Macadamia Nut Butter Cookies

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Macadamia Nut Butter Cookies…a soft, slightly chewy cookie that would be perfect for your holiday dessert table or Christmas cookie exchange. Dip them in white chocolate if you want to dress them up a little!

 

Today I’m participating in the Virtual Cookie Exchange version of Freaky Friday, a recipe swap among bloggers, organized by Michaela from An Affair from the Heart. We each make a recipe from another’s blog…it’s a fun way to find new recipes to try, and maybe try out a different cooking style.

I was assigned Christie from A Kitchen Hoor.  When I found out I had her, I was a happy — and nervous. Christie is actually a good food blog buddy, who I talk to online just about every week. I’ve been running a food and DIY party with her for over a year. She loves to cook and the kitchen is the place where she gets to relax.

Now for the nervous part. Like me, Christie doesn’t have a ton of cookies on her blog. However, what she does have is several recipes for macarons, which I love to eat, but I find extremely daunting to even think about making! If baking is your thing, definitely check out Christie’s Apple Cheesecake Macarons, or her Pistachio and Salted Caramel Macarons! They look AMAZING! However, I was not going to attempt either of those, as baking is not my “thing.” If I’m baking, the recipe needs to be simple. Fortunately I was able to find a cookie recipe I felt comfortable making.

I made Christie’s Macadamia Nut Butter Crisps. However, mine did not turn out looking quite like Christie’s, hence the name change. Maybe it was because I didn’t follow the instructions completely? But I don’t feel like I can call mine “Crisps”, because they are definitely not crispy cookies.

They’re quite good though…not terribly sweet, which is actually how my family tends to like cookies. They’d be lovely with a cup of tea actually. I did try out dipping some of them in white chocolate, because macadamia nuts go so well with white chocolate. Those were wonderful that way too, and if you have a bit more of a sweet tooth, that might be the way to go.

My first change to her recipe was using a cup of macadamia nuts instead of a cup and a half. This was due to picking up only one package of macadamia nuts at the grocery store and finding out at almost 10 pm when I was making the the cookies (and this was 2 days ago…just call me last minute Lucy) that there was only a cup of macadamia nuts in the bag. There was no way I was going back out to the grocery store at that hour. But rest assured, there is plenty of delicious macadamia nut taste in the cookies though…I did not feel like that impacted the cookie adversely in any way.

The second change was using a paddle attachment to beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture. I don’t have a paddle attachment. This is why you should read instructions ahead of time when participating in a blog swap and perhaps choose your recipe accordingly. And it’s also why I don’t bake very often. I like cooking because you can make changes partway through a recipe. A little of this, a little of that. You can’t do that with baking.

My last change to her recipe was dipping them in white chocolate!

I’m going to share with you the Macadamia Nut Butter cookies recipe as I made them. They were good. They just didn’t turn out crispy, and they were more rounded than flat. If you’re looking for a nice crispy cookie, try following Christie’s instructions rather than mine. But I do think you’ll be happy with these as well!

MACADAMIA NUT BUTTER COOKIES

Combine the sugars with the butter in mixing bowl. Using a stand mixer and the whisk attachment, beat until creamy.

Add the eggs in, beating after each addition.

Combine the flour, cinnamon and salt in a small mixture bowl. Add the flour mixture to butter, and mix slowly until fully incorporated. (This is where you would normally use the paddle attachment, but I don’t have one, so I just mixed this part with a spoon.)

Pour the chopped macadamia nuts in the bowl and stir well.

Refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 4 hours or overnight. (I went with overnight, since I started my cookies at a ridiculous hour. Another “reading directions fail” for me…I had planned on making the cookies the same night I started them.)

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Roll cookies into 1″ balls and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes before you move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

If you want to dip your cookies in white chocolate, melt 2 cups of white chocolate chips slowly in the microwave for a 30 seconds to a minute at a time, stirring frequently. Dip half the cookie in the melted white chocolate and refrigerate until the chocolate hardens.

I did this with about half the batch. They were delicious, and added just a touch of sweetness for those that have a little more of a sweet tooth. I’d have a hard time choosing which way I liked these Macadamia Nut Butter cookies better…they were yummy both ways!

Time for some milk and cookies!

 

I hope you enjoy these Macadamia Nut Butter Cookies that I am sharing with you today, as well as the other cookie recipes from Freaky Friday!