These wonderful little caramel walnut shortbread cookies are made with toasted sugar. They are buttery, delicate and wonderful.
Enjoy this walnut shortbread with a cup of tea or coffee, or add them to a holiday cookie plate along with some chocolate peppermint crinkle cookies. If you love an interesting shortbread recipe, you may also enjoy my raspberry shortbread sandwich cookies.
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What Is Toasted Sugar?
What makes these Caramel Walnut Shortbread Cookies so special? It’s the sugar I used to make them.
Or rather, what I did to the sugar I made them with.
I read an interesting and exciting post by my friend Stella Parks on SeriousEats in which she explained how to caramelize sugar without melting it down first.
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All it takes is a few hours in a low oven, stirring every once in awhile, until your pure white granulated sugar takes on a golden-amber hue and the rich smell of caramel.
I mean, just look at it. So gorgeous!
Go slowly and make sure your oven is accurate so it doesn’t get so hot that the sugar really does melt, and you too will be rewarded with what I have now dubbed “granulated gold” to use in all your baking.
Please read Stella’s in-depth article for the science behind the technique: How to Make Rich, Flavorful Caramel Without Melting Sugar
What To Do with Toasted Sugar
Once you have made the granulated gold caramel sugar, these cookies are very easy to put together.
Make a lot of the caramel sugar, by the way. You can use it just like regular granulated sugar, and you’ll want to use it in everything.
I made 3 pounds’ worth this time, and I can see myself making it on a fairly regular basis.
And if, like me, you end up with some pieces that get a bit too caramelized and start to melt, don’t throw them out.
Collect those pieces once they’ve cooled and drop them into your coffee or tea as a sweetener or, as Stella suggested to me, melt them into heavy cream and then do what you will with it.
Chill and whip it, make caramel ice cream out of it, add it to your coffee, make cream ice cubes from it, make no-churn ice cream out of it, etc.
How to Make Caramel Walnut Shortbread Cookies
Like most shortbread cookies, this walnut version is easy to make and doesn’t require a lot of ingredients.
While you don’t have to toast your sugar before making these cookies, it does add flavor and complexity to them.
If you are dead set against toasting, then just use granulated sugar. subbing in a portion of brown sugar for maybe 1/4 of the white sugar is another way to add some extra flavor.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make the walnut shortbread:
- butter
- toasted sugar
- Bourbon (or vanilla extract)
- salt
- toasted walnuts, finely ground
- all purpose flour
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Procedure
Here’s the step by step for making the toasted sugar and then making the cookies.
To make the toasted sugar, spread out 2-3 pounds of granulated sugar on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet.
Bake the sugar at 275F for 4-5 hours, stirring once every 30 minutes or so.
You are looking for the final color to be a light amber. Most of the sugar should still be granulated–you’re not trying to melt the sugar. If your oven runs a little hot, turn the heat down and make sure you are rotating the pan to account for hot spots.
The sugar will get very clumpy, but it should still be granulated. Remove it from the oven and let it cool. It will harden into “rocks” of toasted, granulated sugar.
Pulse these clumps of sugar–once cool–for just a couple of seconds in a food processor to break up the clumps. Store and use in any recipe you’d use regular granulated sugar in.
You want powdered sugar for this recipe, so measure out the amount of toasted sugar you need and whiz it up in the food processor until it is a powder.
Here’s how to make the walnut shortbread:
- Cream the butter and powdered toasted sugar together until nice and creamy.
- Add the Bourbon and salt and cream another minute or two.
- Mix in the ground toasted walnuts just until combined.
- Refrigerate dough for an hour.
- Roll and shape dough
- Sprinkle with toasted sugar
- Cut into squares or desired shapes
- Prick each cookie with a fork several times, and then bake.
- Halfway through baking, rotate the pans and add a bit more sugar on the tops of the cookies.
- Cool completely.
Walnut Shortbread Variations
These cookies are pretty excellent just the way they are, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do your own thing.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Substitute toasted pecans for the walnuts and use cold browned butter rather than whole butter to make butter pecan shortbread. UPDATE: I have a recipe now for homemade pecan sandies. Substitute toasted sugar for the white sugar, or just make them as written. If I say so myself, they are excellent cookies!
- Add 1 teaspoon of apple pie spice and minced dried apple to make apple spice shortbread. Walnuts or pecans would both be delicious in this version.
- Add the zest of 1 large orange and 2 drops of orange oil to the base recipe for orange nut shortbread.
For another excellent recipe featuring walnuts, try my old-fashioned date nut bar recipe.
Questions?
If you have any questions about this post or recipe, I am happy to help.
Simply leave a comment here and I will get back to you soon. I also invite you to ask question in my Facebook group, Fearless Kitchen Fun.
If your question is more pressing, please feel free to email me. I should be back in touch ASAP, as long as I’m not asleep.
A Note About Measurements
My recipes are almost all written by weight, including liquids, unless otherwise specified.
For accuracy and consistency of results, I encourage you to buy–and use–a kitchen scale.
I promise that baking and cleanup will be so much quicker and easier.
This is the scale that I recommend for home use. I have owned and used one for years.
Don't let its small price and small size fool you. The Escali Primo is an accurate and easy-to-use food scale that I have used for years. It's easy to store, easy to use, has a tare function, and easily switches between grams and ounces/pounds for accurate measurements.
