Chocolate Hazelnut Hearts

Ingredients

• 1 ⅓ cups flour
• ½ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup hazelnuts, finely chopped
• ½ cup hazelnuts, finely ground
• ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa
• ⅛ tsp salt
• 2 eggs, 1 separated
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar, packed

Directions

Mix the flour, finely ground hazelnuts, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl. Beat the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until creamy. Add 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk, beating until just blended. With mixer on low speed, beat in the mixed dry ingredients and ground hazelnuts, to form a smooth dough. Press the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Discard the plastic wrap. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to ¼ inch thick. Use a 1 ½ inch heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Gather the dough scraps, re-roll, and continue cutting out cookies until all the dough is used. Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, placing them 1 inch apart. Use a wire whisk to beat the remaining egg white in a small bowl until frothy and brush over the tops of the cookies. Sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts. Bake until firm to the touch, 10-15 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.