Welcome to The Storied Recipe Podcast, a podcast about food, culture, and love.
This recipe for Apricot Walnut Cookies came from my podcast guest, Maureen Abood, author of the "Lebanese Baking" cookbook . Make sure you listen to her episode "The Gentle Generations and Their Best Cookies" while you make these Apricot Walnut Cookies!
Truly, these Apricot Walnut Cookies are perfect. They are the perfect balance of chewy and light, with a hint of sweetness from dried apricots and a satisfying crunch from toasted walnuts. Each bite is rich with buttery flavor and warm spices, yet delicate enough to enjoy with an afternoon coffee or tea.
Looking for more cookie recipes? Check out this recipe for these Polish Mazurka: Peanut Raisin Cookies or this recipe for Kue Semprit Keju: Indonesian Butter Cookies with Pandan, Cheese and Coconut.
Maureen's Memories of Apricot Walnut Cookies Recipe
When I asked my cousins for handwritten recipes from their mothers or our grandmother, Alice Elum Abowd, one after another sent me their mothers' recipes for what we call Grandma's Best Cookies. But you know how family food lore goes. My sister insists that a neighbor gave this recipe to Grandma Alice and that the "Grandma" is generic. My brother Chris agrees with me that our grandmother created it and not just because it's his favorite. The recipe exists nowhere else that I've found in my extensive search. It was her best, then our best, and now it can be yours, too.
-Maureen Abood, guest of The Storied Recipe
Top Tip
Make sure to chill your dough. Don't skimp on the chill time. You will know the dough is ready when you can roll it into a ball and it doesn't lose its shape.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Wet ingredients: Unsalted butter, eggs, vanilla extract
- Dry ingredients: Unbleached all-purpose flour, baking powder, fine sea salt, ground nutmeg, baking soda, white sugar, light brown sugar
- Nuts: Toasted walnuts
- Fruit: Dried apricots
Variations on Recipe
Maureen says that her mother used dried apricots in her cookies, but her grandmother's recipe calls for chopped dates and raisins. Swap the apricots for either of those or your favorite dried fruits.
Instructions
Chop the apricots and walnuts, then mix them with the sugars, butter, and vanilla until combined. Whisk together the dry ingredients and add them to the mixture, followed by the eggs. Dissolve baking soda in hot water, mix it in, then chill the dough for at least 2 hours. Roll the dough into balls, bake at 350°F until golden, and cool before serving.
Why Dissolve the Baking Soda in Water?
Maureen says, baking soda often lends a chewy texture to a cookie, and gives it sort of a lightness in its crispiness. For this cookie, the texture is light yet chewy, and dissolving the baking soda seems to pronounce that quality a little bit more. When it goes in dry, it may not disperse quite exactly, but when it's dissolved, it now activates.
Equipment
- Stand mixer OR electric hand mixer
- Mixing bowls
- Cookie sheet
- Plastic wrap
Storage
You can store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
More Middle Eastern Recipes
More Cookie Recipes
Listen to Maureen's Episode
PrintRecipe
Apricot Walnut Cookies
- Total Time: 2 hours 34 minutes
- Yield: 36 cookies 1x
Ingredients
- 149 grams (1 cup) dried apricots
- 128 grams (1 cup) toasted walnuts (see page 266) (See below)
- 4 grams (1 teaspoon) pure vanilla extract
- 213 grams (1 cup) light brown sugar
- 200 grams (1 cup) granulated white sugar
- 226 grams (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 480 grams (4 cups) unbleached all- purpose flour
- 16 grams (1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon) baking powder
- 6 grams (1 teaspoon) fine sea salt
- 2 grams (1 teaspoon) ground nutmeg
- 3 large eggs
- 6 grams (1 teaspoon) baking soda
- 14 grams (1 tablespoon) water, hot (120°F, 49°C)
Instructions
Cue up the Episode!
Make sure you listen to Maureen's episode of The Storied Recipe Podcast, "The Gentle Generations and Their Best Cookies" while you make her amazing Apricot Walnut Cookies.
Make the Recipe
Make the Batter
- Coarsely chop the apricots and finely chop the walnuts.
- In the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the apricots, walnuts, vanilla extract, brown sugar, white sugar, and butter. Set the mixer speed to medium and beat until the mixture fully combines.
- In another medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sea salt, and nutmeg. Add the flour mixture to the fruit mixture and mix on low speed just until combined.
- Lightly beat the eggs, add them to the bowl, and mix on medium speed for 1 minute to combine thoroughly.
- In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the hot water. Add the mixture to the batter and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds, forming the dough.
Rest the Dough
- Tightly wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.
Reheat Oven and Prepare Cookie Sheets
- Arrange an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Assemble and Bake
- Spoon about 42 grams (2 tablespoons) of the dough, roll it into a ball, and place it on one of the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with the rest of the dough, placing the balls 2 inches (5 cm) apart.
- One sheet at a time, bake until the cookies turn golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes.
- On the baking sheets, let the cookies cool for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool to room temperature before serving.
- Prep Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 24 minutes
Megan says
These cookies are soft and delicious! Even my husband, who isn't very adventurous with new things thought that they were good.
Hannah Neeper says
Hi Megan! Thank you so much for your comment. So glad you and your husband like the cookies!