Walnut Cookies

These Walnut Cookies are crisp, buttery, and packed with walnuts. They are mildly sweet, and each bite gently crumbles in your mouth!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword walnut cookies, walnut shortbread cookies, walnut shortbreads

Cook Time 28

Resting time 6

Total Time 6 28

Servings cookies

Calories 106kcal

Author Maria Doss

Equipment

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature (1 stick)
½ cup sugar
1 egg white or yolk, refer tips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup + 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 cups walnuts
¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

Cookie dough

Cream butter and sugar using an electric beater for about 1 minute or until smooth and creamy. Add egg white or yolk and vanilla, cream for another minute.
Pro tip: Use egg white if you like a light and crisp cookie. And egg yolk if you want a tender and softer cookie.
Add minced walnuts, flour and salt. Continue mixing until it forms a dough.
Tip: To mince walnuts, add walnuts into a food processor and process until they are finely minced. Don't make them into a fine powder!
Shape dough into a flat disc and roll between two sheets of parchment paper, until 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.
Trouble shooting - If your cookie dough appears dry and crumbly when rolling, incorporate 1 or 2 teaspoons of milk. Conversely, if the dough is sticky, add a bit more flour.

Bake

Preheat oven to 325°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Remove dough from refrigerator, cut circles using a 3-inch fluted round cookie cutter.
Place cut circles in prepared baking sheets, about an inch apart.
Bake cookies, one sheet at a time, until deep golden in color (22 to 27 minutes). Place baking sheet on a wire rack to cool completely.
Pro tip: Refrigerate the second baking sheet of cookie dough while you bake the first batch.

Video

Notes

Chop walnuts very fine - Ensure that no walnut pieces are larger than ¼-inch , avoiding coarse pieces and preventing making them into a fine powder.

Chill dough – I recommend chilling both the rolled dough and shaped Halloween trees for several hours, which gives ample time for the dough to firm up before baking.

Nutrition