It’s Valentine’s day.

Valentine’s day makes me think of chocolate.

Chocolate makes me think of Hazelnut Linzer cookies.

When we were in Europe, Karl and I ate a ton of Linzer Sablés made with hazelnuts and Nutella. They were delicious and we were obsessed.

In Sicily, you could get some that were as big as my full hand. Cookie Heaven, I tell ya!

Anyways, none of this has anything to do with Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day is sooooo commercial (yeah, i’m a hipster, blah, blah, blah), but it doesn’t mean that I won’t celebrate it just because I hate the idea of fitting in with the crowd and getting flowers and chocolate.

NO NO!

To me, Valentine’s day is about celebrating the amazing person you are with and my amazing person spent 6 months with me, 24/7, in small apartments without killing me. Now that’s worth a celebration!

So to celebrate this amazing guy, I’ll be making Sicilian dishes that he loves.

Sicilian pizza and Chocolate and coffee risotto.

Nothing too fancy but dishes full of memories! (I know, i’m a cornball)

We’ll have a nice bottle of Amarone and we’ll talk about all the highlights of our trip to Europe.

Back to the cookies!

So since we miss Europe like crazy, I have decided to make these cookies, but with a healthy twist (since we no longer walk for 8 hours per day like we did in Europe)!

The texture isn’t the exact same ( damn you butter!) but they’re still quite delicious for healthy cookies!

I also used jam, which is a much healthier alternative to Palm oil filled Nutella (although it tastes like heaven).

I encourage you to make your own jam if you are one of the lucky ones who live in a forever warm country (which is NOT the case here {-30C out right now}).

Anyways,

If you miss traveling as much as we do, make these cookies and day dream about Sicily! Here’s a picture to help you! This is in Taormina, on our hike up the mountain. I know, I want to be there right now too!

Enjoy my lovelies!

xo

Alex

 
 
Recipe inspired from: http://www.naturalsweetrecipes.com/chocolate-linzer-cookies/

Course: Dessert    Yield: 16 servings    Prep Time: 30 mins    Cook Time: 15 mins  


Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 of ground hazelnuts
  • 2 Cup of 6 grain flour (or all-purpose)
  • 1 Teaspoon of ground ginger
  • 1/2 Teaspoon of gorund cinnamon
  • 1/4 Teaspoon of ground clove
  • 1/4 Teaspoon of himalayan salt (or normal salt)
  • 1/2 Cup of coconut oil
  • 1/4 Cup of molasses
  • 1/4 Cup of honey
  • 1 extra large egg
  • 1/2 Cup of strawberry jam (or any jam you fancy!)
  • 1 Teaspoon of vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Start by creaming together coconut oil, molasses and honey in a large bowl. Mix in the egg and vanilla.
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients except the jam.
  3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just incorporated. Divide the dough into two equals portions, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  5. Take one portion of dough out of the fridge.
  6. On a lightly floured surface roll out one of the dough balls to be about 1/8 inch thick. Use any open cookie cutter to cut out cookies (these will be the top of your cookie sandwiches). Quickly re-roll scrapes to cut out the bottom half of your cookies. Make sure to cut out even numbers. Place on parchment lined baking trays and bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from tray.
  7. When cookies are at room temp, spread jam evenly on the bottom cookies and place the top cookies on top, to make a sandwich.
  8. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to a month.
February 3, 2014
February 20, 2014

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