Based on mixed results from readers, we re-tested and updated this Chinese walnut cookies recipe to include more precise measurements including weights in grams!
When you’re young, it can sometimes seem like the world revolves around those sweet treats that are just beyond your reach. Well when my mother was young, these Chinese walnut cookies were one of those sweet treats. She would walk back and forth…back and forth…eyeing those cookies behind the glass case like they were a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Golden yellow and dotted with a perfect crunchy walnut.
Years later during sticky summers in Beijing, me, my mom, and sister would take weekly trips to the Chinese bakery where we would give in to our shameless desire for all things sweet, crunchy, sprinkled with nuts, and covered in chocolate. The bakery in question had a glass window where the cookies were passed to you like life-affirming pills in an old-school apothecary. There were boxes and boxes of cookies, stacked perfectly in plastic bag-lined cardboard boxes–no frills, bells, or whistles, just the most simplistic of utilitarian packaging to ensure that the cookies stayed nice and fresh.
Well, these walnut cookies aren’t behind a glass window or too high up on the shelf. This recipe yields deliciously rotund, just slightly sweet cookies that are positively packed with ground walnuts and topped off with that perfect crunchy walnut in the middle. These Chinese walnut cookies go great with a morning cup of coffee or an evening mug of black tea.
So grab a bag of walnuts, along with a few other things, and head into the kitchen!
Tips for this Chinese walnut cookie recipe:
* Recipes for truly authentic Chinese walnut cookies use lard; we use butter because it’s more widely available.
* Use a kitchen scale for more precise measurements to get the best results
* I like this rounder cookie shape, but you can also press them into a flatter shape before baking.
* After toasting the walnuts, I like to crush them under a rolling pin to get them to the desired texture.
Sift the cake flour, baking soda and baking powder together and set aside. Mix the butter, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl, stir thoroughly until the mixture is creamed. Now add the flour mixture to the butter mixture along with finely chopped walnuts.
Beat the egg, put aside 2 teaspoons of the beaten egg for brushing later, add the rest to the dough mixture. Work the mixture into a dough ball. You can do this by hand or with an electric mixer. Just note that the dough might be lightly crumbly, but it should come together when you take the time and work it into a ball.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. On a clean surface, divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and roll each into a ball.
And position them on the baking sheet a couple inches apart. All of the cookies should fit onto one pan.
Take the walnut halves and gently press one into each cookie.
Cover the cookies with a clean kitchen towel, let them rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
While that’s happening, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once the dough is done resting, brush each with the beaten egg that you saved.
Bake your walnut cookies for 20 minutes. Turn off the oven and let the cookies sit inside the oven for another 5 minutes before opening the oven door and taking them out.
Let cool and enjoy these Chinese walnut cookies with your morning coffee or afternoon tea!
Chinese Walnut Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups cake flour (270 g)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (3 g)
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder (2 g)
- 8 tablespoons butter or lard (4 oz or 115g, at room temperature)
- 1/2 cup sugar (115 g)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (1 g)
- 1 egg (beaten and divided; the egg I used weighed about 62 g with shell on)
- 3/4 cup finely chopped toasted walnuts, plus 12 raw walnut halves (75 g)
Instructions
- Sift the cake flour, baking soda and baking powder together and set aside. Mix the butter, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl, stir thoroughly until the mixture is creamed. Now add the flour mixture to the butter mixture along with the finely chopped walnuts. Beat the egg, put aside 2 teaspoons of the beaten egg and add the rest to the dough mixture. Work the mixture into a dough ball. You can do this by hand or with an electric mixer. Just note that the dough might be lightly crumbly, but it should come together when you take the time and work it into a ball.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. On a clean surface, divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and roll each into a ball, position them on the baking sheet a couple inches apart. All of the cookies should fit onto one pan.
- Take the walnut halves and gently press one into each cookie. Let the cookies rest for 15 to 20 minutes while covered with a clean kitchen towel.
- While that’s happening, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once the dough is done resting, brush each with the beaten egg that you put aside and then bake for 20 minutes. Turn off the oven and let the cookies sit inside the oven for another 5 minutes before taking them out. Let cool and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Wilson says
Long time lover of The woks of life and first time commenter!
