I love freshly baked cookies and even more so love making cookies. For one, it’s so easy to make and secondly, just the smell of them baking in the oven makes you all feel like a kid again. I made these cookies when I really had nothing else to do and had walnuts and choc chips lying around in the pantry. I must point out that these cookies don’t use baking powder so you will find they will not expand in the oven nor will they have that chewy texture some might prefer (like Subway cookies). These are slightly denser but tasty nonetheless. Check out the recipe from Taste.com.au below

Walnut and Choc Chip Cookies (Taste.com.au)

Ingredients
125g butter, softened (You can use baking margarine but will not have the same taste)
50g (1/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
225g (1 1/2 cups) plain flour
150g good-quality dark cooking chocolate, coarsely chopped (or buttons)
150g (1 1/2 cups) walnut halves, coarsely chopped

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

2. Use an electric beater to beat butter and sugar in a medium bowl until well combined. Add the egg and beat until combined.

3. Sift the flour over the butter mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined. Add the chocolate and walnuts, and stir to combine.

4. Use your hands to roll tablespoonsful of the cookie mixture into balls. Place the balls, 3cm apart, on prepared trays. Use a fork to flatten slightly.

5. Bake in preheated oven, swapping the trays halfway through cooking, for 20 minutes or until light golden. Remove from oven and set aside to cool on the trays for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Impressions

I used margarine (that can be used for baking) but found it lacks the buttery taste that makes cookies so tasty and also slightly drier. It’s a somewhat strange taste at first but after a few bites it isn’t so bad and actually kinda addictive. The chopped walnuts have this beautiful aroma in the cookies and the dark chocolate chips give it just enough sweetness. I know most would prefer more sugar, so even doubling the sugar while using dark chocolate chips still would be not too sweet.

I found that the original recipe uses 200g of cooking chocolate but when mixing it all in, it looked like a ridiculously large quantity that would overwhelm the entire cookie and you wouldn’t be able to shape them properly. Just slowly add the walnuts and chocolate in until you come to your preferred balance. As mentioned above, the cookies will almost be the same size before and after baking so keep that in mind. I wouldn’t call these healthy cookies but they are a lighter option if using margarine and less chocolate (and sugar)