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Black Walnut Cookies
3 CUPS CAKE OR PASTRY FLOUR 1/2 TEASPOON SODA I TEASPOON BAKING POWDER 1/2 TEASPOON SALT I CUP SHORTENING 2 CUPS DARK BROWN SUGAR 2 EGGS, WELL BEATEN I TABLESPOON VANILLA EXTRACT I CUP CHOPPED WAL- NUTS, FLOURED 1/3 CUP MILK Sift together flour, soda, baking powder and salt. Cream shortening, add sugar gradually and cream together; add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Add flour mixture and milk alternately. Stir in nuts, and drop from teaspoon on greased baking sheets. Bake 14 minutes at 400°.
A straightforward brown-sugar drop cookie whose character comes entirely from black walnuts. A few of the quantities and the oven setting deserve a second look before you start.
- Black walnuts are not English walnutsThe title calls for black walnut (Juglans nigra), which is far more resinous and assertive than the supermarket walnut. If you substitute English walnuts the cookie works but tastes ordinary; black walnut pieces are sold frozen or vacuum-packed and are worth seeking out.
- Oven and time400F for 14 minutes will overshoot on many modern sheet pans. Check at 9 to 10 minutes and pull them when the edges are set and the centres still look slightly soft.
- Flouring the nutsTossing the chopped nuts in a spoonful of the sifted flour keeps them suspended rather than sinking through the soft dough. Take that flour from the measured 3 cups rather than adding extra.
- A tablespoon of vanillaThat is around three times what a modern cookie recipe of this size would use. It stands up to the black walnut; reduce to a teaspoon or two if you prefer the nut to lead.
- ShorteningA cup of vegetable shortening gives a taller, cakier cookie that spreads less. Butter will taste better and spread more; if you use it, chill the dough for 30 minutes before scooping.
- Dough consistencyTwo cups of brown sugar with only 1/3 cup milk makes a stiff dough that drops in lumps rather than pooling. That is correct here; they hold their shape fairly well, so flatten them slightly with a damp fingertip if you want an even edge.
- YieldDropped from a teaspoon as written, this makes roughly five dozen small cookies. A tablespoon scoop gives correspondingly fewer and needs the full baking time.
- GreasingGreased sheets are specified, as parchment was not yet common in home kitchens. Parchment or a silicone mat works better with this high-sugar dough, which browns fast on bare greased metal.
Black walnuts were a gathered food rather than a bought one across much of the eastern and central United States. The nuts drop in autumn inside a thick green husk that stains hands and everything else, and the shell beneath is notoriously hard, so cracking a season's worth was a household chore rather than a quick job. The flavour is strong enough that cooks often paired it with dark brown sugar and molasses rather than delicate batters, and recipes like this one, built on shortening and a generous slug of vanilla, are consistent with mid-twentieth-century American home baking.