Chocolate and hazelnut biscuits

Ingredients:

• 1 ⅕ cups (300g) butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup (130g) icing sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp (5ml) vanilla paste or vanilla essence
• 3 cups (450g) cake flour
• 2 slabs (200g) dark chocolate, 1 slab chopped 
• 1 packet (100g) hazelnuts or almonds, toasted and chopped
• ½ cup (100g) castor sugar, for sprinkling (optional)

Method

1. Cream butter and icing sugar together with an electric mixer until light and creamy.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until fully incorporated before adding the next one.
3. Add vanilla paste or essence and mix well.
4. Add flour, chopped chocolate and nuts and mix to create a solid dough (take care not to overmix).
5. Divide dough into two equal portions.
6. Place a sheet of baking paper on a work surface and roll each portion of dough into a 30cm long log (it should be 4-5cm in diameter).
7. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for a few hours or overnight (freeze logs if not baking immediately and use as needed).
8. Preheat oven to 180 ̊C. 
9. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
10. Slice logs into 7-8mm thick discs 
11. Place biscuits on prepared baking trays, leaving a 2cm gap between each one.
12. Bake for 6 minutes, then rotate baking trays and bake for a further 6 minutes until golden around the edges and firm in the centre.
13. Sprinkle with castor sugar, if you like, and cool on a wire rack.
14. Melt the remaining slab of chocolate over a double boiler and stir until smooth (making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water or the chocolate will burn).
15. Place biscuits on a wire rack. 
16. Drizzle chocolate over the biscuits in swirls and allow to set. 
17. Serve immediately or store unglazed biscuits in an airtight container for 1-2 weeks.