Don't let its small price and small size fool you. The Escali Primo is an accurate and easy-to-use food scale that I have used for years. It's easy to store, easy to use, has a tare function, and easily switches between grams and ounces/pounds for accurate measurements.
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Caramel Walnut Shortbread Cookies
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Equipment
Ingredients
For the Granulated Gold (thanks again to Stella Parks and her article on SeriousEats about this process)
- 2-3 pounds of granulated sugar you will only need 3 ounces for this recipe, but why not make a ton?
For the Caramel Walnut Shortbread Cookies
- 8 oz 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 3 oz toasted sugar whirred into powder in a blender or food processor
- 1 Tablespoon bourbon (you can sub vanilla if you’d like)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (it sounds like a lot but the nuts and butter in this really need it)
- 4 oz about 1 cup toasted and finely ground walnuts (if using a cup measure, measure them after toasting and grinding)
- 10 oz about 2 cups all-purpose flour
- more toasted sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
To Make the Granulated Gold
- Set a rack in the center of your oven and preheat to 275F.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet, half-sheet, or sturdy jelly roll pan with Silpat or another non-stick liner.
- Spread the Dixie Crystals sugar out evenly in the pan.
- Once the oven is hot, place the pan of sugar on the rack and shut the door. Roast the sugar for about 4-5 hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so. The sugar will first attain a very light straw color and then darken a bit. As it caramelizes, it will begin to get somewhat clumpy. Watch it carefully–if you have any hot spots in your oven, some of your sugar may melt, and you don’t want that. Once the sugar is a lovely light amber but is still all granular (if clumpy), remove from the oven and let cool completely.
- It will cool in pumice-like rocks that will be very easy to break up in the food processor. Do this in batches and store in an air-tight container and use as you would any granulated sugar.
For the Caramel Walnut Shortbread Cookies
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream the butter until smooth.
- Add the powdered "granulated gold," the bourbon or vanilla and the salt and cream until fairly light. It will not increase in volume much, but it should be very smooth. Scrape the bowl as necessary.
- Mix in the finely ground nuts until well combined, followed by the flour.
- Mix until just combined. Scrape the bowl as necessary, Press the dough down in the mixing bowl and press plastic wrap directly on the surface of the dough. Refrigerate for about an hour to allow the flour time to fully hydrate and to concentrate the flavors.
- Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325F
- Lightly flour a work surface. Turn the dough out and lightly flour the top of the dough.
- Roll and press into an even rectangle between 1/4" and 1/3" thick. Sprinkle the top of the dough evenly and liberally with some more of the Dixie Crystals granulated gold and press it lightly into the surface of the dough. Square up edges with a bench knife or pizza cutter.
- Cut the dough into squares or rectangles the size of your choosing (mine were roughly 1 1/2" square) and arrange on two Silpat-lined or parchment-lined baking sheets. Prick each cookie 2-3 times with a fork for a traditional Scottish shortbread look.
- Working with one pan at a time, bake for 6 minutes. Sprinkle a bit more toasted sugar over the tops of the cookies, rotate the pan 180 degrees, and bake an additional 6 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool and repeat with the second pan of shortbread.
- Once the timer goes off after 6 minutes, remove the cookies from the first pan to the rack to cool. Allow the second pan to cool off for a few minutes before removing the cookies to a rack. Note the second pan of cookies may bake slightly faster, so keep an eye on them.
- Cool completely and store in an airtight container.
Did You Make Any Changes?
Notes
WALNUT SHORTBREAD VARIATIONS
These cookies are pretty excellent just the way they are, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do your own thing. Here are some ideas to get you started:- Substitute toasted pecans for the walnuts and use cold browned butter rather than whole butter to make butter pecan shortbread.
- Add 1 teaspoon of apple pie spice and minced dried apple to make apple spice shortbread. Walnuts or pecans would both be delicious in this version.
- Add the zest of 1 large orange and 2 drops of orange oil to the base recipe for orange nut shortbread.
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Thanks so much for spending some time with me. Enjoy the shortbread cookies–and the toasted sugar!–and have a lovely day.
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“make cream ice cubes out of it….”
Really? I have never once successfully frozen heavy cream without having it separate. How does one do that?
David Lebovitz says he does it all the time. http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2012/10/can-i-freeze-cream-heavy-whipping/ To hedge your bets, consider sweetening and whipping the cream before freezing it in ice cube trays or in little piped mounds, Maggie! =)
Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit. I did not know that.
Or — I guess I could go all-out and just make Bravetart’s freezer-friendly D.I.Y. CoolWhip:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2016/06/how-to-make-copycat-cool-whip-at-home.html
I may have to give that one a shot myself!
Jenni,
I’m not a Dixie Crystals judge, but if I were I would give you the first prize for creative use of the sugar and highlighting sugar as the principle ingredient. Good Luck!
Thank you so much, Amy! I’m hoping they like it–we are certainly enjoying the cookies!
I am seriously going to try caramelizing some sugar this weekend. That just sounds incredible…but then to add it to the cookies…..oh my….I’m over here drooling! Good luck with the contest….these look incredible!!
Yes, it it totally worth the few hours it takes to do–and then you’ll have “granulated gold” to put in all the things! And thanks–I’m hoping Eddie Van Damme will like my entry. =) Can’t wait to meet you in just a few days, Melissa!