High Altitude Iced Walnut Poppy Seed Cookies

Soft and chewy walnut poppy seed cookies, dipped in brown butter icing. These easy high altitude walnut cookies come together quickly with no mixer needed.

You might also love these recipes for old fashioned iced oatmeal cookies, coffee and walnut cake, and maple walnut shortbread cookies.

This site contains affiliate links.  As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  This means that I may make a small commission if you purchase a product using those links.  This in no way affects my opinion of those products and services.  All opinions expressed on this site are my own.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Great With or Without the Icing. These walnut cookies with poppy seeds are fantastic on their own, with their rich, nutty flavor. But the brown butter icing takes the flavor up a notch, and looks so beautiful, too, like patches of melting snow in the winter.

Soft Chewy Texture. The dough for these cookies is the exact same dough I make for my popular best high altitude chocolate chip cookies. So if you love the thick, chewy texture of those cookies, but are in the mood for a chocolate chipless cookie, you’ll love these cookies with walnuts and poppy seeds.

Quick and Easy. From start to finish, these walnut poppy seed cookies will be ready in about an hour.

Pretty Enough for the Holidays. With Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner, I made these cookies to add to my Christmas cookie boxes.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

Cookies

• Unsalted Butter. Adds richness, moisture and flavor to the cookies. You’ll also be browning a small amount of butter for the icing, which adds a wonderful depth of flavor.
• Sugar. Granulated sugar and light brown sugar adds sweetness and moisture, as well as subtle hints of caramel and molasses from the brown sugar. The sugar also helps the cookies to spread, and caramelizes around the edges for crisp edges with soft, chewy centers. You’ll also need powdered sugar for the icing.
• Vanilla Extract + Salt. Flavor.
• Egg. Gives the cookies structure and leavens the dough a little.
• All-Purpose Flour. Adds structure and stability so the cookie doesn’t spread too much.
• Corn Starch. A small amount of corn starch tenderizes cookie dough for soft, chewy cookies.
• Baking Soda. Leavens the dough.
• Walnuts + Poppy Seeds. Use raw, unsalted walnuts. For extra flavor, you can toast the walnuts before adding them to the cookie dough. The poppy seeds are optional, but I really love the nuttiness that they add.
• Meringue Powder. A necessary ingredient in the icing, to help the icing dry and set.

Instructions

Cookies

• Melt the butter, in a saucepan on the stove or in the microwave.
• In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar, until well combined. Then whisk in the vanilla extract and the egg, until smooth.
• In a separate bowl, combine the flour, corn starch, salt and baking soda, until everything is evenly distributed.
• Add the flour mixture, chopped walnuts and poppy seeds to the wet ingredients, and stir everything together with a spatula until you have a soft dough.

• Use a medium cookie scoop (about 1 1/2 tbsp capacity) to scoop 18 portions of dough. Don’t roll the dough balls smooth with your hands – you want the surface to be a little rough and craggy. Just slightly flatten the tops of the dough balls with your fingers.
• Cover the dough balls with plastic wrap, and chill for 25 minutes while you preheat the oven.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Space the chilled cookies several inches apart on the baking sheet, baking half at a time, and keeping the rest refrigerated until needed. Bake the cookies for about 9-10 minutes, until the edges are set and light golden brown.
• Cool for several minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before icing.

Icing (optional)

• In a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and meringue powder.
• In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter for several minutes until nutty, golden brown solids form at the bottom of the pan. Immediately remove from the heat.
• Add the browned butter, vanilla and water to the powdered sugar mixture, and whisk until smooth and drizzly.

• To dip the cookies, turn a cookie over so that the top is facing down. Holding the cookie by the edges, lightly dip it in the icing, shake off the excess, and set on a baking sheet. Repeat with all the cookies. You don’t want to fully submerge the top of the cookies in the icing. Just lightly dip them so that the rough bumps and ridges on top of the cookies catch the icing, with plenty of gaps in between.
• If you like, sprinkle the icing with a little more chopped walnuts and poppy seeds before it dries.
• The icing will set and dry to the touch within a few minutes, and will stay a little soft underneath. Let dry for several hours before storing the cookies in an airtight container. Separate each layer of cookies with wax paper, so that the top cookies don’t stick to the icing underneath.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

You Might Also Like

Please check out my Amazon Shop for a curated collection of some of my favorite cake pans from trusted brands, baking tools, ingredients, pretty things and fashion finds. I recommend products that I buy and use every day!

Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!