Oma Kiener’s Hazelnut Christmas Cookies

  4.5 – 13 reviews  • German

An authentic dumpling recipe from a Taiwanese acquaintance.

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 12 mins
Additional Time: 8 hrs
Total Time: 8 hrs 27 mins
Servings: 48
Yield: 48 servings

Ingredients

  1. ½ cup butter, softened
  2. ½ cup white sugar
  3. 1 egg
  4. ½ teaspoon salt
  5. 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
  6. ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  7. ½ cup ground hazelnuts
  8. 1 egg, beaten
  9. ¼ cup multicolored candy sprinkles (jimmies), or amount needed (Optional)

Instructions

  1. Beat the butter, sugar, egg, and salt together in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour and baking soda, and mix just until blended. Mix in the hazelnuts.
  2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and shape into 2 1/2 inch log. Wrap snugly in wax paper, and refrigerate overnight.
  3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
  4. Unwrap, and cut the log into 1/8 inch thick slices. Place on prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart. Brush tops with beaten egg and, if desired, decorate with sprinkles.
  5. Bake in preheated oven until edges are lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on racks, and store in an airtight tin.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 52 kcal
Carbohydrate 6 g
Cholesterol 13 mg
Dietary Fiber 0 g
Protein 1 g
Saturated Fat 1 g
Sodium 48 mg
Sugars 3 g
Fat 3 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Kim Bennett
Great cookies, everyone loved them. Bought hazelnuts in the shell and ground them in my coffee grinder. No changes made. Thanks for sharing them.
Robert Holmes
Although festive and colorful, my results were dry and lacked flavor. Spraying the pan resulted in crisp, dark bottoms. I would say these are more like biscuits than cookies.
Margaret Bishop
These were easy to make. I might cut them a wee bit thicker next time though. I will definitely make them again!
Rodney Jarvis
I’m gonna confess right off the bat that I did 2 things different than the recipe: I only processed the nuts to a coarse chop, and I added about 1/2 a teaspoon of almond extract. That said, WOW. These cookies are not knock-your-socks-off with flavor- but that’s OK, because the richness of the nuts and the butter makes up for it. They are certainly not bland.
Deborah Cole
This recipe was nice and easy to make. I added a bit of almond extract and chopped almonds as other reviewer suggested, but not to the batter, I thought they’d look nice instead of the sprinkles, and they did…no egg wash used either.
Joseph Jackson
Family loved these as Christmas gifts. It’s now requested for next year again
Curtis Jones
I used ground almond instead of hazelnut and it is great! easy and tasty! love it! my favorite cooky recipe now! 🙂
Raymond Strickland
My great-grandma always made these cookies, not with hazelnuts but with (yuck) walnuts. These didn’t taste like hers, but it’s only because my great-grandmother made her own butter from raw milk in a churn. So, it’s very different taste than anyone is used to. lol
Ryan Bradshaw
I agree with those whom were impressed by them, and disagreed with those that felt they were too bland, or lacked ‘specialness’. I think sometimes we Americans feel shortchanged if we don’t get all the bells and whistles, or if every lily isn’t gilded; gastronomically speaking. On my perfect Christmas cookie platter, there are the ‘fancy’, rich, or showy ones, and then the ‘plainer’, simple, or unadorned ones. There is a place for both, I think, and I thought these were wonderful. It reminded me of a part of what best about German cooking. Thank you Oma Kiener, and Oma Keiner’s children!
William Carson
Tasty and easy.. took to church potluck.. they vanished
Paul Berger
Initially I felt these cookies were a little on the bland side eventhough my whole family liked them. I did however make a few changes to the recipe. First, the dough was too dry, so I added 2 TB of milk. Secondly, I could not find ground hazelnuts, so I tried to ground whole ones in my blender, but ended up with powdered hazelnuts. If I’d had larger pieces I think these would have been better. Lastly I frosted the cookies with Nutella which seemed to help a lot.
Christopher Ray
these were delicious! definitely will be an addition to the christmas collection – (My great aunt used to make something similiar at christmas,….ahhh,..the memories!)
Christopher Hebert
These were good but lacked the specialness of a Christmas cookie. Thanks for sharing.

 

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