Easy Walnut Cookies
Enjoy the rich, nutty flavor of walnuts in these easy walnut cookies! With only a handful of simple ingredients including butter, sugar and Greek yogurt these soft and chewy cookies are perfect for satisfying your sweet tooth or sharing with friends and family.
With only a few basic ingredients and minimal effort, you can whip up these delightful easy walnut cookies whenever the mood strikes! They are the perfect anytime occasion cookies whether it’s a family gathering, a potluck, or just a sweet treat for yourself.
Unlike my easy nut cookies, these cookies need chill time in the refrigerator to obtain their thick and chewy texture. They are similar to nutty snowball cookies but without powdered sugar.
With the addition of Greek yogurt in this simple walnut cookie recipe the cookies turn out moist, lightly fluffy and with a slightly tangy old-fashioned flavor. Plus, as a bonus they use less butter so that makes them a touch healthier!
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love These Cookies
- Simple ingredients: Only 8 ingredients means these walnut cookies are not only easy to make but you may already have all the items you need to make them right now!
- Full of texture and flavor: Moist, chewy with buttery sweet taste; these cookies only get better after they are rolled in walnuts before baking.
- Lighter: Greek yogurt replaces some of the butter which not only adds a slight tang but makes these cookies better for you just like these no bake energy bites.
Ingredients
- Butter: Unsalted butter is best and it needs to be softened to room temperature so plan accordingly for this walnut cookies recipe.
- Vanilla extract: Pure vanilla extract adds a sweet taste to the cookies.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar adds sweet taste and crispy edges.
- Egg: One large room temperature egg helps bind your ingredients together.
- Greek yogurt: Plain Greek yogurt adds taste and moisture, substitute sour cream if that is all you have on hand.
- All-purpose flour: This adds structure to the cookies.
- Salt: Enhances all the other flavors in the cookies.
- Baking soda: Baking soda will react with the Greek yogurt to provide lift and rise to the cookies.
- Walnuts: Your walnuts will need to be finely chopped into pieces.
How to Make Walnut Cookies
Cream butter: In a medium mixing bowl, beat together the butter and vanilla until creamy. Add sugar, egg and Greek yogurt, beating after each addition.
Whisk dry ingredients: In another medium sized bowl, add the flour, salt and baking soda then whisk everything together to remove any lumps.
Combine wet and dry mixture: Add ½ of the flour mixture at a time to the wet ingredients and mix together until the mixture becomes a soft dough.
Chill time: Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour. Remove the dough, roll the dough into a log and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for another 3 hours or until the walnut cookie dough is firm. Roll the log in finely chopped walnuts.
Bake: Cut it into ¼ inch slices. Place on a prepared cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in the oven for approximately 10-12 minutes at 350° F or until the edges start to become golden brown.Â
Cool and serve: Place the baking sheet on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies directly onto the bakers rack to finish cooling down. Serve and enjoy!
Variations
- Brown sugar: I used granulated sugar as it produces crispy edges, but brown sugar could be used for a more moist cookie with a caramel flavor.
- Add-ins: Dried cranberries, dried cherries or mini chocolate chips would all be delicious in these walnut cookies.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar: Immediately after baking sprinkle with powdered sugar for an extra sweet taste.
- Instead of rolling in nuts: After slicing make a slight indentation in the middle of the cookie with your thumb and place chopped walnuts that have been tossed with some brown sugar and sour cream or Greek yogurt for a ‘walnut filling’.
Recipe Tips
- Raw walnuts: Use raw walnuts instead of candied or toasted walnuts as they are finely chopped before baking the cookies.
- Nut chopper: A nut chopper comes in handy to evenly chop walnuts into the same size for these yogurt cookies.
- Don’t skip the chilling time: Otherwise your cookies may spread too much.
- Parchment paper: Lining your baking pans with parchment paper will ensure that the cookies release easily from the pan.
- Baking time: For chewier cookies, bake them 10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Crunchier cookies bake for 12 minutes. It’s always best to test a few to determine what you like best!
How to Store Walnut Cookies
Store your walnut cookies recipe in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
For longer storage, freeze your baked cookies in a freezer safe container for up to one month. Thaw and enjoy your walnut cookies at room temperature or overnight in the fridge whenever you would like!
FAQs
Can I add chocolate chips to these walnut cookies?
Yes and then they would become a delicious walnut chocolate chip cookie! I would recommend a bittersweet chocolate so they are not overly sweet, but semi-sweet chocolate chips work, too! You may also want to try these chewy chocolate chip cookies or shortbread chocolate chip cookies.
What other nuts could I use in these cookies?
While walnuts are best as they are softer and add just the right amount of texture to these cookies, pecans, pistachios, pine nuts or even almonds would work. Try a mixture of walnut and pistachios for a baklava taste!
Can I make these cookies in advance?
Yes! Since these cookies already need to be chilled, you can extend the chilling time and make the dough up to a day in advance. You can also freeze unbaked cookie dough and bake from frozen.
Can I freeze my leftover walnuts?
Yes! If you have leftover nuts it’s definitely worth storing them in the freezer as this helps them not become rancid. Really, this is the best way to store any nut.
More Recipes with Walnuts
- Easy Walnut Fudge Recipe
- Walnut Cranberry Bread
- Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal
- Chocolate Nut Irish Soda Bread
- Quick Apple Pie Bread
Easy Walnut Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Butter – unsalted and soft
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ½ cup Sugar
- 1 large Egg
- 1 tablespoon Greek yogurt – plain
- 1 cup All purpose flour
- 1 pinch Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Baking soda
- ½ cup Walnuts – finely chopped
Instructions
- In a medium bowl beat butter and vanilla until creamy, add sugar and beat well, add the egg and beat, then add greek yogurt and beat again.
- In another medium bowl add the flour, salt and baking soda and whisk everything together. Add ½ of the flour mix at a time to the wet ingredients and mix together until it becomes a soft dough.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour. Then roll the dough into a log, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for another 3 hours or until firm.
- When the dough is almost firm, pre-heat the oven to 350F (180C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Roll the log in finely chopped walnuts and cut into ¼ inch slices. Place them on the prepared baking sheet and bake for approximately 10-12 minutes or until they become golden brown. Place the baking sheet on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies directly onto the rack to finish cooling down. Serve and Enjoy!
I made this recipe early this morning. I had to leave for a four hour shift so it was chilling. All this time came home to make it into a log and it’s still so very soft
Follow the recipe exactly I don’t know if I should add a little more flour? Do you have a suggestion? I have been baking cookies for years there’s no way I can roll this into a log. Thank you so much.
Hi Christina, it should be soft but not that soft that you can’t roll it. If it is then yes add a bit more flour and chill it again for about 30 minutes. Let me know how it goes.