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Butter Walnut Cookies

December 5, 2014 by Joy the Baker 66 Comments

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Butter Walnut Cookies

[C]ookies for the sake of cookies, for the sake of December, for the sake of Christmas, and just so we can stand at the kitchen counter and count how many of these warm, nutty, powdered sugar bites we can shove into our mouths.

The answer is 3.5.  That’s how many cookies fit in a mouth.  Be careful.

I’m thinking about upcoming holiday parties, possible cookie swap situations, and general winter cookie desires.  These buttery walnut bites totally fit the bill.  Tender, crumbly, two-bites, powdered sugar clouds.

Butter Walnut Cookies

Butter Walnut Cookies

These cookies are deliciously buttery and crumbly.

Yes, of course these cookies have butter in them, but their tender crumble is due, in great part, to the fact that these cookies have more finely chopped walnuts than flour.  The lovely fat in the nuts lends to the rich and buttery flavor of these cookies.  Essential fats.  Totally the way to go.

Butter Walnut Cookies

The dry ingredients come together in a large bowl.  Flour, sugar, and a good pinch of salt.

Butter Walnut Cookies

Finally chopped walnuts too.  All together in the bowl.

Butter Walnut Cookies

I wanted to add a bit of baking powder.  I forgot, but it’s not too late.

Butter Walnut Cookies

Softened butter is added to the nutty dry ingredients.  It’s soft so just toss it in.  Start to mix the ingredients together with a spoon.  Eventually you may graduate to using your hands to mix the dough together.

Butter Walnut Cookies

This buttery dough isn’t a traditional cookie dough.  It will be much more crumbly than something like a Chocolate Chip Cookie dough.  Not to worry.

To bring this dough from crumbles to cookies, we press a heaping tablespoon of dough together.  Gently but with intention. Walnut sized balls of dough.  They won’t rise or puff much in the oven so cozy them up on the baking pan.

It will all work out in the oven.

Butter Walnut Cookies

Perfectly imperfect.  No need for a mixer or a cookie scoop for these little balls… just a spoon and your hands.

These babies bake for about 25 minutes.  Seems like a long time for tender little cookies, but they bake at a low temperature and need a bit of time meld and cook through.

Butter Walnut Cookies

As the cookies come out of the oven they’re completely doused in powdered sugar.  Just as soon as they’re cool enough to handle.  Actually… even before they’re cool enough to handle.  Pop them in the sugar.

The heat will ensure that the powdered sugar adheres to the cookies, coats extra thick, and is utterly delicious.

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Butter Walnut Cookies

  • Prep Time: 0 hours
  • Cook Time: 0 hours
  • Total Time: 0 hours
  • Yield: about 24 cookies 1x
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Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • big pinch of salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

  1. Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Place powdered sugar in a medium bowl and set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, brown sugar, and walnuts.
  3. Stir in the vanilla extract. This might feel weird but just throw it in and stir.
  4. Add the butter and use a spoon to work the butter into the dry ingredients. Use your hands to mix the dough until it’s a coarse meal with lots of nut bits.
  5. Press heaping tablespoons of dough into walnut-sized balls and place an inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.
  6. Bake for 25 to 27 minutes. The cookies won’t brown very much but will appear to be dry on the outside and will feel fairly firm to the touch.
  7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before placing in powdered sugar bowl to coat. Coat generously in powdered sugar.
  8. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to four days.

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Reader Interactions

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Questions
  1. Ayesha

    June 10, 2022 at 6:06 pm

    Hello!! I really love these cookies and have made them multiple times. Just want to try making them gluten free and with vegan butter? what do you suggest I should do?

    Reply
    • Abby Mallett

      June 20, 2022 at 10:39 am

      Hello! Feel free to use plant based butter instead of butter and any gluten-free flour substitute. Joy likes Cup4Cup as a substitute a lot! Hope this helps!

      Reply
  2. Rich

    November 28, 2015 at 8:20 pm

    Hi from Pennsylvania… making these tonight while watching Christmas specials.

    Reply
  3. Emily

    May 11, 2015 at 11:28 am

    I just stumbled across your blog! Wow its beautiful. Love the photography. These cookies look delicious! I will be heading into the kitchen to make these right now! :)

    Reply
  4. Mary Taylor

    April 4, 2015 at 2:42 pm

    My new go-to cookie! I am baking challenged and these are fool-proof and takes just minutes to prepare. Two alterations: I toasted the walnuts in an iron skillet first and also added 1 T of maple syrup and 1 less T of brown sugar to the recipe. So utterly, amazingly, sinfully good! Thank you for making me look like a pro with this simple, fast, delicious cookie!

    Reply
  5. The Queen of Dreaming

    December 25, 2014 at 10:29 am

    Sooo good! :)

    https://justsem.wordpress.com/

    Reply
  6. Miriam

    December 20, 2014 at 1:30 pm

    I made these and they didn’t work at all… what was I doing wrong? They didn’t stick together and immediately crumbled after being taken out of the oven… I couldn’t even keep them together to roll them in the sugar :(

    Reply
  7. Kathy Mader

    December 20, 2014 at 10:42 am

    I’ve made these at least three times now. The first few times with salted butter and the last time with unsalted. I have to say, I MUCH prefer the salted butter version; it is so much tastier. Can someone please explain to me the virtues of baking with unsalted butter? This recipe is going in my permanent file (with salted butter, of course)…we just LOVE these cookies and they really are so easy to make. Thanks, Joy! Merry Christmas!!

    Reply
  8. mags

    December 18, 2014 at 5:37 pm

    OMG! delicious! thanks for the super easy recipe.

    Reply
  9. LEE @ Modern Granola

    December 17, 2014 at 5:13 pm

    I love the way these look! I really want to try making these.

    Reply
  10. Clara

    December 17, 2014 at 8:24 am

    Please, how did you chop the nuts, by hand, food processor? Thanks

    Reply
  11. Sfora

    December 16, 2014 at 9:15 am

    That’s great recipe and the cookies looks delicious!

    Reply
  12. jillian

    December 14, 2014 at 9:07 am

    I tried making these, and the dough was too crumbly to form balls. It refused to stay together. Not sure what to do.

    Reply
  13. Tracy

    December 8, 2014 at 6:28 pm

    Love the idea of walnuts instead of pecans, these look wonderfully soft and flavorful!

    Reply
  14. byjeteast

    December 8, 2014 at 8:00 am

    YUM! These are my favorite cookies! We used to make them every year for Christmas, except that my family calls them Greek Wedding Cookies. You can called them “A pile of sticks” for all I care, I’m still eating the whole plateful by myself, shamelessly.

    xoxo!

    Reply
  15. Karly K

    December 7, 2014 at 9:13 pm

    My mom has made a very similar cookie (her’s may have less brown sugar?) for as long as I can remember, and it’s likely she got the recipe from an aunt or grandmother. They’re awesome & I’m sure these are too!

    Reply
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