I have a folio filled with recipes from my Grandmother. I also have my own folder of recipes from over the years. When I don’t have a recipe on hand, however, my first stop is always AllRecipes.com. I started using the site years and years ago, before user reviews were the “it” thing, and especially liked the feedback that was left from other bakers/cooks. A recipe can be great, but sometimes it’s nice to know if it sometimes fails, or if there is too much nutmeg for people’s tastes, or if the cooking time was too much and should be checked on often. I’ve always thought cooking and baking is better when it’s collaborative. (I was recently invited to an AllRecipes.com PR event where they showed us some new tools, but more on that at another time.)
When my coworker asked for White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies, I definitely for a moment thought about opening up a package of my favorite Pepperidge Farm Tahoe cookies for fear that I would never be able to bake something that could taste as good as those. But I like a challenge. I sorted through a number of recipes and decided on the one that had both white and brown sugar. I also thought about what I liked most about the Pepperidge Farm cookies and, immediately, salt came to mind. Macadamia nuts almost always come salty, so I had to think about whether I should add more salt or hope that the salt on the nuts was enough. AllRecipes to the rescue! I read a few reviews that mentioned that it was too salty, so I decided adding more would NOT be a good idea.
But what is a good idea? How about taking pictures while trying to pour flour. What you can see in this next shot is the camera being totally poofed with flour. Oh well!
I chopped up some delicious macadamia nuts while sampling some… for quality control purposes only, of course. (PS- Why are macadamia nuts SO DAMN GOOD?)
Then the nuts and white chocolate went into the batter. Quality control came out again, and turns out this batter with the nuts and white chocolate chips was just about perfection.
Spooned onto the trusty Silpat. (If you do not have a Silpat, you are missing out. I use it for everything from cookies to roasting vegetables to toasting bread)
Then onto the trusty 3-tier cookie rack they went. They looked a bit under-baked (recipe said golden brown), but I had already left them in the oven for 5 minutes longer than the time, so I took them out and tried one. Quality Control says “A+!”
These were perfectly fluffy with a slight crisp on the outside, and the saltiness of the nuts was great in collaboration with the white chocolate chips.
I <3 you AllRecipes.com.
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RECIPE BOX
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White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies III
(thank you AllRecipes.com)
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
- 1 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.
