Walnut Coffee Cookies

by Marc Thursby
(Pacifica, CA)

These cookies are a huge favourite in our family. More so among us adults, as they are not as sweet as the cookies the kids generally prefer. There’s coffee in the recipe, and I also like to have a coffee while having a cookie or two...they complement each other wonderfully.

2 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon very finely ground, powder-like coffee

1. Combine 1 1/4 cups of the walnuts, the flour, baking powder, and salt in a food processor. Pulse the machine until the nuts are chopped into very fine pieces. Set them aside. Then chop the remaining nuts by hand and set them aside in a small bowl.

2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth, gradually adding the sugar. Beat in the egg, then stir in the vanilla and coffee. Add the dry mixture to the creamed ingredients, stirring the dough with a wooden spoon until evenly combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

3. Adjust one oven rack so it is in the center position. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Get out 1 or 2 large baking sheets and butter them lightly or line with parchment.

4. Pinch off pieces of dough and roll into balls 1 1/4-inches in diameter. Roll in the finely chopped nuts and place on the cookie sheet/s, leaving a little room between them. Bake – one sheet at a time – for 16 to 18 minutes, until firm to the touch. Cool briefly on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies