Persian Walnut Cookies Recipe (Noon-e Gerdooi)

There’s a certain kind of cookie, Persian walnut cookies (نان گردو, noon-e gerdooi), that I’ve only had at Persian stores here and there. They’re very private with the recipe. I can only rarely find the cookies, so I’ve had to figure out my own!

These cookies are crisp on the outside but have a chewy texture. They also have cracks in them. They’re sometimes known as “sugar cookies” or “crinkle cookies”, so I’ve adapted recipes along those lines.

If you want to try another one of my recipes of sweets from famous places, try my recipe for Tartine’s chocolate soufflé cake!

Ingredients / Prep

There are a couple of options below in case you want to make lighter cookies or

• 300 g (~2 1/2 cups) plain flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cardamom
• 225 g brown sugar
  • Optional for lighter cookies: 100 g brown and 100g light
• 1/2 cup white sugar (for coating)
• 100 g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
  • Optional: 1 tablespoon rose water
• 2 large eggs
• 150 g walnuts, finely ground. You can use a food processor (and you should if you have one!) — but stop before it becomes a paste.
  • You can also use other nuts, like almonds or pecans.

Method

Note — it’s important to refrigerate the dough after you prepare it. This lets you make firmer balls and thicker cookies and is mandatory for a crinkle cookie. Thus, start this recipe at least four hours before you want them cooked.

Phase 1 — Mixture prep

1. Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt) in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Beat brown sugar, butter, and vanilla until creamy (a few minutes with an electric beater). Add eggs, one at a time, mixing each egg in well.
3. Beat in a third of the flour mixture (if you’re using an electric mixer, put it on slow speed). Add the remaining flour a third at a time until the batter is combined.
4. Fold in the chopped walnuts. Then cover the mixing bowl
5. Refrigerate the dough for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

Phase 2 — Baking

You will have refrigerated the mixture for four hours or more by this point.

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
3. Use a tablespoon to scoop out even amounts of dough. Roll each into a ball, then roll them in sugar.
4. Place the balls onto the baking paper with room between them as the cookies will spread while baking.
5. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until cookies have begun to crack and spread. Eight minutes makes a softer cookie, and 12 minutes makes a crispier one. (Note: with some ovens, eight minutes might make for an undercooked cookie. Nine to ten is a safe medium hedge.)
6. Remove from the oven and cool directly on the baking sheet. When they’re cool enough, transfer them to a wire cooling rack.

Other notes

Firstly, are these Persian? Well, it’s hard to say. The short answer is that they’re probably not, but they’re what I found in Persian stores in Australia. So, if you’re Iranian/Persian and disagree that they’re Persian — I’ll believe you. But there’s definitely a version like this that is being marketed as Persian, and that’s what I’m presenting.

I’m sure in Iran you can find these sold, too. Tehran is a modern city and you can get all kinds of treats there, I hear! (I’ve never lived in Iran.)

In Iran, there definitely is a kind of sweet treat called the noon-e gerdooi (نان گردو). They’re a walnut-heavy cookie that’s sweet.

But looking online, the recipes for them differ significantly. Some of them have no flour. Some have spices, and some do not. In the past, I made a different, flour-free kind. It was good, but not what I was looking for.

The above is a replica of things I’ve found in stores. At very least, it’s delicious.