Coffee Hazelnut Crescent Cookies (Chifferi)
---Barbara
Coffee Hazelnut Chifferi
(adapted from Fine Cooking, Dec 2015 - Domenica Marchetti)Makes 48 cookies
1 cup whole hazelnuts, toasted skins removed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 T. instant espresso powder
1/4 t. table salt
8 oz. (1 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces and slightly softened
9 oz. (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
Toast the nuts and remove the skins by wrapping the hot nuts in a clean towel and let sit for 1 minute. Roll the towel back and forth vigorously to remove the skins. Not all the skins will come off, which is fine. Discard the skins and let the nuts cool.
Pulse the nuts and granulated sugar in a food processor until the nuts are coarsely ground. Add the espresso powder and salt, and process until the nuts are very finely ground, but not pasty.
Scatter the butter around the bowl and pulse until it becomes a smooth mixture. Sprinkle in the flour and pulse just until incorporated. The dough will be very soft.
Scrape the dough onto a piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap, form it into a disk, wrap and refrigerate until well chilled, about 2 hours.
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together the superfine sugar and cinnamon.
Divide the dough into quarters. Divide each quarter into 12 equal parts. Roll each piece of dough into a ball and then roll each ball between your palms to make a cylinder about 3 inches long, with tapered ends. Bend the cylinders to form crescents and place them, 1 inch apart, on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake the crescents, 1 sheet at a time, until set and just beginning to brown around the edges, 15 to 20 minutes.
Set the coated cookies on racks to cool completely.
Store the crescents in an airtight container in layers between sheets of waxed paper for up to 2 weeks.
B