By marian 10 Comments
This recipe is so delicious, it took a lot of restraint to not snack on these cookies! I may have had 1 or 2… Ok, 3 or 4, and the rest I put aside to decorate; video coming soon. The nutty walnut flavour paired with the sweetness of the maple syrup… Mmm mmm mmm. Not to worry if you don’t have access to maple syrup, I will share options in the notes below. Let’s jump right in:
Notes:
- I used whole walnut pieces, but you can use smaller ones too.
- You’ll need to crush or grind the walnuts or use walnut flour.
- If you do use walnut pieces or whole walnuts I found it helpful to bake them for a few minutes and let them cool before grinding. Not a must-do step but an option if you’d like to dry them out a bit. Instructions in recipe.
- I used my small Blendtec blender to crush the nuts. This machine is designed to make nut butters, so it does make it into more of a creamy texture, even when trying not to mix too long. It mixed so nicely and added such a nice quality to the dough, however if you do grind your walnuts in a different way which makes the final result a bit drier, the recipe still turns out just as good.
- You can also finely grid your walnuts by putting them in a ziplock bag, placing the bag inside a tea towel, and crushing them with the flat side of a meat mallet.
- If you use a walnut flour or end up having a drier walnut mixture, you may need to add less flour to this recipe to balance out the moisture. I used six cups of flour because of the added moisture from the walnuts, you may need to use about 5. I recommend adding your flour in stages at the mixing stage. You can tell if the dough is the right texture when it peels away from the sides of the bowl and clumps around the paddle attachment. You can also pinch it between two fingers; if it’s sticky, add more flour.
- I mixed up approximately 2 cups of walnuts to get almost a cup of ground walnuts. You only need half a cup for the recipe so could freeze the rest (or eat it, as I did!).
- I used maple sugar in the recipe as well as maple extract. If you don’t have the maple sugar, you can just add a little more maple extract. All to your taste.
- If you don’t have the maple extract you can always substitute with another extract, but it will of course change your cookie flavour
- I love rolling my dough out in one go and placing onto a large baking sheet to chill.
- The large baking sheets fit sideways into my fridge, but not into my oven, so I use the half sheets to place the cut out cookie shapes on and bake.
- You don’t necessarily need to chill your dough, but no matter the cut out cookie recipe, I find chilling the dough helps the cookie keep its shape. Here is a post on tips on preventing spreading.
- The dough can be frozen or the finished shapes can be frozen as well.
That’s it for the notes, on to the recipe!
Maple Walnut Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe
Print Recipe
Maple Walnut Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups salted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup maple sugar *or another cup of granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp maple extract
- 1 Tbs pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup ground walnuts or walnut flour
- 6 cups flour
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
If grinding your own walnuts, spread the walnuts on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and bake for 4 minutes. Toss the walnuts and bake for 4 more minutes. Let them cool completely before grinding them in a food processor, blender of crushing with a meat mallet. Try not to grind so long that it turns into a paste or that it turns into a powder (Depending on the method you're using). If using a meat mallet, place the cooled nuts in a ziplock back, place between tea towels, and crush.
Cream the butter and sugars together in the bowl of an electric mixer on low speed. (Use the paddle attachment). Mix until thoroughly incorporated – for about one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula and mix again for a few seconds more. Over mixing the butter and sugar in this step will cause too much air to be incorporated into the dough. If you'd like a light and fluffy cookie, that's ideal, however the dough will spread more during baking; not ideal if you'd like the cookie to hold its shape.
Add eggs slowly and mix. Scrape down the bowl with your spatula at least once and mix again. Add maple syrup and maple extract, mix, and add walnuts or walnut flour. Mix until just incorporated.
Add the flour in 2 or 3 stages to the bowl and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, and observe the dough mixing. When it starts to come together and the dough clumps around the paddle attachment and peels away from the sides of the mixer, it should be the right texture. I used 6 cups of flour because my walnut mixture was moist, you may need to use less or even more. You can also test the dough by pinching it between your thumb and index finger. If it’s soft but not sticky, it’s just right. If it’s too sticky when you pinch it between your fingers, add flour, ¼ cup at a time, and mix until you’re happy with the texture.
Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge or freezer for a minimum of 1 hour.
Cut out cookie shapes. Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Re-roll scraps and repeat. If your dough gets too soft to work with, place in the fridge or freezer periodically to firm up again.
Once all cut out, put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge or freezer for 10 minutes to 1 hour to chill again. They will then hold their shape better when baked.
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 176°C.
Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the edges become golden brown. The baking time will depend on the size of your cookie.
Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate if you like! If you’re new to decorating cookies, I have basic cookie decorating tutorials with everything you’ll need to know to begin on my blog. Have fun!
Notes
Yield: Makes about 30-35 cookies, but it will also depend on the size of the cookie cutter and how thick you make your cookies.
*Butter – The butter needs to be soft, or room temperature. I leave mine out the night before I do my baking. If you forget, you can grate the butter on the largest hole of your box grater, so that the sugar and butter will mix together better or put the butter on a plate in the microwave for about 10-20 seconds to soften it. It should be soft to the touch, but not so soft it’s turning to liquid.
Please see blog post for more recipe tips.
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to drop me a line below in the comment section or on social media. You can find meonFacebook,Instagram,Pinterest,TwitterandYouTube.
Enjoy baking and nibbling ondecorating these!
xo,
Marian
