Rustic Walnut Tart with Bourbon Whipped Cream
As silly as this sounds, until I saw my Rack of Lamb menu from the ATK Menu Cookbook, I never thought of making any sort of a nut pie/tart other than pecan. It was a definite A-HA! moment for me when I saw this recipe for the Rustic Walnut Tart with Bourbon Whipped Cream. I’m so glad ATK has this recipe in the cookbook.
The tart dough is subtly sweet and crispy. The walnuts provide a great texture since they’re a softer nut. And the bourbon whipped cream? I was eating that stuff with a spoon. This would make another great addition to your Easter menu.
One Year Ago: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes and Pina Colada Cupcakes
Two Years Ago: Lemon Cilantro Potato Salad
Three Years Ago: Black Bean and Butternut Squash Quesadillas and Cinnamon Biscuits
Four Years Ago: Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake
Rustic Walnut Tart with Bourbon Whipped Cream
Ingredients (serves 8)
For the Crust
- 1 cup (5 ounces) fl our
- 1/3 cup packed (2⅓ ounces) brown sugar
- 1/4 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped coarse
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into ½ -inch pieces and chilled
For the Filling
- 1/2 cup packed (3½ ounces) brown sugar
- 1/3 cup light corn syrup
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 Tbsp bourbon or dark rum
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1 3/4 cups walnuts (7 ounces), chopped coarse
For the Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy cream, chilled
- 1/4 cup bourbon or dark rum (optional)
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- Pinch salt
Instructions
For the Crust
Grease 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Process flour, sugar, walnuts, salt, and baking powder in food processor until combined, about 5 pulses. Sprinkle butter over top and pulse
until mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal, about 8 pulses.
Sprinkle mixture into prepared pan. Press crumbs firmly into an even layer over pan bottom and up sides using bottom of dry measuring cup. Set tart pan on large plate, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 week.
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Set tart pan on baking sheet. Press double layer aluminum foil into frozen tart shell and over edges of pan and fill with pie weights. Bake until tart shell is golden brown and set, about 30 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Let tart shell cool slightly while making filling.
For the filling
Whisk sugar, corn syrup, butter, bourbon, vanilla, and salt in large bowl until sugar dissolves. Whisk in egg until combined. Pour filling evenly into tart shell and sprinkle with walnuts. Bake until filling is set and walnuts begin to brown, 30 to 40 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Let tart cool completely, about 2 hours. (Tart can be
refrigerated for up 2 days; bring to room temperature before serving.)
For the whipped cream
Using stand mixer fitted with whisk, whip cream, bourbon, if using, sugar, vanilla, and salt
on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to high and whip until soft peaks form, 1 to 3 minutes. (Whipped cream can be refrigerated for up to 8 hours; rewhisk briefly before serving.)
To serve, remove outer ring from tart pan, slide thin metal spatula between tart and tart pan bottom, and carefully slide tart onto serving platter or cutting board. Slice tart into pieces and serve with whipped cream.
Recipe from America’s Test Kitchen
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
CRAVING Lofthouse now! Haha. Well, now I know how to make my own 😉 Thanks, this will definitely be one I try out soon!
beantownbaker — July 3rd, 2013 @ 5:06 pm
Sorry about that. These are seriously so good. My frosting was a bit runnier than the Lofthouse frosting, so be careful when you’re adding the milk so the same thing doesn’t happen to you!
Could I halve the recipe?
beantownbaker — July 3rd, 2013 @ 5:07 pm
I don’t see why you couldn’t. Halving an egg can be difficult sometimes though…
Ohhh nononono. This is a problem. This type of cookie is one of my all-time biggest weaknesses. Apparently this recipe needs to happen immediately.
beantownbaker — July 3rd, 2013 @ 5:07 pm
It definitely does. Trust me, they’re so good!
Just made these. I cannot say thank you enough. The Loft cookies have always been a weakness of mine and I honestly think these came out better than them. Now to figure out how to make the Key Lime frosting my friend wants hers frosted with.
beantownbaker — July 7th, 2013 @ 11:54 am
OOhhh key lime frosting is a great idea. I’m sure you could find key lime extract online? I want to try to make these with lemon flavoring next.
I made some today and it has turned out great. I halved the recipe and used two eggs! Thank you so much for such an easy and yummy recipe!
beantownbaker — July 30th, 2013 @ 5:49 pm
So glad it worked out for you to cut the recipe in half! Glad you enjoyed them.
These sound delicious. I have 2 questions as I would like to make for a bday party. Does regular food coloring work or does it need to be a special kind? Will they hold up well if made 2-3 days in advance?
beantownbaker — September 25th, 2013 @ 4:17 pm
Since I didn’t use any, I’m not sure. I tend to prefer the gel food coloring instead of the liquid kind just because it’s more concentrated.
