Maple Nut Drops

Five ingredients and no traditional cookie dough in sight. These maple cookies are built on maple syrup cooked with sweetened condensed milk until thick, then mixed with graham cracker crumbs, vanilla, and chopped nuts. The result is a chewy, caramel-like drop cookie with intense maple flavor.

The stovetop step is critical. Cook the maple syrup and condensed milk together for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. The mixture thickens and darkens slightly as the sugars concentrate. Watch it carefully. Scorched condensed milk is bitter and there’s no fixing it. Cool slightly before stirring in the crumbs, vanilla, and nuts.

These cookies are all about timing. Exactly 15 minutes in the oven gives you a soft, chewy cookie that firms up as it cools. Go past that and they turn rock-hard. If you do overbake, store them in a sealed jar. They absorb moisture from the air and soften back up overnight.

Kitchen Tips

• Use sweetened condensed milk, not evaporated milk. The recipe is clear about this: the results are completely different.
• Remove cookies from the pan immediately after baking. They stick fast if they cool on the sheet.
• Drop by teaspoon for small cookies. These spread slightly and are very sweet, so smaller is better.
• Any nut works: pecans, walnuts, or almonds all pair well with maple.

Variations

• Maple pecan: Use all pecans and add a pinch of sea salt on top before baking for a sweet-salty contrast.
• Chocolate dipped: Dip cooled cookies halfway into melted chocolate for a maple-chocolate combination.
• Spiced: Add ¼ teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg to the crumb mixture for a fall-spiced version.