Gluten Free Honey Walnut Italian Cookies
Typically I believe these cookies are made with a pie crust like crust (which I’m sure is delicious) but I’m especially fond of this cookie dough recipe and couldn’t skip the opportunity to put it to use!
These cookies are an ode to my Italian heritage. Similar to the cucidati cookie which is filled with figs- this recipe alternatively has a simple but delicious hard candy honey filling mixed with walnuts, cinnamon, cloves and a hint of orange flavor! Feel free to sub in maple syrup and pecans for an equally delicious cookie. I have seen a similar jewish cookie recipe- so I think this may be one that spans different cultures and I highly recommend making it your own to suit your families traditions.
Depending on the amount of time you bake these cookies these can have a soft pillowy dough (at 16-17 minutes) or they can have a melt in your mouth crunchy texture (19-20 minutes).
This recipe is quite allergen friendly! (besides the nuts in the recipe of course)
I labeled the recipe as vegan for my website search tools as making it vegan it that way will be simple!
All you need to do is swap out the honey for either maple syrup or agave nectar in both the dough and walnut portions of the recipe. Maple syrup would taste just as fantastic as the honey does!!
The recipe is already egg free! If you need to avoid dairy I suggest using Earth Balance Buttery Sticks in place of the butter in the dough!
Substitutions:
Blanched Almond Flour: I don’t recommend subbing this out. Another finely ground nut or seed flour may work. But I haven’t personally come across any that would work quite the same. Coconut flour will not work.
Tapioca Flour: (also known as tapioca starch) could be swapped out for Corn Starch or Arrowroot Starch.
Butter: As mentioned above Earth Balance Buttery Sticks will sub in no problem. Just make sure your butter is cold!
Walnuts: Pecans would taste amazing as a swap. Feel free to experiment with other nuts and seeds!
Gluten Free Honey Walnut Italian Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 ounces of Honey, Maple Syrup Or Agave Nectar
- Big Pinch of Salt
- 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
- 1/8 Tsp Ground Cloves
- Zest of 1 Orange
- 8 Ounces Finely chopped raw unsalted Walnuts (about 2 1/4 cups)
- 2 Cups Blanched Almond Flour (228 grams)
- 2 Cups Tapioca Flour (250 grams)
- 4 TBSP Cold Butter (dairy or nondairy)
- 1/2 Cup honey, maple syrup, agave or coconut nectar (the weight will vary depending on the sugar chosen)
- 1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 Tsp. Baking Powder
- 1/4 Tsp. Salt
- 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 Tsp Almond Extract or Vanilla Extract (or a combo of the two)
- 1 Tbsp Water
Instructions
- Make the honey walnut filling first. Pre-chop the walnuts and add them to a bowl tossing them with the salt, spices and orange zest. Add to a sturdy sauce pot the honey and gently boil it- once it starts to foam set the timer to 4 minutes. Whisking the whole time. Stir in the walnut mixture and set the timer for another 4 minutes. Stirring continuously. Remove from heat and set aside. (Note: Working with the walnut mixture is a little tricky as it goes from extremely hot to cold and hard somewhat quick. You will want the nuts warm, as so that they can still be spooned and shaped into the dough. If you reach a point of them sticking to the pan too much I recommend putting the pan back on the stove and warming them up a little until the sugar loosens.)
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
- Combine all dough ingredients in a large food processor until they come together to a smooth dough.
- Divide dough into 3 sections- and roll each section between 2 sheets of parchment paper to prevent sticking. Roll into a rectangle 3.5" wide, 16" long, and about 1/8" or so thick. Use a sharp knife to trim uneven edges.
- Spoon 1/3 of the walnut filling down the center of the of the dough using your fingers to shape it into an even amount consistently.
- Use the parchment paper to help turn the dough over onto itself and cover the fig filling. Roll like a sushi roll to seal the dough together.- seam side facing down.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the roll into 1x1" pieces.(Or the size of your choice)
- Place on a parchment lined baking sheet (you will likely need 2 baking sheets).
- Repeat process with the remainder of the dough and filling. If at any point the filling gets cold and too hard to work with warm it back up. It is ok if the nuts are warm when placed into the dough! Just so long as they are not scalding hot.
- Bake for 17 minutes for soft cookies or 19-20 minutes for crunchy cookies. (Note at 17 minutes they wont be super golden brown! But they are baked through and will taste amazing.)
- After the cookies have cooled a bit, whisk frosting ingredients together and drizzle on top of cookies and let the frosting set. Store at room temperature or the freezer.
Notes
You may cut the bars into cookies before OR after you bake them.
I opted to cut them prior as I love the way it looks when the candied nut mixture drips out of the sides of the cookies a little bit. But if you want a perfectly cleanly cut/sliced cookie look feel free to cut them after baking once the log has has cooled for about 15 minutes.
