Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

These luxurious buttery cookies melt in your mouth while balanced by the rich dark chocolate and walnut pieces! If you're not a huge fan of this much chocolate, substitute the chocolate chips with raisins or cranberries.

For calorie control, use the small dough scoop and this recipe yields 48 cookies. The calories will drop to around 150 a cookie.

These cookies are perfect for special occasions such as seasonal holidays and celebrations. You could even add a slice of ice cream between two cookies for a decadent no-plate dessert.

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4 Walnut chocolate chip cookies stacked on a white plate

These walnut and chocolate chunk cookies are incredibly delicious!
The first time I made these I fell in love with walnuts
and I hope you do too.

Why You Need More Walnuts in Your Diet

A lot of people find walnuts taste slightly bitter and I’d been reading how, as a society, we now crave sweetness in every meal and most snacks.
Today I feel it’s rare when someone cooks or bakes with walnuts but it might be making a comeback.
It used to be, that whenever you ordered a salad with walnuts, they were candied. The other day my salad was topped with raw walnuts and the earthy flavours just popped with its citrus dressing.
I was one delighted customer.

Walnuts fall under the bitter foods column, like arugula and watercress, and no one gets super excited to eat a meal that doesn’t taste sweet.
So, watercress has fallen out of favour, arugula is dressed with candied walnuts and sweet cranberries and walnuts are harder to find in recipes.
Yet, studies continuously show us, walnuts are crammed with protein, fibre, nutrients and good heart fats.

One way to reintroduce walnuts into your daily diet is by being gentle. I’ll admit, these nuts are an acquired taste.
However, this recipe combines walnuts with a healthy dose of dark chocolate to deliver a natural kitchen winner!
The dark chocolate offsets the walnuts making each mouthful decadent and crammed with health benefits too!

If you get a chance next time, skip the candied walnuts and sprinkle raw ones over your leafy green salad for a healthy alternative. I think you’ll find the tangy nut oil a refreshing change.

Still don’t love the bitterness of walnuts?
Why not try a trail mix!
Dried fruit, dark chocolate and walnuts make a formidable snack together (which is why these cookies are amazing!)

Don't Love Chocolate?

I get it!
I’ve gone through stages where chocolate and I don’t always agree it should be centre stage, so here’s the best part about this recipe: you can substitute the same quantities with raisins or cranberries.
I’ve also used chopped almonds instead of chopped chocolate – perhaps each bite is not quite as decadent, but it’s still an awesome cookie.

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Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Prep time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 10-12 minutes
Yield: 24 cookies

*If you use the small dough scoop (see what these are below) you’ll make 48 bite-sized cookies.
** Optional if not everyone loves this much chocolate. Substitute half, or all, of the chocolate chips with raisins or cranberries for a slightly more chewy, less sweet cookie.
If someone you know can’t eat chocolate at all, set aside some of the dough and replace chocolate chunks with roughly chopped almonds!

Equipment:
Mixer or medium mixing bowl and long wooden spoon
Parchment paper or Silpat® baking mat
Measuring spoons
Measuring cups
Baking tray designed for cookies
Rubber scraper
Cookie dough scoop (remember, the large size makes 24 cookies, the small size makes 48 bite-sized cookies)
Oven mitts
Spatula for lifting cookies out
Cooling rack
Fork or juice glass to press cookies flat

Ingredients:
½ c. vegetable shortening
½ c. unsalted butter
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 t. vanilla extract
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
½ t. sea salt
1 c. dark chocolate chips*
3-oz. dark chocolate bar, chopped**
1 c. walnuts shelled and roughly chopped

*optional: 1/2 c. raisins and 1/2c. chocolate chips
** optional: roughly chopped almonds

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F and line a large cookie baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat® baking mat. Set aside.

2. Using your mixer, cream shortening and butter with granulated and brown sugars in a large mixing bowl until creamy and light. You’ll get more air and a lighter cookie if the shortening and butter are at room temperature.

3. Crack eggs into a small bowl to help check for any broken shells before adding to the mixing bowl.
Add vanilla extract and mix until well blended.

4. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the bowl. Mix to combine.

5. Remove mixing bowl from the stand and with a wooden spoon, fold in chocolate chips, chopped chocolate and walnuts until thoroughly combined.

6. Use a large cookie dough scoop to make 24 balls of dough.

7. Place 6 balls of dough on the prepared baking sheet with 1-2 inches in between each ball.
Flatten dough with the tines of a fork or the bottom of a juice glass.
If you prefer bite-sized cookies use a smaller dough scoop.

8. Place cookies and tray in the preheated oven and bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
Remove tray from oven and cool slightly before lifting cookies out with a spatula.
Cool cookies further on a rack while baking the remainder of cookies.

9. Serve with ice cream in between two cookies, or on their own with a glass of milk, hot chocolate, hot peppermint tea, or an espresso. As you can see, these cookies go with everything!

Enjoy!

Tips And Tricks Before You Begin

~ Room temperature butter, shortening and eggs beat up more air which makes each bite into a cookie lighter and it really helps bring out the flavours.
This is a delicious, luxurious contrast to the heavier chunks of chocolate.

~ A cookie dough scoop is the best way to know and measure calories when you are baking. For this recipe, the small scoop yields a 150 calorie cookie while the large scoop makes a 300 calorie cookie.

~ Not everyone likes or can eat chocolate, but this recipe is still perfect for them too. Simply set aside some of the dough and add chopped almonds to theirs!

~ My Kitchen Aid mixer is the 4.5 Qt size which makes up to 6 dozen cookies. For this recipe, once my mixer has done the heavy grunt work, I prefer moving the dough to a larger mixing bowl before adding the chocolate.
I know that’s an extra bowl to wash, but it’s SO worth my time to not have to cream butter and sugar by hand and still enjoy baking cookies.

If you would like to see why I love my mixer, I’ve made a gift guide which walks you through the attachments I have on my wish list.
You can CLICK HERE.

Need Baking Equipment?

Kitchen Aid has an impressive lineup of colours, from the classic white and subtle grey to happy pastels, to the bolder here-I-am in their collection.
Stackable cooling trays are a huge space saver on kitchen counters, especially if you are using the small dough scoop because you’re about to make 48 awesome cookies with this recipe.