Hazelnut Shortbread Trees - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 tsp finely grated orange peel
1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus additional to dust
2 tbsp rice flour
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup ground hazelnuts
None None Silver dragees. to decorate
None None FOR THE BRANDY BUTTERCREAM
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1/2 tsp finely grated orange peel
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp brandy

Preparation

Beat butter, orange peel and sifted powdered sugar in large bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in sifted flours, spice and hazelnuts, in two batches.
Knead dough on floured surface until smooth. Roll dough between sheets of parchment paper until 1/4-inch thick. Refrigerate 30 mins.
Preheat the oven to 350\u00b0F. Grease and line three baking pans with parchment paper.
Cut 24 each 1-inch stars, 2-inch stars and 2 3/4-inch stars from dough. Place small stars on one of the prepared pans. Place remaining stars, about 1 inch apart, on remaining 2 pans.
Bake small stars about 10 mins. Bake larger stars about 15 mins. Cool in pan 5 mins. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.
Meanwhile, for the brandy buttercream, beat butter, orange peel, sifted powdered sugar and brandy in medium bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Sandwich two of each size cookie with buttercream. Assemble trees by joining three different size stars together with buttercream.
Decorate trees by adhering dragees to stars with a tiny dot of buttercream. Dust trees with additional sifted powdered sugar.