These walnut biscuits are not a standard shortcrust dough with a nut topping. The ground walnuts replace some of the flour in the dough, and that is what makes the difference: the dough becomes more crumbly than a plain flour dough, more aromatic with every bite, and after baking it has a texture you will not find in shop-bought biscuits. The Thermomix® grinds the walnuts in 7 seconds, kneads the dough in 3 minutes and later melts the nougat and couverture at controlled temperatures. What you need to plan for: at least 2 hours of chilling time before the dough can be cut out cleanly.
Walnut Biscuits with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 9 ✓
- 130 g walnuts
- 250 g flour
- 160 g butter
- 80 g sugar
- 1 sachet vanilla sugar
- 1 pinch ground cinnamon
- 100 g nut nougat
- 50 g milk chocolate couverture
- 30 walnuts
Instructions 0 / 12
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1
Chop the walnuts.
Add walnuts to the mixing bowl and grind for 7 sec / speed 10. Set aside 50 g of the ground walnuts.
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2
Mix the dough.
Add flour, butter, sugar, vanilla sugar and cinnamon to the mixing bowl and knead for 3 min / kneading mode.
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3
Chill.
Wrap the dough in foil and chill for at least 2 hours.
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4
Oven.
Preheat the oven to 180°C top and bottom heat.
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5
Roll out the dough.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface, cut out heart shapes and bake on the middle rack for approximately 8 minutes.
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6
Nougat.
Add the nougat in pieces to the mixing bowl and melt for 2 min / 45°C / speed 2.
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7
Ground walnuts.
Add the remaining ground walnuts to the mixing bowl and mix for 4 sec / speed 4.
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8
Spreading.
Spread the inside of one biscuit with nougat cream and place a second biscuit on top. Rinse the mixing bowl.
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9
Arrange side by side.
Place the finished biscuits close together on a sheet of baking paper.
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10
Couverture.
Add the couverture to the mixing bowl, chop for 10 sec / speed 5 and melt for 4 min / 50°C / speed 1.
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11
Decorating.
Pour the melted couverture into a small piping bag, pierce one corner with a pin and use it to decorate the biscuits.
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12
Walnut half.
Place one walnut half on each biscuit and leave to set.
Tip: Enjoy the biscuits with a fine Christmas liqueur.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Grinding walnuts fresh: why 7 seconds is the key
Ready-ground nuts from a bag lose their aroma quickly and can taste rancid. Buying whole walnuts and grinding them just before baking gives a noticeably more intense result. In the Thermomix®, 7 seconds at speed 10 produces a slightly coarse nut flour. No longer: at 10 seconds or more the nuts start to release their oil. The result clumps and your dough loses the crumbly texture you are after.
We grind all the walnuts in one go. The 130 g for the dough go straight in, we set aside 50 g after grinding and stir them into the nougat filling later. The 30 walnut halves for decoration stay whole.
Dough and essential chilling time
After grinding, flour, butter, sugar, vanilla sugar and a pinch of cinnamon go into the mixing bowl. 3 minutes on kneading mode produces an even dough. The butter does not have to be at room temperature, but cut into pieces it blends more evenly. Anyone who makes their own vanilla sugar will notice the difference from a sachet straight away.
Press the dough into a flat block, wrap in foil and chill for at least 2 hours. Without this time it is too soft: the shapes spread during baking and your biscuits turn out flat rather than neat. We make the dough the evening before baking day. It keeps in the fridge for 2 to 3 days, and the next morning you can roll it out straight away.
If the chilled dough cracks when you roll it out: leave it at room temperature for 10 minutes, do not knead it.
Baking, filling, decorating: the process in detail
Preheat the oven to 180°C top and bottom heat, not fan. Fan heat dries out shortcrust dough too quickly. 8 minutes on the middle rack is enough until the edges just start to colour. The centre stays pale: the biscuits firm up as they cool. Leave them in longer and you will have hard biscuits instead of crumbly ones.
While the first tray is baking, we prepare the next one. This keeps production running smoothly through all 30 pieces.
The nougat filling comes straight after baking: melt the nougat at 45°C at speed 2. The temperature is not a minor detail. Too hot and the nougat runs away, too cool and it cannot be spread. At 45°C it has exactly the right consistency. We stir in the 50 g of ground walnuts briefly at speed 4, which gives the cream some bite. Sandwich the biscuits in pairs, rinse the mixing bowl, then melt the couverture at 50°C and pipe it over the top. One walnut half on top, leave to set.
If you prefer something more bitter: use dark chocolate couverture instead of milk. The contrast with the sweet nougat filling is more pronounced that way.
Store cool, not in the fridge
Walnut biscuits keep in a well-sealed tin for 3 to 4 weeks. Do not stack them, place baking paper between the layers. Avoid the fridge: it makes the couverture dull and the dough tough. We store them at 15 to 18°C in a cool larder to keep the texture right.
If you want to bake as early as October: the unfilled, baked halves can be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost, fill fresh and decorate.
Getting the most out of shortcrust dough
These biscuits show what shortcrust dough can do when the nut component is taken seriously. Anyone who wants to try other uses: our shortcrust collection on mixmyday.com brings together all shortcrust recipes made with the Thermomix®.
If you want to fill the biscuit tin further: vanilla kipferl and cinnamon stars from the Thermomix® go well alongside.
How other recipes approach it
Goes well with: mulled wine and coffee.
Also worth a look: Schaka-Schaka biscuits made with the Thermomix®.
Cookidoo uses 120 g of walnuts, a whole egg and baking powder in the dough. This makes the dough lighter but less nutty than ours, which uses 130 g in the dough and no egg. Other blogs take a completely different approach: one egg-free batter is spread straight onto the tray, baked for 25 to 30 minutes at 190°C, then cut into squares and coated with a lemon icing. Crisp rather than crumbly. Another version flavours its shortcrust with cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg and bakes for 25 minutes at 210°C. We deliberately go for a nougat filling with milk chocolate couverture, 8 minutes of baking time and a crumbly texture rather than crisp.
