The warm flavor of maple sugar mingles with toasty walnuts in these buttery maple walnut shortbread cookies. Roll them out or slice and bake!
Maple walnut shortbread cookies are a unique fall treat that you’ll come back to time and again throughout the season. And don’t be surprised if they’re the first to disappear from your holiday cookie collection!
- Maple and walnuts have a complex, lingering flavor that makes these cookies so, so special.
- This flavor combination is a seasonal classic.
- I use maple sugar, which is crystallized maple syrup (unrefined and minimally processed.)
- Find it in natural food stores, and you can always buy it from online, here.
- Substitute brown sugar if you need to, and use maple extract for a flavor boost.
shortbread’s unique texture
Shortbread has a texture like no other dessert. It can bake up melt-in-your-mouth soft or crisp/crumbly depending on the thickness and bake time, but it will never be chewy like a chocolate chip cookie ~ and that’s exactly the point. What gives these maple walnut shortbread cookies that magic texture?
- No added liquid
Classic shortbread dough skips milk, and eggs, so there’s very little gluten development and no puffing or chewy bite. - Lots of butter
Butter coats the flour, keeping the crumbs ultra-tender and giving that lush, sandy-soft finish we love. - A touch of cornstarch
Cornstarch (naturally gluten free) lowers the gluten even more and creates that delicate, velvety crumb.
two ways to make maple walnut shortbread cookies
- CLASSIC CUT OUTS. Roll out the dough and cut with a cookie cutter.
- SLICE & BAKE. Form the dough into a log and slice and bake.
- Simply mix up the dough as written in the recipe and roll it into a log. Chill until firm and then slice it up and bake. The log of dough can sit for up to a week in your refrigerator, or up to 3 months in the freezer (make sure to wrap it well.
3 tips for perfect maple walnut shortbread cookies
These three tips go a long way toward eliminating baking fails during the busy holiday season.
- Use good quality butter (stock up when it goes on sale and freeze it) don’t go for the budget brand, it contains more water, for one thing, and will affect the texture of your cookies.
- I use these aluminum baking sheets for all my cookie recipes, the pans bake evenly and never warp.
- I keep an inexpensive oven thermometer in my oven at all times so I know exactly what the temperature is. It has a convenient hook on the top so you can hang it from the oven rack ~ mine just lives there.
Maple Walnut Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup maple sugar, (substitute light brown or granulated if you like.)
- 1/2 tsp pure maple extract, optional
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- sugar for rolling cookie edges, optional
Instructions
- Line baking pan with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter and the sugar together until well combined, scraping down the bowl as needed to get everything incorporated. Beat in the extract.
- Whisk together the flour and cornstarch. Blend them into the butter and sugar, until it forms a dough.
- Fold in the walnuts and make sure you get them well distributed in the dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured suface and bring together into a smooth disk. Gently roll out to about 1/3" thick. Cut out cookies and, if desired, roll the edges in sugar. Transfer to your lined cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between each one.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Refrigerate the cookies for 15 minutes while you clean up.
- I bake my cookies in 2 batches. Bake for about 15-20 minutes. Baking on the shorter end will result in a softer cookie, while ones baked longer will be crunchier.
- Cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet, then cool completely on a rack. If you like you can roll the warm cookie edges again in sugar for a super sparkly look.
Nutrition
more maple please!
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This is one of my favorite fall cookie recipes! I have been making this for a few years and my family and co-workers request it every year. Please give it a try.
I’m sorry, in my review I said I thought it was odd to use artificial maple flavoring. I was operating on an assumption that maple flavoring was artificial in the first place and I see its not. I’ve never bought it but decided to look it up after I typed in my review. I apologize. I will buy some for the next batch. 🙂
We loved these cookies. I did add some pecans to the walnuts, I think pecans amplify the flavor of maple. I thought the glaze had a “powdered sugar” flavor that I don’t enjoy so I added a sprinkle of salt and about 1.5 teaspoons of butter, perfection. I also didn’t use the maple flavoring. I thought it was odd to go to the trouble of getting maple sugar and using real maple syrup just to add artificial maple flavoring so I just used vanilla. We will be making these again, they had a melt in your mouth, but nut crunchy texture at the same time.
Great recipe! Easy but an elegant presentation and tastes delicious. One minor edit, do the math 9-10 inch log divided into 1/4” to 1/3” slices is 27-40 cookies not the 21 servings listed. I happily ended up with 4 dozen. Will be adding this to the “recipe box”
Glad you loved them HO, I’m always amused at how the math never pans out when I make slice and bake cookies, I think I subconsciously make my slices fatter, lol.
Second year making these at Christmas. Delicious! Don’t use /need icing imho
HI! Where I live I can’t find maple syrup. Can I substitute honey instead?
Yes, that should work fine.