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Maple Walnut Shortbread

October 17, 2022 by Heather Smoke 5 Comments

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Maple walnut shortbread is easy to make, with a buttery, crumbly texture and delicious maple walnut flavor that’s perfect for the holidays. This is a delicious and classic cookie to add to your Christmas cookie boxes!

You might also love these high altitude recipes for soft and chewy brown sugar pecan cookies, iced maple leaf sugar cookies, and raspberry thumbprint sugar cookies.

Wedges of maple walnut shortbread sprinkled with chopped walnuts.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Easy to Make. The shortbread dough comes together so fast in a food processor, then you simply press it into your tart pan.

Standard Pantry Ingredients. You only need staple ingredients from your pantry and fridge to make maple walnut shortbread.

Long Shelf Life. One of the best things about shortbread is how long it stays fresh, and the flavor seems to even improve with age. You can store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for several weeks, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.

Versatile Recipe. If you like, you can swap out the walnuts for pecans, macadamia nuts or almonds. Use a round fluted tart pan as shown in today’s recipe to cut classic wedges of shortbread, or a long rectangular tart pan to cut the cookies into bars. Or you can roll out the dough and cut out individual shortbread cookies with any shape cookie cutter. You could even drizzle the walnut shortbread with a sweet icing, or dip it in melted chocolate.

High Altitude Tested. Although this particular recipe will work at any altitude, mountain bakers can bake with confidence knowing that I develop and test all of my recipes at Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet.

Maple walnut shortbread cut into wedges on a metal baking sheet.
Wedges of maple walnut shortbread.

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

Ingredients

  • Flour. Use all-purpose flour to give the dough structure and strength.
  • Powdered Sugar. Sweetens the shortbread, while the fine texture makes a more tender cookie than if you used granulated sugar.
  • Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances the flavor of the walnuts.
  • Butter. A key ingredient in shortbread! The butter is what makes this walnut shortbread tender and rich, with a buttery, crumbly texture.
  • Milk. You’ll need just a little milk to help moisten the dough and bind it together.
  • Walnuts. Use unsalted walnuts, pecans, almonds or macadamia nuts, whichever you prefer. If your nuts are salted, then just reduce the extra salt a little.
  • Spices. You’ll need ground cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, as well as vanilla extract and maple extract. You can leave the maple extract out if you don’t want the maple flavor.
Ingredients for making maple walnut shortbread.

Instructions

Make, Cut and Chill the Dough

  • In your food processor, measure the flour, powdered sugar, salt, spices and 1/2 cup of the walnuts. Pulse several times until well combined and the walnuts are finely chopped and dispersed throughout the mixture.
Step 1 for making maple walnut shortbread.
Step 2 for making maple walnut shortbread.
  • With the processor running, drop the butter down the chute, a tablespoon at a time, and process the mixture until moist and crumbly.
Step 3 for making maple walnut shortbread.
Step 4 for making maple walnut shortbread.
  • Add the vanilla extract, maple extract and milk, and process just until the dough comes together into a dough ball.
Step 5 for making maple walnut shortbread.
Step 6 for making maple walnut shortbread.
  • Dump the dough out onto a clean counter and gather any dry floury bits together, shaping the dough into a disk, and lightly dusting it with a little extra flour.
  • Line the bottom of a 9-inch round tart pan with a removable bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Press the dough into an even layer in the pan.
Shortbread dough in a tart pan.
Shortbread dough pressed into a tart pan.
  • Use a toothpick, skewer or cake tester to prick the dough all over – this is called “docking the dough”, and helps prevent it from puffing up as it bakes.
  • Finely chop the remaining 1/4 cup walnuts, sprinkle them on top of the dough, and lightly press them into the dough.
  • Now cut the dough into 12 equal wedges, using a sharp knife or bench scraper, dipping it in flour in between cuts. I used a bench scraper, which I find easiest for cutting dough inside the pan. Cutting the dough before baking makes it much much easier to cut without breaking it after it comes out of the oven.
  • Refrigerate the shortbread for 30 minutes.
Shortbread dough pricked with holes.
Shortbread dough sprinkled with chopped walnuts.
Shortbread dough sprinkled with walnuts and cut into wedges.

Bake

  • Preheat the oven to 300 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
  • Bake the chilled shortbread for about 45 minutes, until the top looks golden brown and baked through.
  • Set the pan on a cooling rack, and immediately cut the shortbread again. Cool completely in the pan before removing the sides of the pan.
  • Store the baked shortbread in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.
Maple walnut shortbread cut into wedges.

