Walnut Chocolate Cookies

Walnut Chocolate Cookies have a rich chocolatey flavour which is dense and moist like a cake. The walnuts are toasted and add flavour and crunch. Drizzled with melted white chocolate and topped with chocolate sprinkles, these cookies are absolute decadence and perfect for a holiday cookie platter!

Walnut Chocolate Cookies are slightly crispy on the outside, with a moist and dense chocolaty centre. Stuffed with chopped toasted walnuts, these are substantial cookies, meaning that they are thick and filling. Great for dunking in a glass of cold milk too!

Sometimes – just sometimes! – one has to give in to the cravings, no matter what they are or how bad they might be. I’m not one to crave chocolate at all; in fact, I crave salty snacks more than those of the sweet variety. John.e though, he’s a different breed; I believe he craves chocolate daily! And, his cravings are open to interpretation. Sometimes he craves dark chocolate, sometimes he craves chocolate ice cream, and sometimes he craves chocolate cookies, but it’s always chocolate!

This particular day though, I was the one who was craving chocolate.  As I said, it’s very rare, but only a chocolate cookie would do!  I knew that a regular chocolate chip cookie wasn’t going to cut it.  I wanted more chocolate than a cookie of that nature could give me.  A dense chocolate cookie was just what I needed!  With some good-quality cocoa powder on hand, it would certainly give me the extra chocolate boost I was looking for!

I’m going to tell you all about this cookie recipe and how you can make it in your home this holiday season, but first, I want to tell you about what you can expect from Lord Byron’s Kitchen this Christmas. I know we’re getting closer to the big day, so it’s time to get to the cookie recipes! Before I get into this brand-new series, let me make mention of the three previous holiday confection countdowns that I just finished up this year.

Back in October, I kicked off the holiday season with a holiday recipe series called Lord Byron’s 12 Christmas Donuts and followed that up with a second series called Lord Byron’s 12 Christmas Appetizers. And now, I’m starting out on this new series, which is the sixth annual instalment! I cannot believe that this is the sixth year in a row that I’ve shared Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas! But, before we get to a list of ingredients and instructions for today’s recipe, let me tell you about this series and more!

LORD BYRON’S 24 COOKIES OF CHRISTMAS SERIES

Another holiday series, Lord Byron? Yes – why not!? Welcome, Dear Reader, to the fourth of my annual holiday recipe series for this season! This one is called Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas – Volume 6! I will try to keep the recipes in this series quick and easy, just like in previous years. Even if a recipe looks complex, I promise you that it is not! My goal, as always, is to share recipes with you that are not too complex to whip up as a holiday treat for your family. 

Like every other holiday series I’ve shared over the years, this series will share a new recipe every day for the next 24 days – even on Saturday and Sunday! You might be asking yourself, how many Christmas recipes could one possibly have or need? Well, I say you can never have too much of a good thing. And, I love having lots of choices. Who wants to prepare the same holiday recipes year after year?

SUBSCRIBE NOW SO THAT YOU NEVER MISS OUT ON NEW RECIPES!

So, welcome, Dear Reader, to Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas series! Even though this is the fourth series for this holiday season, you can always look back at previous years if you just cannot wait until the next recipe is published. Also, some of my favourite recipe collections from previous years are my 75 Homemade Gifts from Your Kitchen, my 50 Make Ahead Freezer Friendly Christmas Recipes, and my 30 No-Bake Christmas Recipes post.

You really don’t want to miss one of these recipes, so if you have not yet subscribed to Lord Byron’s Kitchen, I encourage you to do so. That way, a new recipe will be emailed to you every day. You won’t have to bother to come looking for it! Like in previous holiday recipe countdowns, I like to mix up the recipes in the series so that there is something for everyone. Are you ready!!??

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this Walnut Chocolate Cookies recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Cocoa Powder – Cocoa powder is an unsweetened chocolate product that adds deep chocolate flavour to desserts and beverages.  Use a good quality cocoa powder, not the kind we used to stir into milk as kids! If you don’t have dark, you can use regular cocoa.
• Butter – Make sure your butter is softened and at room temperature.
• Confectioner’s Sugar – You might call it powdered sugar or icing sugar.
• Sugar – Sugar will caramelize when baked, which will help to brown the batter as it bakes.
• Eggs – Whenever you set out to bake, make sure your eggs are at room temperature too – just like your butter!
• Vanilla Extract
• Flour – This recipe has only been tested with all-purpose, unbleached flour.
• Baking Soda
• Walnuts – Walnuts have a mild, buttery flavour which is why they are perfect for cookies and cakes. 
• White Chocolate Chips
• Chocolate Sprinkles 

HOW TO MAKE WALNUT CHOCOLATE COOKIES

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and vanilla extract. Beat until combined. Measure in the flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Beat until combined.

