Walnut shortbread biscuits

These buttery walnut biscuits are the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea or coffee. Pre-roast the walnuts for a fuller flavour and experiment with your choice of honey for something a little bit different.

• makes

  35

• prep

  5 minutes

• cook

  42 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 100 g (1 cup) walnuts, freshly shelled if possible 
• 180 g unsalted butter, softened 
• 50 g caster sugar 
• 1½ tbsp brown sugar 
• 1 tbsp leatherwood honey 
• 200 g (1⅓ cups) plain flour, sifted, plus extra, to dust 
• 50 g rice flour, sifted

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place walnuts on an oven tray and roast for 5 minutes or until they darken ever so slightly and become fragrant. Keep an eye on them as they burn quickly. Remove and cool slightly.

Place walnuts on a sheet of baking paper, then fold paper over and crush nuts gently with a rolling pin. Alternatively, process the nuts in a food processor until they are finely crushed but still have chunky bits.

With an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter, sugars and honey until pale and fluffy. Combine flours in a bowl, then with mixer on low speed, carefully add flours and walnuts, and mix until just combined; take care not to over-mix. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently until smooth. Pat into a disc and, if it’s a bit soft and sticky, refrigerate for 20 minutes to firm.

Re-dust work surface and roll out dough to about 4 mm thick. Using a 5 cm-round biscuit cutter, cut out rounds and place 1 cm apart on a lined oven tray. Bake for 12 minutes or until biscuits are slightly coloured around the edges. Cool on tray. They will feel soft, but will firm up as they cool. Store biscuits in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Photography by Alan Benson.

As seen in Feast magazine, October 2011, Issue 2.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.