Best Basic Nut Cookies Recipes

BASIC COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Cream the butter in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or in a stand mixer until it is soft. Add the sugar and keep beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Sift in the flour and add the optional ingredients, if you're using them. Bring the mixture together with your hands in a figure-of-eight motion until it forms a dough. You can freeze the dough at this point.
• Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls and place them slightly apart from each other on a baking sheet (you don't need to butter or line it). Flatten the balls a little with the palm of your hand and bake them in the oven for around 10-12 mins until they are golden brown and slightly firm on top. Leave the cookies on a cooling rack for around 15 mins before serving.

MIXED FRUIT-AND-NUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
• Put butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until smooth. Add sugars, and mix until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs one at a time until combined; mix in vanilla.
• Reduce mixer speed to low. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in coconut, apricots, dates, macadamias, and pistachios.
• Drop batter, 2 heaping tablespoons at a time, onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Flatten slightly. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven; transfer cookies on parchment paper to a wire rack to cool completely.

CLASSIC PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream butter, peanut butter, and sugars together in a bowl; beat in eggs.
• In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; stir into butter mixture. Put dough in refrigerator for 1 hour.
• Roll dough into 1 inch balls and put on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a crisscross pattern. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for about 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown.

CHOCOLATE NUT COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extract. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in the chips and nuts. , Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 7-9 minutes. Cool on pans for 1 minute before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

RICH NUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixer with a paddle attachment combine all the ingredients except confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth. Roll dough into balls about 1-inch in diameter, place on a greased cookie sheet 2 inches apart, and bake for 15 to 20. They should just be turning golden brown. Roll in powdered sugar while still hot.

PINE NUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla, fennel seed, and salt in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Add the flour and mix just until blended.
• Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap. Shape the dough into an 8-inch-long log. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line heavy large baking sheets with a silpat or parchment paper. Cut the dough log crosswise into 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick slices. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, spacing evenly apart. Press the pine nuts decoratively atop the cookies. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, about 15 minutes.