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Day 3 of week of cookies continues with my maple frosted cutout cookies with walnuts. I love maple, and these cookies have just a hint of maple flavor in the cookie dough and the frosting. Walnuts bring a rustic look to your cookies and add a little crunch on top. You will love this recipe because the dough is so easy to make, plus the cookies turn out crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. The perfect cutout cookie!
Maple is one of my favorite fall and winter flavors, so I knew I had to have a maple cookie for Christmas. My “musts” list was a bit long when I started working on this recipe. The cookies had to taste good (no bland cutout cookies here!) and the frosting had to be fluffy and flavorful. I also didn’t want the maple flavor to be too pronounced. I couldn’t be happier with how this recipe turned out.
If the thought of cutout cookies scares you, I have a few tips to make life easier.
Cold dough is key. I like to let my dough rest in the refrigerator after I’ve mixed it, again after I roll it out (before cutting shapes), and a last time after the shapes are cut and on the baking sheet. After all that, I will place them in the oven. It may be a bit of overkill, but my cutouts always turn out this way. This also gives me a few minutes to clean up the kitchen between each step.
Don’t be afraid to dust all of your tools with flour. Think about everything that’s touching the dough: the counter top, parchment paper, cookie cutters, rolling pin, and even your hands. Just a little flour will help the dough from sticking. Keep a small bowl to the side with extra flour just in case.
If you’re worried about ruining your shapes when moving them to the baking sheet, try this instead. Roll your dough out onto a piece of parchment paper. Cut out your shapes, then remove the excess dough around your shapes. Place the parchment paper directly onto your baking sheet. This way, your shapes don’t have to move at all!
Maple Frosted Cutout Cookies with Walnuts
Ingredients
Cutout Cookies
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon maple extract
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Maple Frosting
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 teaspoon maple extract
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
Cutout Cookies
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and maple extract and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, sift (or whisk) together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Slowly incorporate dry ingredients into butter mixture and stir until just combined. Shape dough into a round disc and wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut dough in half, placing other half back in the refrigerator. Dust counter top, rolling pin, and top of dough with flour. Roll dough out to 1/4" thickness. Cut into assorted shapes and place onto baking sheet.
- Bake cookies for 8-9 minutes or until cookies just begin to lightly brown around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting, about 30 minutes.
- Repeat with remaining dough.
Maple Frosting
- In a medium bowl, combine butter, confectioner's sugar, and maple extract. Add milk one tablespoon at a time, or until desired consistency is achieved. Whip until frosting is smooth and spreadable.
- Decorate cookies as desired - spread with a knife or use a piping bag with frosting tip. Sprinkle with walnuts.
- Allow time for frosting to dry before stacking - about one hour.
These look really good. I’m going to try them!