I toast the walnuts then chop them until they're fairly small. Go heavy on the lemon zest! A medium zuke usually yields 2C grated, so I double the recipe and make 36 mini muffins. 13 - 14 minutes is plenty of time to cook these and I fully rotate the trays (I have 6 muffin trays so put 2 on a quarter sheet pan) halfway through baking. I don't sugar the tops because I think there's enough sugar already between the sugar and the raisins.
KA suggests: If you don't have Apple Pie Spice, use 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon allspice in the filling. I don't think that's enough cinnamon in the ratio, but it's still tasty.
Roll into balls prior to refrigeration; vinyl gloves are a great help here since the dough is sticky. Can be kept in fridge in any container, covered, for up to 2 days prior to cooking so having the balls ready to go saves on space. Put the sheet pan with parchment in the fridge to chill while oven preheats.
Recipes
Journal
Shopping