Hazelnut Sandies

I've had a weekend that just had broken me down to a little pile of rubble. Cute rubble, tired rubble, but rubble none the less. I feel like I fit three weeks worth of activities into two and half days. I went: out to eat, miniature golfing, house hunting, out for pie, celebrated a friend's birthday, shot a food video, watched Buffy with Butchie,  made pasta and ricotta and combined it into ravioli, converted video files, edited a video, lost the work I'd done, edited it again, slept off a migraine, took nighttime drives around the neighborhoods I'm looking into houses in, took a friend to an open house, went to church, made baked ziti, uploaded video to youtube, and then woke up today and realized....the video isn't there. HOW?! At 2 am last night I was on the verge of tears. After working on this video for three hours, losing the work, redoing the work, having the computer tell me I don't have the memory to save the video, erasing hundreds of pictures,  and finally uploading the video I was so happy to be done......but no no. Now I'm fully awake, at work, and the video isn't there.

I should have called in sick today. I need a mental health day.

So, instead of seeing a hopefully funny video blog of my bloopers in the kitchen.....you're getting hazelnut sandies. It's not a horrible trade. You get cookies, and I get a headache and another evening of trying to finish this video mess.

A hazelnut sandie is a take off of a pecan sandie. I bet you already knew that and I bet you already knew a pecan sandie is a nutty shortbread cookie. It's a simple cookie, easy to throw together and remarkably delicious for what little hands on time you'll put into it. I prefer hazelnuts to pecans....and this seems like pointless rambling. :)

Enjoy the cookies. I need a nap and it's only 10 am. This is gonna be a long day. I hope your Monday is going better.

Cheers!

Hazelnut Sandies

1 1/2 ounces ground hazelnuts
1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1.1 ounces confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt (not kosher)
1/8 teaspoon baking powder

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat well. Sift together the remaining flour, the salt, and the baking powder, and add it to the dough, mixing until just combined. Stir in the nut mixture. Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Roll the dough between two sheets of wax paper to 1/4 inch thick . Using cookie cutters or knifes cut cookies into desired shapes. 

Place them 1 inch apart on a parchment paper lined cookie sheets . Bake until pale golden all over, about 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.