This recipe makes the best walnut cookies. Not only the best tasting, but easy, healthy and sustainable.
This is the best walnut cookie recipe ever. Cookies are traditionally made with butter, white and brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, baking soda and of course, in this case, walnuts. We wanted to make the best tasting walnut cookies ever, but using the most sustainable ingredients – and no butter. So, we used walnuts and walnut oil instead.
The ingredients in this recipe reflect a commitment to sustainability and thoughtful sourcing. The flour is grown using sustainable agricultural practices. The sugar is harvested responsibly without expanding into rainforest ecosystems. The brown sugar is made by adding sorghum syrup instead of molasses. The walnuts and nut oil production actually helps reverse climate change.
We not only created the best tasting walnut cookie, and made it sustainable, but the recipe is also easier. Just measure the ingredients by weight, stir, chill, and bake. And, without the butter, it is even healthier. This recipe is incredible.
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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Table of contents
Ingredients
Making the best cookies starts with using the best ingredients. We have listed the brands for some of the ingredients because ingredients are everything. We have found that these brands give superior results.
- All-Purpose Flour – King Arthur Organic All-Purpose flour King Arthur responsibly sources the wheat for their flours, and it pays off in the taste and quality. They have a “never bleached” guarantee, which means their flours don’t have an off taste or unpredictable results that can be caused by bleaching. They also carefully calibrate the protein content, so the flour gives you the same results everytime.
- Sugar – Wholesome regenerative organic sugar produced from organic sugar cane fields that are green cut and are not burned or treated with herbicides or synthetic fertilizers. Burning sugar cane fields contributes to air pollution, climate change, and is also a major cause of the destruction of the rain forest.
- Sunflower Oil – La Tourangelle Organic Regenerative Sunflower Oil is a great substitute for butter. The flavor works well in cookies, and the oil gives the cookies a fudgy center and crisp edges.
- Salt – Diamond Kosher tastes cleaner and measures differently.
- Sorghum Syrup – We make our own brown sugar substitute by adding Golden Barrel Sorghum Syrup. More convenient than brown sugar and not made from sugar cane. It creates a taste like brown sugar but more like caramel than the molasses in brown sugar.
- Vanilla – Baker’s Imitation Vanilla Flavoring The flavor or real vanilla and imitation is indistinguishable when high heat is used. Double the usual amount of vanilla called for to improve the flavor.
After years inspecting food producers across California, I learned how dramatically ingredient quality affects flavor — especially in cookies. That’s why I choose brands I trust, not sponsors.
No Affiliates Statement
We call this our “no affiliates” statement because we accept no advertising, have no affiliates and accept no payment. We are not paid to mention brands – we just love buying the best, sharing that information and saving the planet at the same time. The effort put into writing and photographing the blog is solely based on our dedication to the cause.
Sustainability
Sustainability isn’t just a philosophy—it’s grounded in science. With formal training in agriculture, including soils, irrigation, and integrated pest management, I approach ingredients with a deeper understanding of how they’re produced and how they impact the environment.
In this recipe, each ingredient has been selected with those principles in mind. Below, I break down the agricultural and environmental considerations behind each one, so you can see how better choices lead to better outcomes—both in flavor and in sustainability.
We wanted to make cookies with ingredients that are sustainable and have a low carbon footprint. So, we didn’t want to use butter. The production of dairy products, including butter, can have a negative impact on climate change. Cows are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, and large-scale dairy farming can contribute to deforestation and other land-use changes. But, there are a number of reasons why someone may choose not to use butter. From a health perspective, butter is high in saturated fat and cholesterol, which can increase the risk of heart disease and other health problems. Additionally, butter is a dairy product, and some people may be lactose intolerant or have other dairy-related allergies or sensitivities. Some people follow a diet where butter is not an option, for religious or ethical reasons, as it is derived from animal milk. In these cases, plant-based alternatives such as margarine or coconut oil may be used instead, but these also have health and environmental problems. Safflower and sunflower oils were the perfect choice. Replacing butter, a product with one of the largest carbon footprints, with a product with one of the smallest, was a big step in the right direction.
Method for making Cookies
This recipe uses an easy, foolproof method that requires only a few minutes of active time. Check out our Master Cookie Recipe for a more detailed explanation on how this works.
- Measure the dry ingredients by weight
- Measure the wet ingredients by weight
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together without overmixing.
- Chill the mixture
- Weigh out cookies
- Bake
This recipe uses our Master Cookie Recipe. An easy, foolproof, updated way of making cookies.
