Walnut Cookies, or Walnut Roll-Up Cookies, as we call them in my house are a delicious way to bring the holiday spirit to your home! The dough is made with yeast, so it rises a bit and is then stuffed with a chopped walnut filling that will leave your taste buds singing.
Recipe Origins
There are a few Christmas cookie recipes that are absolutely traditional in our family. We make them every single year to celebrate Christmas, and even have a family cookbook that houses all of the original recipes.
Alongside our family favorite Biscotti Recipe and our Pecan Snowball Cookies, this Walnut Cookie Recipe ranks in the top of our cookie favorites! We make it every single year without fail, and the filling is absolutely to die for. It’s so good!
If you like walnuts and that traditional taste of a drier Italian Christmas cookie, this recipe is the way to go!
Why Make this Recipe
- Bring in the Holiday Spirit: One of my favorite ways to ring in the holiday spirit is to make as many Christmas cookies as my oven can handle (and when my oven can’t handle anymore, then I make these Pizzelle cookies instead). Try out this recipe for a fun and unique holiday cookie that you will love!
- The Walnut Filling: Mmmm I would eat the walnut filling of this cookie recipe by itself if I could! It’s THAT delicious! The walnuts combined with sugar and milk absolutely steal the show on this cookie. Try it out and let me know what you think!
What Ingredients are in this Recipe
- Active Dry Yeast: I like using Active, Dry yeast because it is definitely a very easy way to confirm that your yeast is alive. You can use Instant Yeast if you’d like, but there is no way to confirm that your yeast is alive until after the cookies are already baked and it’s too late.
- Sour Cream: I use full fat sour cream for this recipe. I would recommend doing so as well.
- Walnuts: Use unroasted, unsalted walnuts.
- Milk: I used 2% milk. Make sure to use 2% or whole milk for best results.
How to Make this Recipe
Step 1: Activate the Yeast
Combine water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl and leave for about 15 minutes to activate the yeast.
Step 2: Make the Dough
Use a pastry cutter or a fork to cut the butter into the four.
Add activated yeast along with egg yolks, sour cream, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Mix with a spoon or spatula to combine.
Place the dough in a glass bowl and cover with a dish towel. Leave the dough to rest for at least two hours or overnight.
Step 3: Make the Filling
Use a nut chopper or a food processor to chop walnuts into small pieces. In a separate bowl, combine walnuts, sugar, milk, and 3 tsp vanilla. Set aside.
Step 4: Assemble the Cookies
When the dough has finished resting, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Roll the dough to ⅛” thickness on a floured board. Cut into 3” squares.
Put 1 heaping tsp of filling in the center of each square.
Moisten edges of pastry with water. Fold one corner over in the center, wrapping the walnut filling. Then fold the other corner as well.
Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 15 minutes.
Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Enjoy!
Expert Tips
- I have never personally tried it, but experimenting with different kinds of nuts (or even a combo) in this cookie would be delicious. Macadamia nuts and pecans are also standing out to me as good options right now.
- Make the filling ahead of time if you need! You can store it in the fridge or even the freezer, and simply thaw it when you are ready to bake.
Recipe FAQs
Are Black Walnuts Good for Baking?
In the United States, it is very common to use English Walnuts in all of our baking recipes. This is the preference of the vast majority of people, so finding another type of walnut in stores tends to be pretty difficult.
Black walnuts typically have a stronger, earthier flavor than English walnuts. If you really want to amp up the flavor profile of your cookies, feel free to experiment with black walnuts!
Can I Store the Dough in the Fridge?
My family recipe used to call for placing the dough in the fridge. Prior to learning best baking practices while practicing for The Foreign Fork, I couldn’t figure out why my dough just wouldn’t rise!
You’ll have a really hard time getting dough to rise if you’re storing it in the fridge. Yeast usually needs a warmer environment to truly flourish.
However, yeast that has already risen will keep well in the fridge, and you can certainly do this for even up to a few days.
Did you enjoy this Walnut Cookie Recipe? If so, make sure to check out these other recipes that I picked out just for you:
- Italian Pistachio Cookie Recipe
- Cookie Butter Recipe
- Sables (Algerian Shortbread Cookies)
- Fast and Easy Maple Cookies
Walnut Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 package active dry yeast
- ¼ cup warm water
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 cup sour cream
- 4 tsp vanilla extract, divided
- 4 cups walnuts
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup milk
Instructions
- Combine water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl and leave for about 15 minutes to activate the yeast.
- Use a pastry cutter or a fork to cut the butter into the four.
- Add activated yeast along with egg yolks, sour cream, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Mix with a spoon or spatula to combine.
- Place the dough in a glass bowl and cover with a dish towel. Leave the dough to rest in the fridge overnight.