Portion the dough into 2-tablespoon amounts. Roll each portion into a 2-inch log and set the logs onto the prepared baking sheet. Use a fork and make long lines into the logs by lightly dragging the tines of the fork back and forth over the top of each log. Bake the logs for 20 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool.

Once cooled, melt the white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl in 30-second increments at half power. Stir well between each increment until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Transfer the chocolate to a piping bag or a sandwich bag. Cut a small tip from one lower corner. Hold the bag over the cookies and drizzle each cookie with the desired amount of chocolate. Immediately top the cookies with chocolate sprinkles. Once the chocolate is firm, transfer the cooking to a food-safe container with a tight-fitting lid and store the cookies at room temperature.

TOASTING WALNUTS

The first thing you should do it to toast your walnuts. How do you do that? It’s very simple! To be perfectly honest, this applies to any nuts or seeds, not just the nuts in this recipe. If you are not familiar with toasted nuts, then please try it just once. You will probably never revert to using nuts in your cooking or baking without toasting them first!

I have tried using non-stick frying pans for toasting, but nothing works as well as a stainless steel pan. You could use a cast iron pan, but since they get very hot and retain heat so well, it’s easier to burn the nuts. See the frying pan in this picture? That’s the exact one that I use all the time. I’m not suggesting you run out and buy this same cookware set, but I want you to see the pan – remember, do not use non-stick if possible. You’ll get better results will plain stainless steel.

So, unlike most cooking where you’re required to preheat first, you don’t want to apply that same rule to toasting nuts. Add the nuts to a cold pan. Place the pan on the burner and turn the heat on – no higher than medium and probably even less if using a gas burner.

Keep the nuts moving about. I use a rubber spatula. Once you start to smell that warm and toasty aromatic smell, pay close attention. The nuts will take on a darker colour. Don’t let them get too dark. Once you’re satisfied, immediately remove them from the hot pan and transfer them to a dinner plate where they can be spread out to cool.

COCOA POWDER

Cocoa powder is an unsweetened chocolate product that adds deep chocolate flavour to desserts and beverages.  Use a good quality cocoa powder, not the kind we used to stir into milk as kids! I have two types of cocoa that I use when baking. In cookies like these Hot Chocolate Cookies, just a regular, inexpensive cocoa powder will do just fine. Even though I don’t care for Hershey’s chocolate, I do like to use Hershey’s cocoa powder for cookies.

If, however, I’m making a cake or a cookie recipe with very few ingredients, I want to use better-quality cocoa powder. For me, Fry’s Premium Quality Cocoa has all that I’m looking for. It has a stronger chocolatey scent than other cocoa powders. When it comes to flavour, Fry’s wins out again. The only thing that Fry’s doesn’t offer is a deeper, chocolatey colour like you see in the photos. I find that Hershey’s does a better job in terms of colour.

STORING, PACKAGING, & FREEZING

When it comes to most cookies, they taste best at room temperature, but they don’t hold up well to being left out on your countertop for long periods of time. Cookies will stay fresh in a cookie jar or food-safe container with a lid for 3-5 days if left to sit on your kitchen countertop. You can store them in a food-safe container in your fridge. When you want one, two, or half a dozen, take them out of the container and place them in a single layer on a plate. Let them sit at room temperature for 5 minutes and they’re ready!

If you plan to freeze your Walnut Chocolate Cookies, you certainly can! Pile them into a clean, food-safe container. The container must be freezer-friendly! You’ll want to ensure a very tight-fitting lid too. I use these quite often when freezing baked goods. I like to place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the container before pushing the lid on. This helps to create a better seal. The goal is to keep all of that freshness locked in!  

You can freeze these cookies for up to three months. If you plan to give previously frozen cookies as a gift, I would lay them out on a wire cooling rack to thaw completely. If packaging, wait until the condensation has evaporated. Once thawed, pile into cellophane bags and tie with a ribbon, or stack in a cookie tin/box.

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down below the recipe card to find my Follow Me on Social Media box and never miss another recipe!

Finally, as I stated previously, every day I will be posting a new recipe. If you miss one, don’t fret. You can find my entire collection of Christmas Recipes right here! There are over 200 Christmas recipes and counting. There’s something for everyone! Cheers!