• 6 oz blanched hazelnuts
• 6 oz brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon hazelnut extract
• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 2 egg whites

www.aturkishcookinamerica.com

Turkey is one of the largest suppliers of hazelnuts in the world, yet there are not any traditional cookies made with hazelnuts.

The recipe given here is our own creation, which we came up with as we tried different techniques in trying to optimize the process for the bitter almond cookies.

These are lighter and probably even richer than the bitter almons cookies.

Spread the hazelnuts on an oven tray and bake in preheated oven at 350F for 10-15 minutes. When the hazelnuts cool down to room temperature, you can remove their skins using your fingers. Even if you find blanched hazelnuts, you should bake them to achieve the best flavor.

Finely ground the blanched hazelnuts in your food processor, set aside.

Put the two egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, hazelnut extract and cocoa in a mixing bowl.

Use an electric mixer to beat the mixture for about 10 minutes.

Add the ground hazelnuts into the bowl, mix well using a spoon. The dough should not be too soft and runny.

Preheat the oven to 300F.

Cut a baking a sheet for your baking tray - you can also use a silicone baking sheet.

Use a tea spoon to measure and drop the cookies on the baking sheet. You can also use a cookie gun if you have to make many of these. Try to spheres with a diameter of approximately 3/4 inch. If the cookies are easily spreading when they are dropped, you have to add a bit more hazelnuts - a teaspoon or two. This is critical and you will have to learn the right consistency by trying. It is practically impossible to predict the volume of the egg whites and measuring them precisely would create so much unnecessary work. Adding the nuts later if you do not find the consistency right is a simple solution. Basically, it is best if the cookies do not spread at all. Also, do not worry if the cookies do not drop as perfect circles - that will happen anyway during the baking. Leave about 1 inch space between the cookies.

Place a hazeulnut on each cookie.

Bake on the middle rack at 300F for 20 minutes. Do not overbake these cookies. They will harden very quickly - they are supposed to have a soft crust with a slightly chewy core. If you are using a silicone sheet, it becomes easy to remove the whole sheet off the tray.