The cookie of choice for this week’s Writing Friday participants (if you’re a writer and you’re on the Sunshine Coast and you want to come along, message me for details …) is Nocciolatini. I defy you to attempt to say it without using your hands. It doesn’t sound quite as exotic when I call them hazelnut thumbprint cookies—because that’s what they are: jam drops with hazelnuts in the dough and chocolate hazelnut paste in the middle.
These are featured in this year’s Christmas novel, Christmas at Fountains Hall, which is set in the fictional Cotswold village of Brookford, as was Escape From Curlew Cottage and Wish You Were Here. And yes, that is where the name for this blog originally came from.
Anyways, I figured I’d take the opportunity to share a sneak peek of where they appear in the novel—although with two rounds of editing still to go, who knows if they’ll still be there by release day … which will be some time towards the end of the year.
Brookford Kitchen Diaries
Hi all, it’s Tallis here filling in for Claire who’s in Australia with Owen. You can keep up with their travels through their Instagram page. This week they’re in Far North Queensland and Owen has been cooking up a storm with local shellfish that Claire has called “muddies”, or mud crabs. I’ve been assured they taste far better than the name would indicate and are pretty special indeed. Check out the video on their YouTube channel.
Coming up this week is Italian night on Posh Or Not. To find out who cooks what – and whose menu comes out on top – tune in at eight on Tuesday night. Next week is our Halloween special and Owen and Claire have some scary treats in store for that – both posh and not.
At Halloween our attention turns to all things pumpkin and I’ve had Claire’s roast squash with sage, parmesan and balsamic vinegar on repeat at home – and it couldn’t be easier to prepare. Cut a small butternut squash into thin wedges. Leave the skin on but take the seeds out – if you roast them you can use them as a healthy snack or a crunchy topping for salads or soups. Toss the wedges with olive oil, salt and pepper, lay them on a baking tray and roast them at 220C fan for thirty minutes until tender and golden. Add a few tablespoons of good butter and about twelve sage leaves and cook for another five minutes. To serve, arrange the wedges on a plate, tip over the sage butter from the pan, add the shavings of 50g parmesan (or similar) and a good drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
I’ve served it as a side to roast chicken, but it also makes a fabulous lunch … add some crusty bread.
This coming Thursday sees the series return of Time For Tea, in which Claire travels to the Yorkshire village of Chipwell and meets a group of women who not only bake up a storm but have also been known to solve the odd mystery. Parkin, pikelets, and Yorkshire Tea Cakes will be on the menu at our gala tea held at Chipwell Hall.
Over in the Cookbook Club we’re featuring James Martin’s Great British Adventure during October. The members of The Cotswolds Cookbook Club will be having our monthly dinner next week so keep an eye on the Facebook group page to find out what we all cooked – and don’t forget to post your own photos … we can’t wait to see them.
In this month’s Posh or Not newsletter challenge, Claire and Owen have taken on the thumbprint biscuit, with Claire making melt-in-the-mouth jam drops and Owen coming up with a more sophisticated – and luxurious – Italian hazelnut version using the best of autumn’s hazelnuts. The recipes for both are already up on the website. Which one is your favourite?
Until next time …
Tallis
Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies
This recipe comes from Giuseppe Dell’Anno, who won series 12 of the Great British Bake Off. When I made them, I used whole, unblanched hazelnuts, which I roasted and rolled about in a tea towel to get the skins off before blitzing in a mini processor. It was all quite the palaver, and two days later, I’m still finding little dusty bits of brown hazelnut skin around the kitchen.
Even though it does give you a deeper hazelnut flavour, no one will think badly of you for skipping this step—I certainly won’t. If you can get hazelnut meal, use that; if not, pop some whole blanched ones in the mini processor and blitz them.
If you want to add an extra layer of toasty hazelnut flavour, feel free to toast your own, too. You’ll need 100g of whole unblanched hazelnuts, a pre-heated oven to 180C (or fan 160C), and a baking tray. You’ll also need not to do anything else for the 10-12 minutes that the hazelnuts will be toasting, as you’ll be required to turn the tray at least once and keep an eagle eye on them towards the end of the period.
Once toasted, allow them to cool before rubbing the skin off. I use a clean tea towel for this - chuck them into the tea towel, roll it up and rub them all against each other. Following the de-skinning, pop them into the bowl of a food processor with the flour and blitz for a few seconds on high - just until they’re sand-like in texture.
Ingredients
100g hazelnut meal
200g plain flour - if you have 00 flour (the type you use to make pasta) this is even better
130g unsalted butter, diced, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 egg, at room temperature
Chocolate and hazelnut spread
Method
Tip the hazelnut meal and flour into a bowl and stir to combine.
Cream together the butter and sugar - using the paddle attachment at medium - high speed of a stand mixer - for a couple of minutes until soft. With the mixer still going add the egg and mix until it’s fully incorporated into the butter and sugar mix. You’ll need to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula from time to time.
Add the hazelnut and flour and mix at a low speed until it’s just come together into a soft dough - take care not to overmix. Wrap the dough in cling film (or a plastic-free alternative) and let it relax in the fridge for twenty minutes or so.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 180C (160C fan) and line a couple of baking trays with baking paper.
Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls, place them on the trays, lightly press your thumb—or the back of a spoon—into the top of each to make a little indent, and bake for 12-13 minutes. The bottoms of the biscuits should be a warm amber.
Allow to cool for a few minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire rack.
Once completely cooled, spoon about a half teaspoon of chocolate-hazelnut spread into the dimple made by your thumb.
I have never heard of chocolate and hazelnut spread. Will have to check it out and see if I can find it. Love that you included some of the novel!
These look incredible!