Loaded with warm spices, and packed with ground walnuts, these Chewy Spice Cookies make a wonderful addition to your holiday assortment.
When making cookies to give away during the holidays, I always like to include cookies that cannot be found in the supermarket aisle. Making a variety of unique yet delicious cookies, makes giving them away to loved ones so much more exciting!
These Walnut Spice Cookies are to die for. They have crisp edges and a chewy center and are perfectly spiced. The honey glaze is completely optional (but highly recommended) and will harden when it’s set, so that you can stack and pack them into cookie boxes.
Chewy Spice Cookies have different classic cookie components combined into one addicting cookie. There are toffee notes from the dark brown sugar, a touch of honey compliments the warm spices (cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves), and walnuts add a nice nutty flavor.
CHEWY WALNUT SPICE COOKIE RECIPE INGREDIENTS
Let’s go over the ingredients used in this walnut spice cookie recipe. Using high-quality ingredients is key to producing a high-quality cookies!
- Butter: I always bake with salted butter. It doesn’t contain any flavorings that unsalted butter has. Just two ingredients; cream and salt. You can use unsalted butter if you prefer, you may just need to increase the sea salt by ¼ teaspoon in the recipe! Make sure that the butter is at room temperature.
- Dark brown sugar: Brown sugar helps give these cookies their chewy texture. I like to use dark brown sugar for a deeper taste, but light brown sugar works just as well! Use your favorite brand of brown sugar. This is the one that I use in all of my baking.
- Sugar: Use your favorite granulated or organic cane sugar! This is the one that I use in all of my baking.
- Honey: I like to use a mild-flavored ethically sourced local pure honey when baking. This one is my favorite!
- Egg: Make sure that your egg is at room temperature for the best results.
- Vanilla extract: Always use pure vanilla extract (not imitation) for the best tasting baked treats!
- All-purpose flour: I always use unbleached all-purpose flour in my baking. You can also use pastry flour or all-purpose gluten free flour with great results as well!
- Spices: In these cookies, we will be using cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and ground cloves. Make sure that your spices are fresh for the optimal flavor.
- Walnuts: Use your favorite brand of walnuts. You can use either walnut pieces or halves since we will be grinding them.
HOW TO MAKE THE PERFECT CHEWY SPICE COOKIES
This walnut spice cookie recipe is sooo easy to make! Let’s go through the steps to make sure you end up with the perfect chewy cookies.
STEP ONE: GRIND WALNUTS
Place the walnuts in the bowl of a food processor or blender and pulse until the walnuts are ground. Be careful not to process the walnuts too much because they will turn into walnut butter!
STEP TWO: CREAM BUTTER, SUGARS, & HONEY
Place the room temperature butter and brown sugar, granulated sugar, and honey in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 5-8 minutes). You can also use a large mixing bowl and a hand mixer.
STEP THREE: ADD EGG AND VANILLA EXTRACT
Next, add the egg and vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until mixture is fluffy. This should take about 5 minutes.
STEP FOUR: COMBINE DRY INGREDIENTS AND ADD TO BUTTER MIXTURE
In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and salt. Then, stir in the ground walnuts. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until a dough forms.
STEP FIVE: SCOOP OUT COOKIE DOUGH AND BAKE
Use a large cookie scoop to form 2 tbsp-size portions of the dough. Roll each portion into a ball and roll in extra sugar. Place 6 cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake. Repeat with remaining dough.
STEP SIX: MAKE GLAZE
To make the glaze, whisk the confectioner’s sugar, honey, and milk together until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies & enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Many factors affect the chewiness of a cookie, but moisture is necessary.
Brown sugar: using brown sugar increases the moisture of a cookie dough because brown sugar has a higher water content than granulated sugar.
More eggs: eggs also increase the moisture in cookie dough, resulting in chewier cookies.
Yes! I have made these cookies with pecans and they turned out delicious!
Store your walnut spice cookies covered in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
You can freeze unglazed baked cookies or unbaked cookie dough balls for up two 3 months. If freezing unbaked cookie dough, bake frozen cookie dough and add 1-2 minutes to your baking time.
More Cookie Recipes You'll Love!
- Chocolate Peppermint Cream Sandwich Cookies
- White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
- Salted Chocolate Chunk Espresso Shortbread Cookies
- Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
- Strawberry Almond Linzer Cookies
- Cut-Out Pecan Sandies
- Fudgy Dark Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Cut-Out Orange Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Covered Gingerbread Cookies
- Kourabiedes- Greek Christmas Cookies
- Melomakarona – Greek Christmas Honey Cookies
Chewy Walnut Spice Cookies with Honey Glaze
Ingredients
Chewy Walnut Spice Cookies
- 1 cup ground walnuts about 3 cups walnut halves and pieces
- 1 cup butter melted and slightly cooled
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup turbinado sugar for rolling
Honey Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Place walnuts into the bowl of a food processor or blender and pulse until ground. Set aside.1 cup ground walnuts
- In a large mixing bowl whisk butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and honey.1 cup butter, 1 cup dark brown sugar, ½ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon honey
- Add eggs and vanilla extract and whisk until combined.2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Sift flour, baking soda, spices, and salt into a separate large bowl. Add ground walnuts and whisk to combine.2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ginger, ½ teaspoon allspice, ½ teaspoon cloves, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 cup ground walnuts
- Add flour/walnut mixture to butter mixture and mix with a rubber spatular until well combined.
- Place 1 cup turbinado sugar into a bowl and roll each ball into the sugar to coat. Form the cookies into 2 tablespoon-sized balls (about 2 ounces each). Place 6 cookies at a time onto the prepared baking sheets and bake for 13-15 minutes, or until tops are crackly and edges are firm. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.1 cup turbinado sugar
- Make the glaze by whisking powdered sugar with honey and milk until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies and enjoy!1 cup powdered sugar, 2 tablespoon honey, 2 tablespoon milk
Notes
- Store your walnut spice cookies covered in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- You can freeze unglazed baked cookies or unbaked cookie dough balls for up two 3 months. If freezing unbaked cookie dough, bake frozen cookie dough and add 1-2 minutes to your baking time.
Vanessa Nunn says
I made these cookies and instead of ground almonds I just roughly chopped and they were so delicious. Still soft and chewy with some texture! Definitely a keeper!
I didn't use the glaze though or roll in sugar before baking since I prefer a less sweet cookie and they turned out excellent!
Nikki says
Is it necessary to roll in sugar
Angelina says
Hi Nikki, no it is not necessary to roll the cookies in sugar. Enjoy!
Alice Sullivan says
Could you sub almond flour for the walnuts?
Angelina says
Hi Alice, yes you can sub almond flour for the walnuts!