).
As mentioned in the ingredients, baking powder is optional, depending on the type of shortcrust pastry you desire. Personally, I add just a pinch if I’m making a pie or slightly soft shortbread cookies. For crispy cookies or those that need to maintain their shape, I don’t add any. Blend until the mixer allows, i.e., until the mixture starts to clump together (6).
At this point, pour everything onto the work surface (7) and knead the dough briefly with your hands, just enough to form a smooth and homogeneous dough (8).
Wrap it with plastic wrap and let it rest in the coldest part of the refrigerator for 45 minutes to 1 hour. When you’re ready to use your hazelnut shortcrust pastry, lightly flour the work surface, or use a silicone mat or a sheet of parchment paper (9).
You can use the hazelnut shortcrust pastry to prepare delicious cookies (depending on thickness, they will bake in 10-15 minutes) or pies filled with jam, Nutella, or chocolate custard.
How to Store Shortcrust Pastry
You can store the hazelnut shortcrust pastry wrapped in plastic wrap for a couple of days in the refrigerator. Alternatively, you can freeze it and thaw it in the refrigerator before using it.
Tips and Variations
With this recipe, you can prepare a shortcrust pastry flavored with the nuts you prefer: almonds, walnuts, peanuts, pistachios… for a better aesthetic effect, it’s best to choose peeled nuts, which should always be ground with a bit of the sugar required by the recipe.