- Use a nut chopper or a food processor to chop walnuts into small pieces. In a separate bowl, combine walnuts, sugar, milk, and 3 tsp vanilla. Set aside.
- When the dough has finished resting, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Roll the dough to ⅛” thickness on a floured board. Cut into 3” squares.
- Put 1 heaping tsp of filling in the center of each square.
- Moisten edges of pastry with water. Fold one corner over in the center, wrapping the walnut filling. Then fold the other corner as well.
- Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 15 minutes.
- Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Enjoy!
Notes
- Active Dry Yeast: I like using Active, Dry yeast because it is definitely a very easy way to confirm that your yeast is alive. You can use Instant Yeast if you’d like, but there is no way to confirm that your yeast is alive until after the cookies are already baked and it’s too late.
- Sour Cream: I use full fat sour cream for this recipe. I would recommend doing so as well.
- Walnuts: Use unroasted, unsalted walnuts.
- Milk: I used 2% milk. Make sure to use 2% or whole milk for best results.
- I have never personally tried it, but experimenting with different kinds of nuts (or even a combo) in this cookie would be delicious. Macadamia nuts and pecans are also standing out to me as good options right now.
- Make the filling ahead of time if you need! You can store it in the fridge or even the freezer, and simply thaw it when you are ready to bake.
jj says
Can I use a pre made dough? Like a pastry dough or pie dough? How would that change the baking time etc.
The Foreign Fork says
Hi Jenna, I have not tried using either of those options so I am not sure. These cookies are meant to rise so it would certainly change the final result! If you decide to experiment, please let me know how it goes
Penny Wolf says
As mentioned before, our recipe is just like yours except ours has an extra egg yolk and more flour. You have instructions ours does not, LOL! I followed your directions and made the cookies with great success. I can’t thank you enough for helping bring back to us a Christmas cookie tradition. I will be making them from forward on. I will add the recipe is not hard but does take time. Plan accordingly. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
M. Casorla says
2 cups of flour was not enough. The dough was very wet and sticky. It was impossible to roll out.
The Foreign Fork says
Hi there, did you allow the dough to chill overnight? This is a very important step to making sure the dough is easy to work with.
Penny Wolf says
I am so glad to have found you and this recipe. Our recipe is the very same ingredients but different proportions. You are helping me with directions because our recipe has no instructions and that can make a difference. I’m about to mix them up to bake tomorrow and finding your recipe and instructions has me excited! THANK YOU and Merry Christmas.
Debra says
I can’t wait to try these! I have a very similar recipe but it calls for the small block of yeast (refrigerated) which has become hard to find. I was going to do some experimenting with dry yeast but I think this is very, very close. I use powdered sugar to roll my dough out, it adds a sweetness and helps if the dough is too wet.
The Foreign Fork says
That sounds delicious Debra, I am excited to hear how it goes with the powdered sugar!
Debra says
I made these yesterday and they came out tasting very close to my recipe. The dough was pretty wet. I should have let it stay in the refrigerator overnight and maybe used less sour cream (I’ll try 1/2 cup next time). I did find I had to work with just a small amount of dough at a time and I kept the dough cold. Delicious recipe! Thank you for sharing.
Kristen S says
This was terrible. It was far too wet. While I held tight and had faith, the dough just melted and was terrible to work with. The bake time didn’t work with how wet it wa and while the filling was “ok” I Easter far too much money and time on this. I’ve been looking for a yeast version of this like my grandma made and this just broke my heart. I had high hopes. Please correct the recipe as ingredients are just too expensive.
The Foreign Fork says
Hi Kristen, I am so sorry that you had trouble with the cookie recipe! I am wondering if you accidentally mis-measured something? This is my grandmother’s recipe and has been made every year for 50 years, so we have some proof that the dough is just fine 😉 I would encourage you to double check that you added the measurements correctly. If there is one recipe I can confirm is right, it is this one that has been made my so many women in my family for so many years. I hope you are able to find a cookie recipe that reminds you of your grandmother!
Gianna says
The part that says cut idough into 3 squares and put a tablespoon of walnuts in middle of each….this would yield 3 cookies not 40
The Foreign Fork says
Hi Giana, it says 3″ squares (the ” is a common symbol for the word “Inch”). Cut them into as many 3 inch squares as you can and you will yield about 40 cookies.
Lisa says
If leaving dough to rest overnight do I refrigerate? Thank you.
The Foreign Fork says
Yes and then let it come to room temperature before rolling!
Gay says
Can you freeze these?
The Foreign Fork says
Yes you can!
Beverly dellagrotta says
This recipe could be amazing but my dough was so sticky and wet I had to add at least an extra cup of flour. Anyone else?