Walnut and Honey Shortbread – these tender, buttery and nutty shortbread are filled with a floral honey flavour. Perfect for a sweet treat with your afternoon coffee or tea, or as a festive homemade gift, because who says no to shortbread?
Did you know I love shortbread?
I’m not much of a biscuit or cookies person. You might be able to tempt me with a warm, melty chocolate-chip cookie or a crispy, nutty biscotti – that’s about it.
But I can’t say no to a piece of shortbread – in any of its delectable incarnations.
So even among the masses of different biscuit and cookie recipes out there, recipes that I myself bookmarked, I still made shortbread for Christmas this year.
Other Favourite Recipes:
Walnut Honey Shortbread Ingredients
These lovely little walnut and honey shortbread morsels are not too sweet and have a lovely crunch from the toasted walnuts. The texture is still light and crumbly, but if you simply must have the sandy bite of traditional shortbread, you could swap 50g of all-purpose flour with rice flour.
Here’s everything that’s in the shortbread:
All-purpose flour. The baker’s workhorse. No need to get fancy here, all-purpose flour does a great job of bringing the dough together. As I mentioned, if you need the traditional sandy shortbread texture, swap 50g of the all-purpose flour with rice flour.
Butter. Shortbread needs softened butter for that melt-in-your mouth feel, otherwise the crumbly texture wouldn’t feel decadent and luxurious. In short, butter makes ‘em taste good!
Honey. Most of the sweetness in this shortbread comes from honey. Try playing around with the type of honey based on what you like, from light and floral honey to the stronger flavoured more amber types.
Sugar. Traditionally, shortbread isn’t too sweet, and there’s a decent amount of honey in here, but a little is needed to make magic happen in the over. Three tablespoons are enough to make the biscuits sweet, but for those with a sweet tooth, you may want to up the sugar to 4 tablespoons.
Walnuts. Toasted, crushed walnuts add a depth of flavour and a pleasing crunch. Toast them in a dry skillet on the stovetop like you would pine nuts, watching them carefully so they don’t burn. Alternatively, if you’ve got the oven on for something else, roast them in the oven at 180°C for around 10 minutes, again watching them carefully.
Find the complete recipe, with measurements, below.
How to Make Walnut Honey Shortbread
There’s nothing too tricky here, promise!
First, toast the walnuts. You can do this in a dry skillet on the stovetop over low heat (5-7 minutes), or in the oven, at 180°C for around 10 minutes. Watch the walnuts carefully so they don’t burn. Set aside to cool. When they’ve cooled, crush them with a rolling pin, making sure to keep some small chunks.
Next, make the dough. Using handheld electric beaters, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the honey and beat until pale and fluffy, followed by the flour and crushed walnuts. Mix until just combined.
Turn the dough out onto a long strip of baking paper. You can either pat it into a log shape or use a pastry scraper to help you make the roll more circular. It’s important to chill the dough at this stage so that the shortbread keeps its shape as it bakes. Let it chill out in the fridge as you do the dishes and take care of any errands.
Remove the roll from the fridge and cut it into shortbread slices. Place the slices on 2 parchment-paper lined baking trays, well spaced apart. Chill, on the baking trays, while the oven preheats to 180°C.
Bake! Transfer the baking trays to the preheated oven and bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the edges are starting to turn a lightly golden colour. Let them cool on the baking trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
If you’re going to decorate some or all the shortbread, wait until they are fully cool. Then melt some dark chocolate, crush some more walnuts, and get to dipping.
And finally, enjoy a piece or two with some coffee (chocolate dipped) or tea (non-chocolate dipped).
Please let me know how you decorate your walnut and honey shortbread in the comments! I love hearing from you.
Looking for more festive recipes? Try these:
- Brunch: Flambéed Crêpes Suzette
- Starter: Savoury Pull-Apart Star Bread
- Side: Green Beans Gremolata
- More shortbread: Spiced Shortbread with Orange Buttercream
- Festive treat: Chocolate Bark with Caramel Popcorn
Walnut Honey Shortbread
Ingredients
- 100 g walnuts
- 150 g butter, softened
- 3 tablespoons sugar*
- 90 g honey
- 250 g flour
- Approximately 60g dark chocolate to decorate, optional
- Extra crumbled walnuts, optional
Instructions
- Add the walnuts to a dry skillet and toast on the stovetop over low hear for 5-7 minutes, until they’re a deeper colour and fragrant. Set aside to cool completely before crushing, either with a rolling pin or on a food processor (just don’t over pulse or you’re end up with walnut butter!).100 g walnuts
- To make the dough, add the softened butter and sugar to a medium mixing bowl and cream together using handheld electric beaters. Add the honey and continue to beat until pale, fluffy and mixed together with no streaks. Add the flour and crushed walnuts and mix until just combined.150 g butter, 3 tablespoons sugar*, 90 g honey, 250 g flour
- Turn the dough out on a long strip of parchment paper, and using your hands, pat it into a long log shape. If you have a pastry scraper, roll the top of the parchment over the dough log, position the pastry scraper in the crease at the base of the dough and pull the top layer of parchment paper toward you, keeping the pastry scraper in place to produce a rolling effect and shaping the dough into a more uniformly circular log shape. Alternatively, move the pastry scraper (or butter knife or ruler) back and forth across the crease to even out the log shape.
- Chill the shortbread log in the fridge for 90 minutes. To maintain it’s circular shape, rest it on something with some give, like some rice, or suspended over two containers. Or not… they don’t have to be perfectly circular, they’re shortbread!
- Remove the log from the fridge and cut it into 20-25, 5mm thick biscuits, turning the log every other slice to keep a circular shape. Place the shortbread on 2 parchment-lined baking trays, well spaced apart. Chill while the over preheats to 180°C.
- When the oven has come up to temp, transfer the baking trays to the oven and bake the shortbread for 12 to 14 minutes, until the edges are starting to turn a lightly golden colour. Let them cool on the baking trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- To decorate, heat the dark chocolate in the microwave, in increments of 10 second bursts, until melted and get the extra crushed walnuts ready in a small bowl. Dip the cooled shortbread, first into the melted chocolate and then into the crushed walnuts. Place them back onto the cooling tray to set.Approximately 60g dark chocolate to decorate, Extra crumbled walnuts
- Enjoy with a cup of coffee (chocolate dipped) or tea (non-chocolate dipped), or package them up with the parchment paper and string for a beautiful and tasty homemade present!
