Coffee walnut cookies

When I saw this recipe on the LA times, I knew I had to make it. The presence of coffee in a recipe outweighs my dislikes of walnuts. I don't exactly hate walnuts, it just doesn't appeal to me. Though I have to admit, the smell of roasted walnuts is quite fragrant. Actually, I take my dislikes of walnuts back. As long as they're incorporated with something else and not presented on its own, I'm okay with walnuts.

These cookies are delicious! The coffee taste isn't as strong though. I'd probably dissolve a teaspoon of instant coffee into the milk next time and roast the walnuts for longer.

I ground the walnuts on its own in a hand held blender cause I had a feeling (*that tonight's gonna be a good night*) that it wouldn't work once the flour and sugar is added. The Black Eyed Peas song always comes to mind when anyone says I had a feeling!

The original recipe contains brandy but I just substituted it with milk. I also wrapped the dough in parchment paper instead of clingfilm cause clingfilm and me don't work. Firstly, cutting the silly clingfilm is annoying and I somehow always end up with a ball of clingfilm which is impossible to spread out again. I also made mine rectangular instead of circular as per the LA times recipe.

I added an extra 1/2 tsp of finely ground coffee and only decorated a third of the cookies with the whole coffee beans.

Coffee walnut cookies
makes 85 cookies

2 cups flour
1 cup roasted walnut
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp finely ground coffee beans (not espresso beans), plus whole beans for garnish
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp brandy (I used milk)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Place walnuts and pulse till finely ground in a food processor.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, ground walnuts, ground coffee, salt and sugar.
3. Cut the butter into cubes and rub in the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Mix in the vanilla extract and brandy/milk. Knead by hand till a dough is formed.
5. Form the dough into a log, wrap in parchment paper/clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. I refrigerated mine overnight.
6. Using a sharp knife, slice the dough into 1/4 inch slices. Press a coffee bean into the centre of each cookie.
7. Bake in a preheated 180 C oven on parchment paper for 13-15 minutes or till light golden brown.
8. Let the cookies firm up slightly before transferring them to a cooling rack.

* I used the rubbing in method for the dough as my hand held blender refused to budge when I added the flour and sugar to the ground walnuts. Please refer to the LA times recipe for the food processor/pulsing method.