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.
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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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Do these cookies spread at all when baked? I have some chilling now and want to make sure I space them out right!
Shortbread does not spread, but still I space them an inch or two apart for even cooking.
I made these last Christmas for a friend who is obsessed with maple walnut ice cream. These cookies were a big hit with everyone so much so that tomorrow a few of us ladies are getting together and they requested these cookies. I remember icing part of the batch and coloring the icing red and green to make the cookies festive and left the rest without icing. These cookies are really very good. Will definitely be making them this holiday season too.
These look fabulous and I can tell they will taste out of this world! I love anything with maple in it. Would these work if you did them in a round pan and then cut them into wedges?
Yes, I did that and there’s a photo of them cut that way. If you want really sharp slices I would bake in a springform pan so you can remove the sides and slice into neat wedges. But you can also do it right from a regular round pan.
This is a winner! Thank you!
You can’t beat maple walnut ~ it’s one of my all time favorite combos!
Why is there no salt? I made the cookies as directed without frostings. I tastes rather like sand. I guess it would be great with 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
Feel free to use salted butter, that works too! And shortbread has a distinctive texture, it’s definitely different from a chewy cookie.
These cookies are fabulous! Officially my favorite cookie now. Thank you so much for the recipe!
So glad you love them!
Can I make these without walnuts?
Yes, you can substitute another nut, or leave them out.
Did you use English walnuts or Black walnuts?
Regular walnuts, not black.
How many cookies does this make? I don’t see anything for amounts.
It makes about 21 cookies Patty. I’m just switching to a new recipe plugin and the amounts didn’t transfer over well, so I have to do individually.
How do you make maple sugar from maple syrup?
I provide a link in the post Opal, but basically you heat maple syrup to a boil and boil it down, then briskly beat it until the sugar crystals form, here’s a link to the instructions: https://leitesculinaria.com/102175/recipes-how-to-make-maple-sugar.html
You can also fine maple sugar on Amazon