Chinese Walnut Cookies

Roast all the walnuts in the preheated fan-forced oven at 160C or 320F for 10 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Add 250g (8.8oz) roasted walnuts into a food processor and ground into meal. Set aside in a bowl.

Then add 100g (3.5oz) roasted walnuts into the food processor and coarsely ground for around 6 seconds. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk all the rest of the dry ingredients together and add in all the ground walnuts from steps 2 & 3. Mix and combine well with a spatula.

Then add the vegan butter and maple syrup to the dry ingredients and rub the wet ingredients into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.

Use your hands to knead the dough until you get a smooth dough.

Preheat fan-forced oven to 160C or 320F. Position the oven rack in the lower third of your oven.

Roll the dough into small balls (30g/1.1oz each), repeat until you have used up all the dough.

Flatten each ball into a 1 ½ inch round patty and smooth the edges with your fingers.

Place each cookie dough 1 inch apart, onto baking trays lined with baking paper.

Press halved walnut gently onto the center of each cookie dough.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the cookies are lightly golden brown.

Allow the cookies to cool on the baking trays for 5 to 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Once the cookies are completely cooled, store in an air-tight container.