3 Ingredient walnut cookies (sometimes called Persian Walnut Cookies) that are soft and chewy and oh so easy to make. This ground walnut cookie recipe is healthy (with brown sugar), also vegetarian, gluten-free and low calorie.
Me and these walnut cookies go waay back in time. I first attempted to make Walnut cookies, when I was around 10 years old. During summer break, I was visiting my granny at her farm house. Weather was hot and we had to be indoors for the majority of the afternoon. So what better way to spend the day than experiment in the kitchen, right?
While my granny was in the other room, resting, I pulled a mixing bowl, some eggs and finely chopped walnuts and got in business. Nana recipe notebook said ‘’divide egg whites from egg yolks’’, but I thought that was unnecessary step. How do you even do that, right? She didn’t have a mixer, so I figured a fork will do the trick and started beating the eggs. Then poured the chopped walnuts and started to jumble vigorously.
Granny must have heard the noise (she really expected me to be in bed, reading a book) and walked in the middle of my creative experiment. When I enthusiastically explained what I was cooking (and how I was cooking it) she bursted into laughter.
Needless to say, my 1st attempt wasn’t the greatest. However, my passion for these simple yet super delicious cookies remained. Recipe has improved; in fact it might be the best Walnut cookie you’ve ever tasted! No joke here folks.
HOW TO MAKE (BULGARIAN) GROUND WALNUT COOKIES
- Prepare walnuts first – use blender/ chopper to finely chop the nuts
- Then add brown sugar and mix until well combined
- Separate egg yolks from egg whites
- beat egg whites on high speed with (hand) mixer or kitchen robot until stiff peaks are formed
- Then, add walnut-sugar mix to the bowl and gently mix until well combined while trying to preserve as much air as possible
- Using a spoon gently scoop some of the walnut cookie mix and place onto baking sheet. Do not press – if cookie seems distressed, gently form the desired shape.
- Bake in preheated oven on 180C/350F until slightly brown on top (10-15min in my oven).
- Let cool and dig in.
POSSIBLE VARIATIONS TO these healthy WALNUT COOKIES
This 3 ingredient walnut cookie recipe is as basic as one can get. If you wish, you can enrich the taste by adding nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla extract and/or other spices by choice.
A rule of thumb I recommend following is that they stay moist – you should be easily able to mix the dry ingredients within egg whites without leaving the cookie mix look dry and crumbly.
MORE TASTY RECIPES:
EASY HONEY GINGERBREAD COOKIES
STUFFED HEARTY APPLES (OVEN BAKED)
BEST Walnut Cookies (GLUTEN FREE & only 3 Ingredients)
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs (egg whites needed), divided
- 2 cups walnuts, finely chopped
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla , optional
Instructions
- Divide egg whites from egg yolks. Set egg yolks aside ( see above for waste-free tip).
- In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks are formed (approx. 3-4 min on high speed mixer)
- In a food processor, place walnuts and brown sugar and pulse until finely chopped. Then measure 2, 1/3 cups and pour into beaten egg whites.
- Gently (!) mix walnuts, sugar and egg whites until foam like cookie dough is well combined. Try to preserve the air as much as possible.
- Using a spoon/ small-ish ice cream scoop, place cookie dough on baking paper, while gently forming flat cookies.
- Bake in preheated oven (180C/360F) for around 10-15 min or until cookies turn light brown.
- Leave to cool and tuck in.
Recipe Notes
- It’s important to beat egg whites to stiff peaks; otherwise cookies will not turn good.
- While mixing chopped walnuts with egg whites and/or placing on baking paper – do not press or mix too hard. That way most of the air will be preserved.
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Thank you for posting this. Close enough to an old family recipe that I lost in a move.
Author
Glad you like it 🙂