MAKES ABOUT 24 COOKIES OR 12 SANDWICH COOKIES
This is my absolute favorite of all the cookies my grandmother, Fern, used to make. I adore hazelnuts and the little bit of salt with the sweet makes these simple cookies perfectly balanced. Here on Nantucket, blackberries grow wild. I have enough behind my house to make a few batches of blackberry jam every summer, my favorite accompaniment to these cookies. An excellent alternative to blackberry jam is Nantucket beach plum jam.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
8 ounces hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and ground
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup homemade or store-bought blackberry jam
In a mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour, ground hazelnuts, and salt and mix until evenly incorporated. Form the dough into a ball, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or, better yet, overnight. (The dough may also be frozen and thawed before use.)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide in two. Roll one piece of dough between two sheets of waxed paper to about ⅓ inch thick. (Using waxed paper is helpful as the dough is a bit crumbly and sticky.) Cut out rounds with a small cookie or 2-inch biscuit cutter and place them on a parchment paper–lined baking sheet. Repeat with the second piece of dough.
Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, until just set. Do not let them brown.
Gently remove the cookies from the baking sheet and transfer to a wire rack. Let them cool completely. Spread the jam on half of the cookies and top with the remaining cookies.