Just made these and read comments before i started. Ive noticed a lot of people had dry batter and so i proceed to add in 8TBsp butter and 1 whole egg. The batter was just barely moist enough to squeeze into a ball and when pressed down it was very crumbly. Rolling into a tube was impossible. 2 cups of flour seem so much. Perhaps can do with less flour next time.
Judy says
Hi Willy, I just made two batches of these cookies in the past two days. I updated the recipe and added weight measurement for each ingredient. Hope that will resolve any issues.
Ken Walser says
I’ve made this to recipe quite a few times with no problem.
I am going to assume / hope the other commentators who struggle with this recipe are using cake flour (not all-purpose), quality butter (higher fat % than US grocery store variety) at room temperature, and creaming the butter sugar salt blend.
Once it’s all together in the bowl, you will have a very dry crumbly looking mix. Rolling it into a tube per the instructions seemed a bit optimistic. Instead, grab a handful and squeeze it tightly. Compression will force the butter into the crevasses and make a cookie shape that will hold.
This is a family favorite. I’ll tag it on my Instagram. Thanks TWOL!
Judy says
Thank you so much for your tips, Ken! I just made two batches of these cookies in the past two days. I also updated the recipe, along with weight measurements for each ingredient. Hope this will help.
Christina Robinson says
I made these cookies the other day and they were delicious. I did have problem with dryness of the dough with the ingredients recommended. They just would not form a ball, it was a crumbly mess. I made the following adjustments: added 1 more tbsp of butter for a total of 8 tbsp or 1 stick, used 1 whole egg instead of half, and 1/4 cup more of walnuts. The batch was enough to make 20 cookies. Very yummy.
Judy says
Thank you for sharing your findings, Christina. I think I will revise the recipe to say 7 – 8 tablespoons butter. Hope this will solve some of the issues people have mentioned in the comments.
Cari says
Thanks for this great blog! I just made these walnut cookies again, and they turned out great. As I was making them, I wondered if others had a problem with dryness because perhaps they measured 3/4 cup of walnuts and then chopped them? The oils in the finely chopped walnuts seem to provide a lot of the moisture of the cookies (and 3/4 cup finely chopped is multiples more nuts than 3/4 cup of walnut halves). Just a thought. Thanks again for posting such great recipes and stories!
Judy says
I really, really appreciate your comment, Cari.
Susan says
I’ve made this recipe twice, once with lard and once with butter. Both times the texture was too dry and the dough wouldn’t come to a ball. I added fat and egg to fix.
I wonder if this might have to do with flour measurements? (I’m at sea level, BTW.) I used 9 oz of flour (1 c = 4.5 oz is only one of the many standard conversions) but depending on how the flour was measured, (or what weight standard you prefer) you can wind up with much less (or more) flour to a cup. A larger amount of flour might explain both the dryness and the larger size cookies.
Kaitlin (or Judy), the next time you make these, would you be willing to weigh your ingredients and post the results?
I should say though, once I got the consistency right, I really enjoyed these cookies and how easy this recipe is. I will continue to make them often. I prefer less sweet deserts and for me they hit the exact right note with a cup of tea. And the lard version triggered happy childhood memories of the smell of L.A. Chinatown bakeries.
Oh, and Happy New Year!
Judy says
Cheers, Susan, thank you so much for taking the time to share your baking tips with our readers.
Jean says
I followed exactly the recipe and the cookies turned out dry and dense. Just 1/2 portion of egg is insufficient. The dough portion is also too large to cut into just 12 balls, ended up with huge cookies. It could easily make 20 or more.
Judy says
Hi Jean, I did not run into this problem. I will test the recipe ASAP. I don’t know why all of a sudden people are having problem with this recipe. But thank you for letting me know.
Amy says
Hello! How long can these cookies be store or last?
Judy says
Hi Amy, sorry to have missed your comment. If you store them in a sealed container, they should last a week or two.
linda says
hi Kaitlin,
how many grams of 2cups of flour?
thanks
Judy says
Hi Linda, I just updated the recipe with weight measurements for all the ingredients.
Connie says
Hi Kaitlin
I made these today and added the whole egg as the dough was too dry and wasn’t coming together. After baking, the cookies look ok but were on the dry side when eating. Do you know what I could have done to improve it?
Judy says
Hi Connie, don’t mean to be nosy, but where do you live? I wonder if it’s the elevation. The only other reason it could be is that you measured too much flour?