Hazelnut Sablés

Makes about 20

Ingredients

• 100g unsalted butter, softened
• 45g icing sugar, sifted
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 25g toasted finely chopped hazelnuts
• 125g plain flour

Method

Put the butter and icing sugar into the bowl of a food processor and blitz for a few seconds until well mixed. Next, add the toasted chopped hazelnuts and the salt and mix to a smooth, soft dough. Remove dough from bowl and on a floured surface, form into a compact shape, wrap in plastic cling wrap and chill for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180º C.

Tear off two sheets of baking paper, each the approximate size of a baking tray. Place the dough between the parchment sheets and roll out to a 1cm thickness. Slide the dough, sandwiched between the paper onto a baking tray. Place a second baking tray on top and then place a weight (I use a broad based all metal saucepan) on top of the uppermost tray.

Place the "sandwich" with the weight on top into the preheated oven and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, take off the weight and the top baking tray and with the top layer of parchment still in place, roll the half-baked dough as thinly as you can. Remove the top layer of baking paper, return to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes or until pale golden.

Remove from the oven and, using a 5 – 6 cm biscuit cutter, immediately cut out as many rounds as you can while the cooked dough is still warm and pliable. Using a palette knife, lift these on to a wire tray to cool and harden. If the dough starts to harden before finishing cutting, return to the oven for a minute or so to soften. The cooled biscuits can be stored for a few days in an airtight container.