These Persian Walnut Cookies (naan-e gerdooi), are gluten free, and made with ground walnuts and icing sugar (powdered sugar). Deliciously dry on the outside and just bordering on the chewy inside.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Persian Cuisine is one of the oldest and greatest cuisines in the world, complete with a rich history and culture. When one thinks of Persian food though, it’s usually the Morasa Polow or Chelow that come to mind, but, in honour of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, I am going to share with you the first of two Persian cookies today.
Let’s learn how to make Naan-e Gerdooi or Persian Walnut Cookies, super easy and gluten free!
A big part of the Nowruz celebrations is the setting of the Haft-Seen table, a table bedecked with symbolic items representing spring, new beginnings, hope and a lot more. You can read more about the Haft-Seen Table as well as Nowruz celebrations on the Nowruz Page.
We’ve been celebrating Nowruz with our Persian friends here in the UK for a number of years now, which is a blessing as my side of the family tree lives nowhere near me!
Most of the traditional cookies I bake, I learnt as a child, in my granny’s kitchen, so an added advantage to celebrating with my Middle Eastern friends over the years has been the expansion of my Middle Eastern culinary knowledge bank and repertoire!
So, today’s recipe. Persian sweet biscuit/cookie type treats can be loosely classified into dry cookies (shirini khoshk) and moist cookies (shirini tar). Today’s cookies, naan-e gerdooi, belong firmly in the first camp, they’re made with ground walnuts and when baked, are dry on the outside and just bordering on the chewy inside.
This very quick and easy recipe was given to me by a friend of mine called Farah. In proportions used, I’ve followed her recipe to the letter; my contribution to it is the alternate flavourings used, which I’m happy to say is a hit at every Persian gathering we take them to.
Instead of the traditional vanilla, I sometimes also use a combination of crushed rose petals and cardamom seeds. The first time you make this, go with the vanila or divide the mix into two and flavour separately; I wouldn’t recommend going with all three flavourings, as that’s a bit of an overkill.
It’s a very wet dough and you can either form the shapes with two tablespoons or place the whole lot into piping bags and pipe them out like macarons.
Shall we get our aprons on?
Images by LinsFoodies
If you like the recipe, don’t forget to leave me a comment and that all important, 5-star rating! Thank you!
And if you make the recipe, share it on any platform and tag me @azlinbloor, and hashtag it #linsfood
Lin xx
Persian Walnut Cookies (Naan-e Gerdooi)
Ingredients
- 200 g (7 oz) walnuts
- 4 egg yolks
- 100 g (3.5 oz) icing sugar powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla paste/extract OR 1 tsp dried edible roses
- seeds of 3 cardamoms pounded/ground
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 150˚C/300˚F.
- Place the walnuts in a chopper and pulse to a coarse grind, like that of coarse semolina or polenta. Stop before the “sticky” oily stage. Set aside.
- Whisk the egg yolks and sugar until well mixed and pale and creamy.
- Add the vanilla and mix in. If using the rose petals and cardamom, add with walnuts.
- Add the walnuts, followed by rose petals and cardamom if using, and mix it all in with a wooden spoon.
- Either drop spoonfuls of the cookie mix onto a baking sheet or transfer the whole lot into a piping bag and pipe out little rounds.
- Place a small piece of walnut on each cookie and bake for 20 minutes until just lightly browned. Make sure you leave at least an inch between each cookie as they will spread.
Made this walnut cookies a few times already and everyone loved it. Very easy and delicious.
Thank you for the recipe ☺️
It’s my pleasure, Lisa. I’m so pleased to hear that you guys love the recipe.
How many tsp of ground cardamom are equivalent to 3 seeds?
Hi Noor, it’s about 1/8 of a teaspoon, give or take, depending on the size of the cardamoms. So use that amount. If you don’t have a tsp that small, just do an estimate, slightly more is not a problem, especially if you like cardamom.
Can you please tell me why mine keeps coming out flat and the smell of the egg yolk is so strong
Hi Nancy, sorry to hear that you’re not getting the recipe to work. I assume that you are using this one?
Are your ground almonds dry? In many countries (like France & Italy), shop bought ground nuts tend to be damp, and so the recipe ends up having too much moisture. You might need to grind your own if that’s the case.
I’m not sure why yours smell of egg yolks, it’s not a problem I’ve had.
Try using 2 small eggs, instead of 4 egg yolks. That should take care of the smell.
Ahhh looks oh so good! Now I know what to prepare this weekend for the fam <3 Thanks a lot!
I’ve never had Persian cuisine before, but these look great. I’m not much of a cook but I may have to give these a try.
I love walnuts, whether they are wrapped in chocolate or in a cookie. This recipe is for keeps. I’m making a batch and hope it would turn out to be as nice as yours. 🙂
Amazingly, I’m not a massive fan, but love them used this way.
Lovely I will try to make it
Great, let me know how it goes.
These look really good. I have never heard of them before but would love to make some for my family and try them!
Thanks Wendy!
I don’t think I’ve ever tried Persian food but these cookies look like a good place to start.
Persian food – one of the world’s oldest and grandest cuisines, you have to!
Yummy, I think I’ve found a new favorite cookie recipe! These look so delectable (I’ll take 20!) lol
Haha, thank you! x
That sounds so good! I love walnuts and it would be nice to have it in a cookie. I’ve never tried these before.
Thank you!
These cookies look delicious. I will definitely try this recipe…
Thank you!
I know walnut have a nutritional profile that is good for the heart and brain. It also has cancer-fighting properties that reduce the risk of this killer disease. A simple cookie snack with huge benefits.
Amazing!
I am aware of Nowruz but wasn’t aware of the cookies. These look delish. My son loves cookies, he might like the flavors there.
Now I want some cookies. I might just have to make these.
Mmmmm, these cookies sound SO good. I think my whole family would love these.