These Walnut Cookies are buttery rich with the flavor of walnuts, and have a wonderfully crisp and crumbly texture. No eggs!
Traditional shortbread is made with one part sugar, two parts butter, and three parts flour. However, I tried switching up the ratio to make the walnut cookies less sweet and also added in as many walnuts as possible to let the texture and nutty flavor shine.
These walnut cookies are basically an eggless shortbread cookie recipe with bits of chopped walnuts.
Walnuts are perfect not just for the holidays, but also for cozy fall baking. We especially love using them in treats like caramel walnuts or the carrot walnut cake.
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Why you'll love it?
- Packed with raw walnuts
- Only 5 basic ingredients
- One bowl cookie recipe
- Tender, crisp and mildly sweet
- Great make ahead recipe for Christmas and holidays
Variations
- Chocolate - Like the tree cookies, spread melted chocolate on top cooled cookies or drizzle using a piping bag like in almond joy cookies.
- Spices - Skip vanilla extract and use ground cinnamon.
- Slice and bake - Roll the cookie dough into a log, chill overnight, slice into ¼-inch thick rounds and bake, as in Santa's whisker cookies.
- Sandwich - Like the skull sandwich cookies, spread Nutella or melted chocolate between two cookies.
How to make walnut cookies?
You can find full printable recipe below, but here is a quick overview of the procedure along with step-by-step photos.
1 & 2. Cream butter, sugar, vanilla and salt using an electric beater for about 2 minutes or until smooth and creamy.
3 & 4. Add chopped walnuts and flour. Continue mixing until it forms a dough.
Tip: Chop the raw walnuts into small pieces to ensure they are evenly distributed throughout the batter.
5. Shape dough into a flat disc and roll between two sheets of parchment paper, until about ⅛ inch thick. Transfer dough, along with parchment papers, onto a baking sheet and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours (up to one day), until firm. Cut circles using a 2 ½-inch round fluted cookie cutter.
Bake walnut cookies at 350 degrees, until deep golden around the edges and cool completey on a wire rack.
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Recipe tips
The secret to achieving the perfect balance of crispness and tenderness:
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Overmixing can lead to a tougher texture. Like in all homemade cookies, mix the dough until just combined.
- Allow the walnut cookies dough to chill in the refrigerator before baking. This helps solidify the fats in the butter, creating a firmer texture and also prevents any spreading during baking.
- Roll the dough to a uniform thickness to ensure even baking.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet.
- Walnut shortbread cookies are best when they are deep golden brown.
Freezing instructions
- Cookie dough - Make the cookie dough, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze it for up to 3 months.
- Baked cookies - Place the cooled walnut biscuits in zipper bags and freeze for up to 2 months.
Tip: These cookies are the perfect companion to a cup of coffee or tea and make a delightful addition to any holiday cookie exchange, especially at Christmas.
More cookies for Christmas
Walnut Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (225 grams) at room temperature
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour (260 grams)
- ½ cup walnuts chopped into small pieces
Instructions
- Divide the dough in half and then roll each half between two sheets of parchment until it is less than ¼ inch (.5 cm) thick. Then place dough on a baking sheet (along with the parchment paper) and chill in the refrigerator until firm, about one hour.
- Once chilled, remove from refrigerator and peel off the top piece of parchment paper. Using a 2 ½ inch round fluted cookie cutter, cut out the cookies.
- Place on parchment lined baking sheets, spacing the cookies about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Put the baking sheet, with the unbaked cookies, in the refrigerator, while you preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information, based on third-party calculations, should be seen as estimates, not guarantees, as various factors like product types, brands, processing methods, and more can alter the nutritional content in recipes.
All contents and images are my original work, unless and otherwise mentioned. Do not use my recipes or images without linking back to www.kitchenathoskins.com.
Anindya Sundar
The beautiful pictures do justice to this wonderful cake. Will try this out
Maria Doss
Thanks for stopping by Anindya and the kind words!
Dixita mour
Can.I replace egg in the recipe, any Suggestions please ?
I loved the entire recipe and want to try making this one.
Maria Doss
Though I haven't experimented with eggless baking, I found a proven method online - stir one tablespoon ground flax seeds with 3 tablepoons water together until it's mixed well. You can try this in place of one egg in any recipe. Hope this helps Dixita and appreciate you stopping by.
Karen
I was thinking about an orange cake this morning. Your recipe was right on time. I bet it would be good with toasted almonds. I had better make one of each.
Maria Doss
That's a great idea and would certainly be delish. Thanks for stopping by Karen and happy baking!
cakespy
This is so beautiful, and sounds like it tastes just as good as it looks!
Maria Doss
Thank you Jessie for stopping by and the kind words
Kim @ The Baking ChocolaTess
Ok, first of all that cake is gorgeous Maria! Second of all, I have some Cara Cara Oranges that I have been wanting to make something with. This looks perfect for that. The orange and walnut together is different...yum!!! <3
Maria Doss
Awww...Thank you Kim. It's one of my favorite combo!
Jenny | The Baking Skillet
I love these flavors and please give me anything with walnuts and I will polish it off 🙂 This cake sounds truly tasty and a nice break from traditional coffee cakes!
Maria Doss
Yes Jenny, orange and walnuts make a great combo. Thanks for stopping by!
welile vilane
This looks sooo good!!! I need to get over my fear of baking and try this recipe!
Maria Doss
Thank you:)
Miss Kim @ behgopa
It looks gorgeous. I love orange flavored baked goods. It would hit the spot with a cup of coffee!
Maria Doss
It sure will:)
Emily
Love it, and looks simple enough that even someone like me can even do it xx thanks will try this out x
Maria Doss
Thank you Emily:)
Stephanie
Yess! I need this recipe in my life. I love orange-flavored desserts. I will definitely be giving this one a try.
Maria Doss
Thank you Stephanie 🙂
Veena
This is the first recipe I have tried from your blog.... AND I LOVED IT.
I was researching various recipes for the rasmalai cake, and found your blog. And I am glad I did!!! So many interesting recipes... not sure which I will try next.
thank you Maria - and more power to your kitchen.
Love from DubaiX0X0
Veena
Maria Doss
Aww... thank you so much and glad that you liked it. Love..
Neetika
Looks delicious.. Great texture.. Was wondering, if grinding the walnuts to flour consistency allows more flavour or lesser, than when they are finely chopped!!
Maria Doss
Hi Neetika, grinding walnuts along with the flour helps it to become part of the flour, reducing the gluten which in turn helps the softer texture. In my opinion, that is hard to achieve when chopped. Hope it helps:)
Rosee
Thank you so much for this recipe!! Absolutely amazing 🤩 my family love it soooo much and today I doubled the recipe! Definitely a favourite 💓
Maria Doss
Hi Rosee, Glad that you loved the cake, Maria
Vini
Hi I love this recipe. Would love to try this out however I don't have a food processor. Can I use a grinder or hand whisk this?
Maria Doss
1. Add all dry ingredients into a dry grinder and process until finely ground (make sure to stop and stir twice in between). Transfer to a bowl and save the grinder (do not wash, we will be using later for topping).
2. Add butter and sugar into a medium bowl and beat with a hand held electric beater, until smooth and creamy (3-4 minutes). Beat in eggs and orange zest, until smooth (about 1 minute).
3.Add the ground dry ingredients and continue beating, just until it comes together. DO NOT OVER MIX, you can do the final mixing with a rubber spatula.
4. Transfer batter to the prepared pan and make the topping.
5. Make orange sugar topping. Add all ingredients into the same dry grinder and process. Sprinkle on top of the cake.
6. Bake according to instructions.
Hope it helps - Maria