walnut cookies

Ever since Da and I bought a walnut crusher, I have been having fun using it. Crushed walnuts are very versatile, for example, they can be used as toppings on a cake or as ingredients in a cookie.

Recently, I tried to use the walnut crusher to crush some almond nips but I found it difficult to do so because the almond nips are harder than the walnut meat. As such, for the moment, my walnut crusher is used solely to crush walnuts, which is such a waste of a kitchen tool. I shall have to look for other uses for the walnut crusher.

In the meantime, here is my recipe for walnut cookies. If you do not have a walnut crusher, no worries. Simply place the walnut meat in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to hit the walnut. Or you can use a knife. If you intend to use the rolling pin method, it helps if you lightly toast the walnut meat in the oven first.

INGREDIENTS

675g top flour
50g custard powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp cocoa powder
350g butter (softened)
3 eggs
340g icing sugar
200g walnuts (chopped / crushed)

METHOD

1. Sift the top flour, custard powder and bicarbonate soda in a bowl. Mix the sifted ingredients together and separate into two bowls. In one of the bowls, add 3 tbsp of sifted cocoa powder and mix well. You will therefore have two bowls - the "plain flour mixture" and the "cocoa flour mixture".

2. In a mixing bowl, whisk the butter, eggs and icing sugar at low speed for 2 minutes.

3. Add the walnuts and mix for 1 minute.

4. Separate the dough into two bowls. In one of the bowls, fold in the plain flour mixture and mix well ("plain dough"). In the other bowl, fold in the cocoa flour mixture and mix well ("cocoa dough").

5. Press the plain dough and the cocoa dough alternately onto a 9" x 12" x 1" baking tray (see photograph below). The entire dough should fill up the whole baking tray.

6. Cover the entire dough with cling wrap and place the baking tray in the freezer until the dough is firm.

7. When the dough has firmed up, remove the dough from the baking tray and cut into small pieces of desired size.

8. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 18 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown.

9. Let the cookies cool thoroughly before storing them in an air-tight container.