How often do you end up with leftover egg yolks when cooking and baking? Unfortunately, too often. And then you stand there, have a lot of yolks leftover, and wonder: "What to do with leftover egg yolk?"
It would be a shame to have to throw them away! That's why I want to give you a great idea of what to do with leftover egg yolk and how to bake delicious Christmas cookies from egg yolks!
Since I've used up 6 egg whites for the grannies egg white cookies (Kokosbusserl), I have 6 egg yolks leftover. Now I thought I'd write a little post about some fabulous walnut cookies that will use up those 6 extra yolks!
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🥘 Ingredients
- 6 Egg yolks
- 4.23 oz (120 g) Powdered sugar
- 3 teaspoon Vanilla sugar
- 1.5 tablespoon Rum
- 1.5 Pinches of salt
- 10.58 oz (300 g) Ground walnuts (replaceable with ground almonds or hazelnuts)
- OPTIONAL: baking wafers (Just like with the grannies coconut kisses cookies, I left out the baking wafers. Simply a matter of taste.) 🙂
The nice thing about these cookies is that they don't require cream, butter, wheat, or milk as an ingredient, which is excellent for many people who have food allergies!
🍽 Equipment
- Handheld electric mixer
- Wooden spoon
- Mixing bowl
- Pastry bag
- 2 Baking paper sheets
- 2 Baking trays
🔪 Instructions
Before you start the preparation, preheat the oven to 302 °F / 150 °C (top/bottom heat). Combine the leftover egg yolks with powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla sugar and beat them using a hand mixer until foamy.
In the next step, fold in the rum and the grated walnuts (almonds or hazelnuts) with a wooden spoon into the foamy mixture.
Now fill the mixture into a pastry (piping) bag and create tiny mounds onto the baking tray lined with baking paper.
If you have opted for the variant with baking wafers, pipe the mass directly onto the wafers. Fancy decorating your cookies? Add a walnut (almond or hazelnut) on top as a decoration. Once a baking sheet is full, bake the cookies on the second rack from the bottom for about 20 minutes. In total, you get about 40 delicious walnut cookies out of the mass.
Let the cookies 🍪 rest and cool after baking. After that, you can store them in an airtight container in a cool and dry place. Serve these delicious gluten-free egg yolk cookies together with the previously prepared coconut kisses cookies with coffee or tea. Enjoy them with good music and pleasant company!
You might also like the following cookie recipes: Almond Slivers, Linzer Cookies, and Advocaat Bites.
More great recipes to use up leftover egg yolk: homemade advocaat egg liqueur and Linzer Cookies with Egg Liqueur Ganache.
🙋🏻 FAQ
Vanilla sugar is made from sugar and vanilla pods or sugar mixed with vanilla extract. It is widely used in Austrian kitchens.
As a substitute, you can use vanilla syrup, vanilla paste, sugar beet syrup, but also ground Tonka beans. Hope that gives you some alternatives!
Yes, you can freeze egg yolks (ideally in ice cube trays).
If you have six egg whites leftover, have a look at our coconut kisses cookie recipe!
For example: Cream of Tartar, Homemade Egg Liqueur, Vanilla ice cream, Rich Hollandaise Sauce, Linzer Cookies with Egg Liqueur, Egg Yolk Cookies (for eight leftover egg yolk), Sour Cream Cookies, ...
🪄 To the conclusion
I have to say, this is one of my favorite egg yolk cookie recipe for zero waste baking. I hate tossing food away, and so I'll always look for options to create something delicious out of leftover ingredients. If you're looking for a recipe that repurposes six egg whites, head over to the coconut kisses cookies recipe!
📖 Recipe
Walnut Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 Egg yolks
- 1 ¼ cups Powdered sugar
- 3 teaspoon Vanilla sugar
- 1.5 teaspoon Rum
- 1.5 Pinches Salt
- 10.58 oz Ground walnuts Replaceable with ground almonds or hazelnuts
Optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 302 °F / 150 °C (top/bottom heat).
- Beat the leftover egg yolks with the powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla sugar using a hand mixer until foamy.6 Egg yolks, 1 ¼ cups Powdered sugar, 3 teaspoon Vanilla sugar, 1.5 Pinches Salt
- Fold in the rum and the grated walnuts (almonds or hazelnuts) into the foamy mixture.1.5 teaspoon Rum, 10.58 oz Ground walnuts
- Fill the mixture into a pastry (piping) bag and create tiny mounds onto the baking tray lined with baking paper.
- Once a baking sheet is full, bake the cookies on the second rack from the bottom for about 20 minutes.
Optional
- If you have opted for the variant with baking wafers, pipe the mass directly onto the wafers.Baking wafers
For decoration
- Add a walnut (almond or hazelnut) on top before baking.
Please note that all my recipes are developed and tested in metric grams. I recommend using digital scales for more accurate results. I provided a conversion to US customary in the recipe, but please note that I haven't tested it using this method.
Nutrition values are estimates only, using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
⛑️ Food Safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
Kristen
Sorry but what is vanilla sugar? Or more importantly, what can you sub for it? Vanilla extract and sugar maybe?
Nora
Thank you for the great question, Kristen! Vanilla sugar is made from sugar and vanilla pods or sugar mixed with vanilla extract. It is widely used in Austrian kitchens. As a substitute, you can use vanilla syrup, vanilla paste, sugar beet syrup, but also ground Tonka beans. Hope that gives you some alternatives!
debi
what measurement is 1.5 packs of vanilla (confectioner's sugar?) in US?
TIA
Nora
Hi Debi! It is 3 US teaspoons. Happy baking!