Maple Walnut Cookies – Buttery cookies loaded with chopped walnuts and maple sugar make for soft cookies with a crisp edge. Perfect for the fall season!
Ooo ooo ooo! Now that October is here, it’s time for fall baking! While I would never judge you for starting your fall baking in September, for me, October just feels like the right time to bust out the canned pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and apples.
One fall flavor that doesn’t get enough love is maple syrup. It’s a wonderfully comforting flavor that just shines in baked goods. I used it in these Maple Pecan Scones last year and it just took them to another level.
This year, I wanted to use maple syrup in a new way – cookies. However, pure maple syrup has a subtle flavor that you wouldn’t be able to capture without using an insane amount. Therefore, maple syrup extract is usually the way to go to get all that maple flavor without destroying the chemistry in the baked good.
However, I wanted to go a different route and use maple sugar. Maple sugar is a fine granulated sugar derived from the sap of a maple tree. It has all the flavor of maple syrup but just in a sugar form. Therefore, I just used maple sugar in place of white granulated sugar.
But before we talk to much about the recipe, let’s drool over photos of these beautiful Maple Walnut Cookies!
Planning ahead
The process for making these cookies is sooooo simple. Very few ingredients and very few steps. However, these cookies can easily go very wrong if you don’t follow one very important rule: the dough MUST be made ahead of time to give it enough time to chill. If it doesn’t get super cold, the dough will spread too much and turn into a flat pancake. As such, I usually make the dough the night before I need it.
Making the dough
The process for making this dough is very similar to any other cookie dough. The sugar is creamed with the butter until fluffy. Then the egg is added, along with dry ingredients. Finally, the walnuts are mixed in.
The dough is placed on a sheet of plastic wrap, wrapped in the plastic, and then formed into a log. If the dough is firm enough, you can create hard edges on the log to form a square. If not, you can simply do this step once the dough has chilled.
Baking the cookies
Once the dough has chilled, it’s time to slice and bake. The log is sliced into individual cookies, placed on a baking sheet, and then baked to golden perfection.
Tips & Tricks
- Maple sugar can be found at Whole Foods or other specialty food stores. I also found it on Amazon.
- The dough must be chilled until almost solid to ensure the cookies don’t spread too much while baking.
- Make sure the log of dough is of even width. This ensures that all your cookies will be the same size when slicing the dough.
Maple Walnut Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter unsalted, softened
- ½ cup finely granulated maple sugar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 4¾ ounces all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 ounces chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Beat butter and sugars together in a stand mixer on medium until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg and beat until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together. With the mixer on low, slowly add in flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix just until combined. Add walnuts and mix until combined.
- Grab a large sheet of plastic cling wrap, about 12 inches long. Spoon out dough and place into center of plastic wrap. Form dough into a log about 8 inches long, making sure it's all the same width. Square off the dough as much as you can. It' will be hard to do with the dough soft. You can fix this once the dough is colder. Chill for at least 3 hours.
- 30 minutes before baking, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from fridge and finish squaring the log so that the faces are the shape of squares. Place dough in freezer to get it extra-cold for 20 minutes.
- Prepare two baking sheets by lining with parchment paper. Remove dough from freezer and cut into two smaller logs. Slice the first log into 12 cookies and place on one baking sheet, with the cookies about 2 inches from eachother. Repeat with second half f the log and the other baking sheet.
- Bake cookies in preheated oven for about 12 minutes or until the edges of the cookie turn deep golden brown. Remove from oven and let them cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Pin for later:
More recipes you’ll love:
Cinnamon Maple Lattes
Maple Pecan Scones
Butter Pecan Macarons
Maple and walnut is such a classic autumn combination! These cookies look absolutely wonderful with that chewy center and crispy edges. I actually create AI-generated music for content creators, and a cozy maple walnut cookie-baking video would pair perfectly with a warm acoustic guitar playlist. Your tip about toasting the walnuts first is spot on, it really does make a huge difference in the flavor. Will be making a batch this weekend!
These maple walnut cookies look absolutely divine! I love how the maple flavor pairs so perfectly with the toasted walnuts. Reminds me of the kind of recipe content I curate on my site nanobananapro.pics where we share creative inspiration. The step-by-step photos are super helpful too – definitely bookmarking this one to try over the weekend!
Egg is not on the list of ingredients.
I love the texture of these cookies! This is such a delicious flavor combo, perfect for fall!
These maple and cwalnut cookies look so perfect and comforting. Perfect for fall, I’ll have with masala chai 🙂
Oh these maple walnut cookies were so delicious! I loved all of the flavors and the chopped walnuts inside. Buttery perfection!
These cookies turn out so good. They are perfect for the Fall. I enjoy eating them with a cup of coffee as a special treat.
Maple is such a great flavour and I love that you’ve incorporated it a few different ways in these cookies. The texture on these looks incredible and perfect for fall!
Maple and walnuts make the best cookies in the fall. I love the texture of these, almost like a buttery shortbread!
I love cookies with nuts and these ones with walnuts are so, so good! I made a huge batch yesterday and they are almost all gone!
I only add maple in my pancakes and this will be a new thing for me. I can’t wait to use your recipe in the future.
Thanks for sharing your maple walnut cookie recipe. I love the flavor of maple. Though I like cookies, my favorite maple treat is maple scone (saw you have that recipe, too!).
Enjoyed these for an afternoon treat and they did not disappoint! So easy and delicious; definitely a new favorite cookie recipe!
These look so delicious. I love maple and walnut.
In the Northeast Ohio area people are really serious about Maple Syrup they even have festivals! These look amazing and need to make these!!
The maple in cookies really compliment well with the walnut. It makes a great pair with coffee.
these biscuits are very good
I LOVE maple syrup in cookies. It adds the perfect touch of sweetness.
Love the addition of maple sugar in these cookies! And it does make a good combo with walnut
I love maple and I know these will be delicious!
I love walnut cookies. They look simple and delicious too.
Love the simple ingredients and so easy to make! Can’t wait to bake these Maple cookies and let the Fall season smell in my kitchen!
Maple sugar and walnuts are such a great flavor combination! perfect for fall! Can’t wait to give these a try with my family over the weekend!