They do stay fresh for a couple days in an air-tight container.
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Do you think the dough is the right consistency to roll out for cookie cutters?
beantownbaker — November 24th, 2013 @ 6:04 pm
It probably could be rolled out. I don’t think it would hold shapes very well though. But you could roll it out and make round cookies without any issues.
Thanks for the recipe – these turned out great! So simple and yummy. I’m taking some to a cookie exchange tonight. 🙂 Cheers!
beantownbaker — December 9th, 2013 @ 5:47 pm
I’m sure they’ll be a hit at your cookie exchange! I love how soft they are.
Hey there! How would these be afterthought a batch in the freezer?
beantownbaker — December 17th, 2013 @ 10:53 am
I haven’t tried freezing them. I think you could probably freeze the dough, or even the baked (but unfrosted) cookies. I wouldn’t freeze them after frosting them though.
Can I leave the dough in the fridge over night?
beantownbaker — December 17th, 2013 @ 10:57 am
I think the dough would be fine sitting in the fridge overnight.
My mixer doesn’t have a paddle attachment. Is it necessary?
beantownbaker — December 18th, 2013 @ 1:02 pm
Use whichever attachment you usually use. I assume you have something that isn’t a dough hook?
Do you think the cookies taste better the next day……taste like bread. They look pretty though.
beantownbaker — December 26th, 2013 @ 11:28 am
The cookies themselves are not very sweet. The combination of the cookies and the frosting is what makes these so great. Hope you enjoyed them.
these cookies are awesome…for the first couple of days…then not so much….they become very dry and kind of bland on the cookie end….great for bake and eat affairs,….they do not store well beyond day 2
beantownbaker — January 10th, 2014 @ 10:44 am
Thanks for the feedback, I’ll update the recipe to reflect this. They never last that long in our house…
My dough came out VERY thick. Is that normal?
Ah, please disregard my last comment. The cookies came out fine!
beantownbaker — February 3rd, 2014 @ 4:55 pm
Glad they worked out. I was sitting here thinking for a few minutes if that dough was thick or not…
When I tried my dough it was kind of salty is this okay?
beantownbaker — March 9th, 2014 @ 10:18 am
It shouldn’t be overly salty… Did you use table salt or kosher salt?
Does the taste get better when you let them cool?
I am not very impressed. I made these for my friends but they crumpled EVERYWHERE every time I I would touch one it would fall apart! How am I supposed to ice? The batter is good but I’m really mad that they crumpled and I even doubled and made around 60. I ended up tossing all of them because you couldn’t eat them unless you used a spoon :/ not the
best recipie..,,
These are the best cookies I’ve ever made. I still can’t even believe they came out of my kitchen (she said, her words muffled by cookie…)
I wanted mint chocolate cookies, so I switched it up a bit by substituting 1/2 cup of the flour with cocoa, and 2 tsp of the vanilla with mint extract, and used 1/2 vanilla 1/2 mint for the frosting.
They’re soft and cakey and melting in my damn mouth. I’ll be making these again for sure!!
beantownbaker — April 16th, 2014 @ 5:58 pm
Wow – that sounds great with those substitutions. I’m going to have to try that out.
Since I was eight my parents would leave me home alone and they would come home to a batch of cookies, cupcakes, pies, and turnovers. I am eleven now and i still love baking and want to be a baker when I grow up. These are my favorite cookies in the world ,but i didn’t know the name of them so i couldn’t cook it. I finally learned the name last week and i have been searching all over the internet for a good recipe and I think the best one i saw is your. I am going to make the tomorrow ,because my parents are going out and i work best when my parents are gone. I think my parents an my two younger and one older brother are going to LOVE this. Thank you for the recipe i hope it works.
beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 6:59 pm
Hope these cookies worked well for you. We love this recipe!
How many serving does this make?
beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:31 pm
About a dozen cookies.
How would you make these into Pumpkin cookies? I made these a few times and loved them and would like to make a pumpkin version. I made a different recipe last night that were pumpkin lofthouse style and was a little dissapointed because I was hoping they would have been more like these cookies. Any insight would be great. I love Fall!!!
I just made these and for some reason the cookies didn’t bake well…this made about 15 cookies (a batch of 9 and a batch of 6). I put the batch of 9 in the oven for 10 minutes, they weren’t cooked all the way through, so I put them on for 2 more minutes, still weren’t cooked completely, so I put them on for 5 more minutes and I’m still not convinced they’re completely cooked…they’re extremely doughy…Any idea what I could have done wrong?
family are big chocolate lovers so I made these and then I made my homemade chocolate frosting to top IG . They turned out great ! I think these are better than Lofthouse thanks so much for the recipe !
I eat the Walmart frosted sugar cookies about 1 a day. Are these cookies the same as Walmart’s? I would love to make them at home.