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

Can I use any kind of nuts in this recipe?

Yes, walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts and almonds all work well in this walnut shortbread recipe.

Will this recipe work at any altitude?

Yes, it will.

Can I use maple syrup instead of maple extract?

No, the maple flavor in pure maple syrup isn’t concentrated enough to be a suitable replacement for maple extract. The addition of maple extract adds such a nice flavor to this maple walnut shortbread, but you can also leave it out for just walnut shortbread.

Can I roll out the dough to cut cookies?

You sure can! See my vanilla bean shortbread cookies post for instructions on rolling and cutting the dough into individual cookies.

Stack of maple walnut shortbread cookies.

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Favorite Products

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!

Wedges of maple walnut shortbread sprinkled with chopped walnuts.

Maple Walnut Shortbread

Heather Smoke
This maple walnut shortbread is easy to make, with a buttery, crumbly texture and delicious maple walnut flavor that's perfect for the holidays.

All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.

5 from 4 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 45 mins
Chill Time 30 mins
Total Time 1 hr 25 mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, Scottish
Servings12

Equipment

  • Food Processor or Pastry Cutter
  • 9-inch Round Tart Pan with Removable Bottom

Ingredients
 

  • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
  • ¾ cup powdered sugar
  • ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp ground cloves
  • ¼ tsp ground cardamom
  • ¾ cup raw unsalted walnuts, divided
  • ¾ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
  • 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp maple extract
  • 3 tbsp whole milk

Instructions
 

Make, Cut and Chill the Dough

  • In your food processor, measure the flour, powdered sugar, salt, spices and 1/2 cup of the walnuts. Pulse several times until well combined and the walnuts are finely chopped and dispersed throughout the mixture.
  • With the processor running, drop the butter down the chute, a tablespoon at a time, and process the mixture until moist and crumbly.
  • Add the vanilla extract, maple extract and milk, and process just until the dough comes together into a dough ball.
  • Dump the dough out onto a clean counter and gather any dry floury bits together, shaping the dough into a disk, and lightly dusting it with a little extra flour.
  • Line the bottom of a 9-inch round tart pan with a removable bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Press the dough into an even layer in the pan.
  • Use a toothpick, skewer or cake tester to prick the dough all over – this is called "docking the dough", and helps prevent it from puffing up as it bakes.
  • Finely chop the remaining 1/4 cup walnuts, sprinkle them on top of the dough, and lightly press them into the dough.
  • Now cut the dough into 12 equal wedges, using a sharp knife or bench scraper, dipping it in flour in between cuts. I used a bench scraper, which I find easiest for cutting dough inside the pan. Cutting the dough before baking makes it much easier to cut without breaking it after it comes out of the oven.
  • Refrigerate the shortbread for 30 minutes.

Bake

  • Preheat the oven to 300 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
  • Bake the chilled shortbread for about 45 minutes, until the top looks golden brown and baked through.
  • Set the pan on a cooling rack, and immediately cut the shortbread again. Cool completely in the pan before removing the sides of the pan.
  • Store the baked shortbread in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.
Keyword Cookies, Maple, Shortbread, Walnut
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/

Filed Under: Christmas Cookies, Cookies

Previous Post: « Black and White Lambeth Halloween Cake
Next Post: High Altitude Maple Walnut Cake »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kim

    November 26, 2022 at 8:37 pm

    Hi Heather!

    I really wanna do this to give as gifts to my neighbors but I’m not gonna buy the tart pan. I do have a 9 inch springform pan. I might give that a go. What are your thoughts?

    Reply
    • Heather Smoke

      November 26, 2022 at 8:48 pm

      I think a springform pan would work perfectly fine.

      Reply
      • Kim

        November 27, 2022 at 11:52 am

        Thank you!

        Reply
      • Kim

        November 28, 2022 at 10:10 am

        5 stars
        It baked beautifully! 41 minutes and perfect crust, I need a little work on cutting but your tip on using the bench scraper was awesome!

        It’s a keeper!

        Thank you so much

        Kim

        Reply
  2. Laura

    February 5, 2023 at 4:40 pm

    5 stars
    I love your recipes and have made several of them – delicious!. I’m going to make this cake today.

    Reply

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I'm Heather, and welcome to my Colorado kitchen, where you will find high-altitude tested recipes for beautifully photographed cakes, baked goods and sweets. I believe that the kitchen is the heart of a home, and everyone is welcome in mine. So stay a while, sip a cup of coffee, and bake something delicious with me!

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