Hazelnut strawberry macaroons (Haselnussmakronen)

My second cookie recipe in my Christmas treat boxes is Luisa Weiss's Hazelnut Raspberry Macaroons - or, in my case, Hazelnut Strawberry Macaroons.  The recipe again was in The Guardian.  They are the perfect colours for the season, in red and white.

These cookies, like the Cinnamon Almond Stars, are gluten free and dairy free, so they are perfect for people who are intolerant of or just want to avoid either gluten or dairy or both.

The hazelnut macaroons are much simpler to make than the Cinnamon Almond Stars, with no cutter required and no fiddly meringue topping to apply.  If you are looking for bang for your time buck, these cookies are the money pick.  Just be aware that they don't travel as well as the Cinnamon Almond Stars because the jam stays sticky. (I wrapped these in Glad Wrap to ensure that they didn't coat everything else in the treat box in jam.)

I saved even more time by buying roasted skinned hazelnuts.  Hazelnuts can be a pain to skin so I was happy not to have to do it.

If you love a festive looking, totally delicious cookie that is easy to make, these are the ones to make.  
To bake them, you will need:

230-290g hazelnuts, roasted and skinned 
2 egg whites
¼ teaspoon salt
150g white sugar
150g red jam

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius and line two baking trays with silicone mats or baking paper.

Grind the nuts in a food processor into a fine meal..

Whip the egg whites and salt in a mixing bowl until frothy, then gradually add the sugar to the bowl, beating until soft peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, fold in all but ¼ cup of the ground hazelnuts. Add some or all of the remaining ground hazelnuts only if needed to make a thick mixture that keeps its shape when dolloped onto a tray.

Place heaped teaspoons of cookie mixture onto the baking trays, leaving around an inch between them. Bake in the oven, one tray at a time, for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and immediately press a hollow or "thumbprint" into the middle of each cookie with the back of a teaspoon. Cool on a wire rack, while repeating with the second tray of cookies.

While the cookies are still warm, heat the jam in a microwave until liquefied. Spoon a small amount of liquefied jam into the hollow of each cookie. Allow the jam to set and the cookies to cool completely.