Never mind the bakery, grocery store, and food truck cookies that are expensive, bad for you, and ultra sweet. Maple Walnut Scotchies will fill your cookie jar and tummy quite nicely for less money and with a little less sugar and saturated fat. The recipe is a variation of another cookie recipe I posted earlier--for Peanut Butter Cup Cookies--and is equally good. Don't get me wrong, though. Maple Walnut Scotchies are sweet indulgences, not health food. The homemade cookies just aren't quite as bad as the cookie butt bombs you can buy. Plus, most "bought" cookies can't compare in terms of taste to the fresh, homemade version. So try a batch for the weekend. The Maple Walnut Scotchies are crispy on the edges, a little chewy in the centers, and full of maple and butterscotch notes. Walnuts provide a counterpoint to the sweetness as well as more crunch. The cookies are fine on their own or served with fruit. Nonetheless, the cookies are happiest when they accompany ice cream. They even like to sandwich that ice cream on occasion.
Maple Walnut Scotchies -- Makes 24+
1/2 cup of butter, softened
1/3 cup of sugar
1 cup of dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 egg
1/4 cup of canola oil
1/2 teaspoon of maple flavoring
1 1/2 cups of white whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 cup of broken walnuts
1/2 cup of butterscotch morsels (yes, only 1/2 cup or the cookies will be too
sweet!)
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper or coat them with non-stick spray. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars together well. Add the vanilla, egg, canola oil, and maple flavoring and beat them well into the butter/sugar mixture. Mix together the flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon and gradually stir the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just incorporated. Stir in the walnuts and butterscotch morsels. Form 1-inch balls and place them about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the balls slightly with your hand until they're about 1/2-inch thick. Bake the dough for 15-20 minutes. If you want softer, chewier cookies, bake the dough for 15-18 minutes or until the cookies are puffed and barely set in the center. For crisper cookies, bake the dough for 18-20 minutes. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets before removing them to cool completely.
