Christmas cookies

This blog could not have a Christmas series without cookies, right? ;)

These were absolutely delicious and made me feel bad for not liking hazelnuts – the nuts were wonderful combined with the chocolate, the candied orange peel and the spices.

Christmas cookies
from Australian Gourmet Traveller

½ cup (1 stick/113g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (175g) brown sugar, packed
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups (175g) all purpose flour, sifted
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of ground cloves
1 egg, lightly whisked
90g roasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup (180g) dark chocolate chips
80g candied orange peel, coarsely chopped – recipe here

Beat butter in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle until creamy, add sugar and salt, then add flour and spices and mix until combined. Add the egg, beat in low speed to combine, then stir through de hazelnuts, chocolate chips and orange peel. Divide mixture in two, spoon onto a large piece of baking paper, roll away from you to form a cylinder – like Martha does here – twist ends to seal and refrigerate until firm (1 hour).
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Remove baking paper from cookie mixture, slice mixture into 1cm-thick slices* and place on prepared sheets, 5cm (2in) apart. Bake, swapping sheets halfway through cooking time, until golden (10-12 minutes). Cool in baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Cookies will keep stored in an airtight container for 5 days.

* the logs were impossible to slice even after 3 hours in the fridge, so I made balls with the dough – 1 leveled tablespoon per cookie – placed onto prepared baking sheets and pressed lightly before baking

Makes about 50 if using 1 leveled tablespoon of dough per cookie