Why this Works
We wanted to update the usual cookie recipe by making cookies that were sustainable. This meant not using butter, so they would have a smaller carbon footprint. Actually, we didn’t want to use butter, palm oil, tropical oil, lard, shortening or any other artificial butter substitute. We wanted to use something healthy and sustainable. After researching and testing, we decided on cold pressed or expelled sunflower or safflower oil. Both of these are healthy oils, grown sustainably, that are produced with a smaller carbon footprint.
It turned out that using oil instead of butter actually simplified the recipe. The ingredients do not have to come to room temperature. Most of the ingredients were added all at once. The mixture did not have to be creamed. The dough did not have to be refrigerated. We didn’t need to use a mixer. The cookies could be made in just one bowl, with a scale and a spoon for mixing.
However, it is not possible to just substitute oil for butter in equal amounts and using the same method. In a traditional cookie recipe, butter and sugar are creamed together to incorporate air into the mixture before adding the eggs. This is done to help the cookies rise. Butter is a solid at room temperature, so it traps the air. But oil is a liquid and will not hold air in the mixture. Additionally, creaming helps to dissolve the sugar crystals into the water that is in the butter, resulting in a smoother dough with a more uniform texture. Butter is about 20% water. Oil has no water, so the sugar will not dissolve. In this recipe we mixed the liquid ingredients together which allowed the sugar to dissolve, and then added the dry ingredients. We also increased the leavening to give the cookies more lift, and used nut flour to keep them from going flat. Because oil contains no water, the amount was decreased so a substitution would be about 3 parts oil for 4 parts butter. The oil gives the cookies a fudge like center and a crispy exterior.
RECIPE
CHOOSING BRANDS:
For certain products, the choice of brand will make a big difference in the outcome of the recipe and in your carbon footprint. So, for those products, we have listed the brand. We are not paid to mention a brand and have no affiliates.
Ingredients
- 200 grams walnuts
- 190 grams King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour use King Arthur gluten-free measure for measure flour to make this recipe gluten-free
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 165 grams La Tourangelle regenerative sunflower oil cold pressed or expressed,
- 300 grams Wholesome regenerative organic sugar
- 1 teaspoon Sorghum syrup
- 2 large eggs one whole egg and one egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons Baker’s imitation vanilla flavoring
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients on the counter to make sure you have everything you need.
- Move the oven rack to the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350° F, using an oven thermometer to check the temperature.
- Toast the walnuts in a dry pan on the stove with the burner on medium high for a few minutes, until they are fragrant and just starting to brown. Keep the walnuts moving in the pan the entire time so they brown evenly, then immediately pour them onto a plate to cool. When they have cooled, measure out 100 grams and grind theses in a nut grinder until they become a powder, but not so long that they start turning to nut butter. With the rest of the walnuts, save half for putting on top of each cookie, choosing the best looking walnuts. Roughly chop the other half of the walnuts.
- Place a medium sized bowl on the scale. Zero the scale and measure the flour, baking soda, and salt into the bowl. Add the walnut powder and stir to combine. Then set the bowl aside.
- Place a medium sized bowl on the scale. Zero the scale and measure in the sunflower oil, sugar, vanilla and sorghum syrup. Stir to combine until all the ingredients are incorporated.
- Add the egg and egg yolk (saving the egg white for another recipe). Stir to combine until all the ingredients are incorporated.
- Add the flour mixture and stir to combine just until the flour is incorporated. Do not overwork the batter.
- Using a scale, measure out enough cookie dough and add a couple of walnuts so that the total is 60 grams. Roll the dough into a ball, placing the walnuts on top. Place the cookies on the baking sheet, leaving a two inch space between each ball and flatten the balls slightly.
- Bake one sheet of cookies at a time, in the center of the oven. If your oven bakes unevenly, rotate the baking sheet halfway through baking. Bake until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and the centers are still soft, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- When they are done, remove the baking sheet from the oven. Allow the cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet and then use the thin metal spatula to carefully transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before serving.
Nutrition
WHY THIS RECIPE IS A GAME CHANGER:
This recipe is a total game-changer — crafted with the finest [brand name] ingredients, simplified using a master recipe with pro-tested techniques from top chefs and bakers, and designed for deliciously sustainable cooking made easy.”
These Cookies Start with Our Master Cookie Recipe
These recipes use our Master Cookie Recipe. An easy, foolproof, and updated way of making cookies.
True to The Master Pantry philosophy, this recipe combines the best seasonal ingredients and quality brands with homemade methods to maximize both flavor and sustainability. It was inspired by our travels and works well as a holiday recipe.
Photos by Tony Fitzgerald Photography
Recipes created by Lisa LeCoump — Food Photographer, Agricultural Expert, and Home Baker. Sharing master recipes, chef secrets, and sustainable baking for every kitchen. Featured on various publications.