Walnut Cookies

I baked the same cookies for last CNY using butter. This year, I experimented with margarine and the batch with butter that I baked last year was more fragrant. Although taste wise, it does not differ much, still have the crunchy walnuty taste....hmm...yumm....I think I will stick to butter if I bake them again next year.

Most recipe that I came across looks like butter cookies recipe. There is no walnut mentioned in the recipe despite naming the cookies as walnut cookies. This is strange. Why not just name it as butter cookies. So, I found My Kitchen Snippets - Chinese Walnut Cookies and this looks more like it!

Ingredients:

• 75g margarine
• 125g self-raising flour
• 35g caster sugar
• 1 oz grounded slightly roasted walnuts
• 1/2 egg beaten + a pinch of salt, for glazing
• 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil (optional - I didn't add this last year, but this year when I used margarine, the dough was a bit dry, and it cracked a bit when I was shaping it. Thinking back, perhaps I should add the oil, so the shape will look nicer)

Method:

1. Sift the self-raising flour into a mixing bowl.
2. Cut in the margarine; add in the sugar and the walnuts.
3. Mix thoroughly till the dough does not stick onto the hands. Add the oil here if the dough is a bit dry.
4. Pinch off some dough and lightly form into a ball, make a small dent in the centre. Place the biscuits onto a baking sheet.
5. Brush them with beaten egg wash.
6. Bake in preheated oven 190 degree C or 350 degree F for about 30 to 35 minutes or till golden brown.
7. Cool completely before storing in cookie jar.

Update Feb 2015

So, I revisited this recipe and made some changes. I still prefer the butter version, a lot more fragrant. I think I need to improve the cookies appearance. ^_^ The dough is a bit crumbly and not so easy to handle.

 Ingredients:

• 150g butter (salted)
• 250g self-raising flour
• 80g caster sugar
• 80g grounded roasted walnuts 
• 1 egg beaten for glazing (or maybe just half an egg)

Method:

1. Sift the self-raising flour into a mixing bowl.
2. Cut in the butter until it resembles sand; add in the sugar and the grounded walnuts.
3. Mix thoroughly till the dough does not stick onto the hands. 
4. Pinch off some dough and lightly form into a ball, lightly flatten into disc, make a small dent in the centre. (Just a shallow dent so that the shaped cookies do not crack at the side.)
5. Arrange the biscuits onto a baking sheet.
6. Brush them with beaten egg wash.
7. Bake in preheated oven 180 degree C for about 20 to 25 minutes or till golden brown.
8. Cool completely before storing in cookie jar.

Before...

After...

Update Feb 2016

I made this again this year as there was a request for it. This time the dough is not crumbly. They stick together nicely and it's quite easy to shape. Perhaps I should try with chopped walnut next time instead of ground walnut. 

These are the things I did differently this year.

• Cube the butter first before cutting in the butter.
• The cookies taste slightly sourish, not sure if it's because of the self raising flour. I think next time, I'll just stick with plain flour and baking powder.
• For less sugar version, the sugar can be further reduced to 30g.

Before...create enough spaces between each cookie as they will expand

After...ta-dah...done!