Month of Macro: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Every now and then, I take homemade baked goods to church on Sunday mornings to share with my friends. I've been doing this for years, and have cycled through lots of recipes, including tried-and-true home runs as well as experiments in seasonal ingredients.

Well wouldn't you know it- a couple of weeks ago, a friend admitted to me that even though I'd brought lots of yummy treats to share with the group over the years, I hadn't ever brought one of his favorites. I was shocked, and made sure to bring the elusive treat to church as soon as possible.

In case you haven't guessed from the pictures by now, he had been hoping to see White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies when he arrived at church for years. Unfortunately, since someone in my immediate family is extremely allergic to these tropical little nuts, I never think to use them! Add to that fact the sad reality that white chocolate isn't my thing, and my poor friend could have gone decades without ever trying his favorite cookie from my kitchen... I'm so glad he spoke up when he did!

Since I'd never made this type of cookie before, I was a little nervous about finding a good recipe. After a bit of internet research I stumbled upon one that looked tasty. Although it took me several days (and 5 different stores) to find the nuts, it was definitely worth it.

If you'd like to bake these cookies someday, here's the recipe:

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
(Recipe courtesy That Winsome Girl)

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Directions:
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat the melted butter and sugars together with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture until combined. Mix in the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts until incorporated. Working with 2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll the dough into even balls and lay them on the baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies until the edges are set and beginning to brown but the centers are still soft and puffy (which took about 14 minutes a pan in my oven). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

As you can probably imagine, my friend really enjoyed the cookies (as did lots of the other people who got to enjoy them). After a bit of cajoling, I even mustered the courage to try one myself... and it wasn't half bad! And if that's not a ringing endorsement for this lovely recipe, I don't know what is!

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!

Not quite QD... but still a great quality!

In my hometown there is a chain of convenience stores called Quality Dairy. In addition to selling their own brand of milk, ice cream, and all sorts of other necessities, they bake the most delicious chocolate chip cookies.

 

I've loved QD's cookies since I was a little girl- they're big, soft, and they melt in your mouth! (Not to mention that they only cost 29 cents a piece... what a deal!) Unfortunately, since I moved away from home over a decade ago, I don't get to enjoy these cookies nearly as often as I'd like. So the other day I came across a recipe online, and the photos looked just like the cookies I remember from home! So as soon as I could, I retreated to my kitchen to see if the cookies tasted as "QD-like" as they looked online!

I'll be perfectly honest- the cookies don't taste anything like QD... but that doesn't mean they weren't delicious!!!

Plus- look how nice they look all stacked up!

The ingredients were pretty basic (I'm really on a kick with that these days!).

I started by melting the butter...

Then I creamed it with two types of sugar...

Before adding the eggs and vanilla.

Meanwhile on a piece of wax paper I measured out some flour, salt and baking powder.

I then added it to the mixing bowl...

Before dumping in some mini-chocolate chips.

Once the dough was finished, I was ready to get it on the cookie tray.

The directions for this particular recipe said that I should measure out a half-cup of dough and role it into a ball.

Then I pulled the dough-ball in half and placed each half on the cookie sheet, with the un-smooth side facing up.

Since the dough-clumps were going to back into large cookies, I made sure to give them plenty of space on the sheet.

And after about 15 minutes in the oven, the cookies were finished.

Aren't they pretty? I love the way the un-smooth top of the dough baked into a crackly-domed cookie.

And the texture of the cookies was really nice too- very chewy and rich!

So while these weren't the QD cookies I was hoping for, they were still great!

If you'd like to try this recipe someday, here it is:

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker, originally from Baking Illustrated

Ingredients:
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted and cooled to warm
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1- 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (adjust to taste)

Directions:
Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl (or on a piece of waxed paper), and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars until thoroughly combined. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, mixing until well incorporated. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients, and beat only until just combined. Stir in the desired amount of chocolate chips. Measure 1/2 cup of the dough, and roll into a ball. Carefully split the ball of cookie dough in half with your fingers. Place the dough halves on the prepared baking sheets, with the torn edges facing up. Space the dough halves about 2 1/2 inches apart, to allow room for spreading during baking. Bake the cookies in the oven until they are light brown and the edges begin to become just crisp, about 15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet before removing.

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great weekend!

Fourth of July: Part I (the food)

My mom is super creative! (If you know her, you know exactly what I'm talking about!) She recently got into cookie decorating, and her creations are absolutely amazing. So before our family's Fourth of July get-together, she and I sat down to decorate some sugar cookies for the party.

I had so much fun "playing" with my mom! I live pretty far away from her, so we don't often have the opportunity to do creative things together.

So we had a grand ol' time "piping and flooding" to our hearts' content!

From patriotic stars...

To rockets and ice cream cones...

To hot dogs (didn't my mom do a great job on these?)...

We created a whole plate of thematic goodies!

Of course, we weren't the only ones who brought tasty treats to the party: my cousin and his girlfriend also brought some adorable desserts! From these Golden Eagles...

To a VW bug of fruit salad...

To Red, White and Blue chocolate covered strawberries... they were so creative!

Add to that the Red, White and Blue cupcakes-in-a-jar my mom baked...

An apple pie...

And berry buckle...

It was quite a dessert table!

As soon as we finished our lunch, we all enjoyed several helpings of the tasty treats- it was a great way to celebrate the holiday!

(I think BTV would agree!)

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to visit tomorrow- I'll have even more pictures to share from our July 4th party!

Amaretti

My dad loves the flavor of almond in baked goods. He also loves cookies. So for Father's Day, I wanted to bake him a treat that combined both of those things: almond and cookies. After a bit of internet searching, I thought he might really enjoy this version of Amaretti (a small Italian cookie)!

There are quite a few recipes for amaretti available, and this one is definitely not 'traditional'. But I thought the ingredients were interesting - plus, the recipe yielded a large number of cookies, which meant that my dad could enjoy these treats for quite a while.

The list of ingredients was surprisingly simple.

I started with the almond meal...

And added sugar...

Vanilla and egg whites.

After mixing until everything was combined...

I formed the dough into uniformed balls, placed them on a sheet, smashed an almond into the top, and baked them for about 12-15 minutes.

And after about 8 cookies-sheets of that process, I was finished.

I think the cookies are just adorable!

Don't you agree?

If you'd like to bake these tiny cookies someday, here's the recipe:

Amaretti
Recipe courtesy of Taste.com.au

Ingredients:
500g almond meal
400g caster sugar
4 egg whites
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
60+ whole blanched almonds

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Line baking trays with parchment paper. Place almond meal, sugar, egg whites and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon until well combined. Roll 2 teaspoonfuls of the mixture into balls. Place on the trays. Press a blanched almond into the top of half of the biscuits and bake for 12-15 minutes or until light golden. Set aside to cool slightly on the trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

And to top it all of, these cookies taste pretty delish, too!

Which is a good thing, because my dad has a whole bunch to eat!

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!