Friday, November 10, 2017

Maple Walnut Spritz Cookies

These Maple Walnut Spritz Cookies sounded like a perfect flavor combination for Thanksgiving and made the house smell great while baking! They seem fancy and elegant but are simply decorated with some chopped nuts, these cookies are a very nice treat with afternoon tea too. This is the second spritz I've tried with ground nuts, the other was with almonds HERE, both were very good!

If you're looking for a different spritz cookie this holiday season, I think you'll like this one folks:@)

Tips:
  • Be sure to pack the ground nuts into the measuring cup, it's important for the consistency of the dough. 
  • This will be a softer dough but should still have body. It sticks to the sheets very easily. 
  • I found maple extract at HomeGoods, so I did add some to amp up the flavor.
  • My walnuts went for a whirl in the food chopper until they were finely ground for the dough and left a little chunkier for the topping.
  • These cookies are very tasty but aren't overly sweet, you may want to either add a little more sugar to the dough or give them a nice sprinkling of sanding or colored sugar before baking.
  • As a test, I chilled the second baking sheet for 15 minutes and it did not make any difference in the shape of the cookie. So, no chilling necessary.
The original recipe calls for a piece of walnut to be added as a decoration. I think the chopped nuts are prettier, but they are a little messier... 
I'll let you decide since you'll be the one cleaning up after everyone leaves:@)

Maple Walnut Spritz-from Taste of Home
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract-use half vanilla, half maple extract if you have it
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup finely ground walnuts
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Coarse sugar
2/3 cup walnut pieces
  1. Preheat oven to 350°. In a bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, maple syrup and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, ground walnuts, baking powder and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture (dough will be soft).
  2. Using a cookie press fitted with desired disc, press dough 1 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Top with walnuts.
  3. Bake 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are light brown. Cool on pans 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool. 
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