Walnut Squares (Carrés aux Noix) is the perfect Christmas dessert, and today I want to share with you my mother’s own recipe of this delicious Christmas treat. Why is it called Carrés aux Noix? Well because this is a French dessert Christmas time recipe.
Why is it called Carrés aux Noix? Well because this is a French dessert Christmas time recipe.
My Walnut Squares (Carrés aux Noix) recipe is easy to make with a 15-minute preparation and 20 minute baking time depending on your oven. To be safe always watch your walnut squares as they bake very often.
This pastry is not only delicious the same day you bake it, but sometimes even better the next day as long as you store the squares in a plastic container so they don’t get dry. You can keep them fresh 3 to 4 days easily if you store them this way.
So, without further ado, here is the recipe for those delicious walnut squares.
Ingredients for the Walnut Squares (Carrés aux Noix)
- 150 g of walnuts
- 125 g of flour
- 125 g of sugar
- 125 g of butter
- 4 eggs
- One coffee spoon of natural vanilla extract
- The juice of a lemon
- Two table spoons of rum
- A small jar of apricot jam
The Preparation of Walnut Squares (Carrés Aux Noix)
Leave the butter at room temperature for about an hour before you start to make sure it’s very soft, or overnight at room temperature.
Save a dozen half walnut pieces for decoration.
Preheat your oven at around 300 degrees (medium heat).
Mix the walnuts into a rough powder in a food processor. Remove the walnut powder from the processor. Leave just a bit of the walnut power at the bottom of your processor ball and mix 3 to 4 tablespoons of apricot jam. Then save this mixture for the icing of your squares at the end.
Mix the butter, the whole eggs and the sugar with an electric mixer until you obtain a very pale yellow mixture.
Then add the walnuts, the vanilla extract, the lemon juice and the rum, and mix it all well with an electric mixer/whisk. Then add the flour little by little as you continue to whisk until you get a nice and smooth mixture.
Spread the mixture into a flat buttered mold 9 x 13 inches or even a bit smaller, and make sure you flatten and spread it flat and equally.
Bake for about 20 minutes. Do not over bake. Your cake should slightly be golden in color.
Take out of the oven and let the cake cool down for 20-30 minutes. Then spread the mix jam all over the cake with a flat spatula, and cut into squares (wipe your knife after each cut). Place half of a walnut in the middle of each square.
Serve when cold, but not refrigerated.
Enjoy!
Sylviane Nuccio
Walnuts are my least favorite nuts Sylviane but since you ground them to powder then that would probably work for me. I just wouldn’t garnish them myself. But I’m one of the few who don’t like them so I’m sure everyone else would appreciate that lovely nut on the top.
They sure do look good though! Wish you lived close to me. I’d be spoiled rotten.
Thanks for the recipe!
~Adrienne
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Yes, Adrienne, if I’d live near by I would cook and bake and share it with you 🙂
Walnut is my favorite nut, how funny, it’s your least favorite, but if you don’t like walnuts you can always replace it with another nut.
Any recipe with nuts can by replaced by another one. Doens’t matter, the tast of the pastry will just taste a bit different.
Those are so delicious. I love them!
Sylviane,
I feel like Pavlog’s dog. My mouth starts watering just at the site of the picture. This looks easy enough that even I could make these. I’ve been known to make a mean grilled cheese.
Ken
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Hi Ken,
Yes, right? That’s what picture of food are for. This recipe is very easy, indeed, I’m sure you can make it. You should tell us how you make your mean grilled cheese !
Sylviane. I loooooove cake with walnuts and I love to bake. Thank you for this holiday treat. I’ll let you know how they come out! 🙂
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Hi Barbara,
I’m glad you like this. If you like walnuts as much as I do, then you should love those!
Hi Sylviane
These sound gorgeous. I love walnuts so I am sure I would love these. Given I do not like to bake though I am not going to try them 🙂 I too wished I lived close to you.
You sure are a woman of many talents.
Sue
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Hi Sue,
You mean I could even make a non-baker bake? Wow, that blog would have a purpose after all!
If you did try them, let me know how it went!
Walnuts? Yes please! Pastry? Yes please! These look very yummy and like I could pop about a hundred in my mouth if someone left them on a plate in front of me. You’re growing my recipe box, Sylvaine, every time I come here I need to run another mile on the treadmill!
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No, Carol, with moderation you’d be fine 🙂
With all my cooking I am the same size as when I was 16. And that’s the truth! Well, I never had kids so that helps, but I do eat all that I make. What would make me run faster on the treadmill is if I drank sodas and eat pizzas everyday, but those are not on my menu 🙂
Hope you’ll enjoy those walnut squares is you try them!
Pastry and that too a walnut pastry!!!…. wow!!.. I love walnut cake, so a walnut pastry is indeed what I would love. The pictures are so tempting. I would prepare this pastry for the Christmas eve. Thanks for sharing the recipe, seems quite easy to prepare.