Chinese Walnut Cookies (Hup Toh Soh)

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5 from 96 votes

Chinese Walnut Cookies (Hup Toh Soh) feature a tender, crumbly texture enriched with a generous amount of toasted walnut meal mixed into a cake-flour dough. The cookies are glazed with beaten egg for a crisp, shiny finish and garnished with whole or halved walnuts. Their balanced sweetness and mild nutty flavor make them a traditional treat often enjoyed during festive occasions.

Prep Time

45 mins

Cook Time

24 mins

Servings: 74 cookies

Calories: 120 kcal

Course: Dessert, Appetizer, Snacks

Cuisine: Chinese

Ingredients

3 Cups walnuts 12.3oz or 350g + an additional 37-74 pieces for garnishing. If measuring whole walnuts, you will need about 3.5 Cups, as fewer whole walnuts can fit into a Cup compared to broken walnut pieces) processed into walnut meal and some larger pieces (about 25-35%, pieces

Ingredients A: Whisk together

3.5 C cake flour (15.30z or 435g) Substitute: all-purpose or self-raising (you can omit the baking soda and powder if using self-raising) You can also make cake flour from all-purpose flour.
2 C + 2½T icing sugar sifted. (9.5oz or 270g) Substitute: white caster sugar or granulated sugar. Use caster sugar if you can't be bothered to sift the icing sugar.
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 baking soda
1-1½ teaspoon salt optional. Omit if you want the sweetness of the cookie to be the spotlight

Wet Ingredients

1¼ C vegetable oil 9.5oz or 270g) Substitute: lard, margarine, shortening, neutral
2 egg beaten. Omit if vegan

Cookie design

3-4 egg for glazing. Please don't skip this as an unwashed cookie isn't as pretty. If you find it too thick, you can add 1-2t of water of oil, but I find the resulting glaze isn't as attractive. For a vegan cookie, use plant-based milk + maple syrup, yolk
37-74 walnuts for garnishing. If you break them into halves you will only need 37 instead of 74. You can use white or black sesame seeds instead

Instructions

Toasting the walnuts

Cup of Yum

Preheat oven for the cookies (350F/175C/155C fan)Note: this is the same temperature at which you bake the cookies
Spread the nuts in a single layer on a parchment paper or silpat lined baking tray and toast for 10-15 minutes, or till fragrant. At the 7 minute mark check the nuts, stir, and turn the tray around (as ovens have hot spots).
Allow to cool then process into walnut meal, using the food processor or blender. For more crunch in the cookies, leave 25-35% of the walnuts asbigger pieces. (You can blend for a shorter period of time, or separate out the nuts and crush these with a rolling pin or rough chop.)

Making the cookie dough

Ingredients A: Sift the dry ingredients and mix them together in a large bowl (1 of those stainless steel baking bowls is good)
Add the beaten egg to the dry ingredients and mix well. Note: we add wet to dry, as adding dry to wet ingredients usually leads to lots of flour flying around!
Slowly pour the oil into the above- you may need slightly less than the recipe stipulates as the walnuts have their own oil. Note: it's easier to work with a dough that has slightly more oil than a dough with slightly too little oil, as the latter won't hold together very well. We want crumbly cookies that can still hold their shape!

Shaping the cookies (2 choices)

Separate the dough into equal sized pieces. If you're exacting, you can weigh them so you know they're identical. What I usually do is roll the dough into a log, then cut it into bits that are approximately the same size, before rolling each bit into a ball.Alternative: use a 1.4 inch cookie scoop to scoop out the dough, then press the dough together, or roll them between your palms. (You can't leave them as is or the dough will be too loose.)
Shape A. If you want small circular cookies like Chinese peanut cookies, you can place these directly on the baking sheet, with at least 1 inch between them, so that they don't touch when they spread.
Shape B. If you want the traditional flat cookie (tastes better), place the piece of dough on the baking sheet, then use 2 fingers to press down firmly. Use the same 2 fingers to press down again, but this time perpendicular to the original imprint- so you're making a cross basically- to ensure the cookie is spread evenly. Repeat till all the dough is finished, leaving about 1 inch between each cookie. (These are already flat so spread less.)
Whichever shape you've chosen, glaze the cookie with the egg yolk wash (or vegan wash) then press ½ a walnut on each cookie OR sprinkle some sesame seeds in the centre. (You can also garnish then wash if you prefer, but the yolk will cover up some of the details on the nuts/ seeds.) Alternatively, leave them plain- decoration suggestions for plain cookies in the post above.
Bake 20-24 minutes or till fragrant and golden brown.
Leave to cool completely then store in air-tight containers for 1-2 weeks

Notes

To toast walnuts without an oven, dry-fry them in a pan over medium heat for smaller batches.
For a budget-friendly version, reduce walnuts to 250g walnut meal and increase all-purpose flour to 535g; allow dough to rest overnight before baking.
Using self-raising flour requires omitting baking soda and baking powder to avoid excess rising agents.

Nutrition Information

Calories 120kcal (6%) Carbohydrates 12g (4%) Protein 2g (4%) Fat 8g (12%) Saturated Fat 1g (5%) Polyunsaturated Fat 5g (29%) Monounsaturated Fat 1g (5%) Trans Fat 0.03g (2%) Cholesterol 12mg (4%) Sodium 65mg (3%) Potassium 34mg (1%) Fiber 1g (4%) Sugar 7g (14%) Vitamin A 18IU (0%) Vitamin C 0.1mg (0%) Calcium 15mg (2%) Iron 0.3mg (2%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 74 cookies

Amount Per Serving

Calories 120

% Daily Value*

Calories	120kcal	6%
Carbohydrates	12g	4%
Protein	2g	4%
Fat	8g	12%
Saturated Fat	1g	5%
Polyunsaturated Fat	5g	29%
Monounsaturated Fat	1g	5%
Trans Fat	0.03g	2%
Cholesterol	12mg	4%
Sodium	65mg	3%
Potassium	34mg	1%
Fiber	1g	4%
Sugar	7g	14%
Vitamin A	18IU	0%
Vitamin C	0.1mg	0%
Calcium	15mg	2%
Iron	0.3mg	2%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.