8.4.14

Italian Walnut Black Pepper Cookies


Walnut Black Pepper Cookies... this is yet another one from  Cooking with Italian Grandmothers and it is by grandmother Carluccia. I tell you, if not for all the other healthy recipes, for t``he  desserts alone you should get yourself a copy of the book. They all sound fantastic and are generally pretty easy to put together.... 

Now a little about the moment when I finally decided to share these sweeties with you... 


It was pretty late that night. My husband had a skype interview in India . He returned at 3:00 in the morning and before I could ask him how the interview went, 

he asked, "Are those cookies still there ?" 

"Ah... yes.. how was your interview ?" 

"We'll see..." he replied, then taking a bite said, "... these cookies are delicious.... can I have some more..."

I knew immediately that the first thing I needed to do next day was to take their photographs.. I suspected that they wouldn't survive another day in the shelf . And they didn't. The whole batch vanished between breakfast, tea and dessert.  With all its buttery-sugary goodness and hint of black pepper, these cookies kept calling us(by which I mostly mean my husband) all-day-long.....


Walnut Black Pepper Cookies


Recipe by Cooking with Italian Grandmothers
Prep time: 10 minutes                          Bake time: 25 minutes                                  Yield: 24



Ingredients
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 3 tbsps cane sugar
  • ¾ tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • pinch of salt
  • 3 tbsps honey(darker honey like wildflower or chestnut is preferable)
  • 1 cup raw walnuts, pounded or coarsely ground
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • extra granulated sugar. for sprinkling
Cooking Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 300 °F.
  2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and keep aside.
  3. Put the softened butter and sugar in a bowl and beat them till the mixture is smooth and creamy.
  4. Add the black pepper, salt and honey and beat some more.
  5. Finally add the pounded walnuts and all purpose flour and mix well.
  6. Divide the mixture into 24 similar balls, each approximately a heaped 1½ - 2 tablespoons in size.
  7. Place the balls on the prepared baking tray about 1 inch or so apart, flatten them and using a tines of the fork make a criss-cross pattern on top.
  8. Bake them in preheated oven for 25 minutes. The base will look golden brown by then. (I had centered the rack and so back the cookies in 2 batches.)
  9. Let the baked cookies cool on the hot baking trays before serving or storing them.
Note: I had wrapped the cookies in plastic cling wrap and stored them. So they were perfect until consumed. I believe they would stay well in an air-tight container too.


Here are two other Italian recipes from the same book...


Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage
Lentil Soup with Turnip and Pounded Nuts

11 comments:

  1. Yummy, crunchy, beautiful cookies.

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  2. Delicious cookies :) love the addition of walnuts and black pepper

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  3. They look great, and I've never tasted cookies with black pepper
    It sounds so weird that I just have to try. I'm intrigued

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  4. Such a combination of sweet and savory with the spice of black pepper. These are beautiful with the little flecks of black and I'm intrigued by the flavor...

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  5. I like the idea of black pepper in the cookies - intriguing.

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  6. Hahah your husband is so cute. These sound fascinating, I love the idea of adding black pepper to sweet things.

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  7. What a fabulous flavour combination - I can see why your husband found these cookies difficult to resist! Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe with us at The Hearth and Soul hop.

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  8. I know a special pepper for cook dessert, its a very fragrant pepper. Its red Kampot pepper. I will test your delicious cookies with this pepper.
    Pierre, Just a gourmet ;)

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  9. I have to get this cookbook. Such interesting recipes. Thanks for sharing this one with us on foodie friday.

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  10. What a fantastic cookie! Thanks for linking up with What's Cookin' Wednesday!

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Thanks for stopping by. It was nice having you here. Have a good day.

Take care and come back soon.
Best, Tanusree

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