White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

So, somehow I ended up on the planning committee for the women's retreat at my church.  Another chronic non-participator on the committee thinks we were invited to be on the committee just to get us to go.  I think I might agree.  That's not really the point of this post, but it's noteworthy.  I'm in charge of food, so I decided to make some cookie dough balls to bake at the retreat, for our lunch dessert.  This was a good opportunity to try a cookie I don't normally make: white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. 

I  don't often think about these cookies, but whenever I eat a high quality one, I think to myself, "Mmmm...why don't I make these more often?"  The problem is the availability of reasonably-priced REAL white chocolate.  Don't even suggest I use those "white baking morsels."  They end up scorched and hard in cookies.  Uh-uh.  I refuse.  So, when I had $150 gift card to the King Arthur Flour website, I decided to go ahead and spend $9.95 of my money on a pound of Barry Callebaut white chocolate chunks.  

Next, I found a recipe at my favorite recipe site, allrecipes.com.  I read the reviews and followed some of the reviewers' suggestions, and came up with the recipe below.  The white chocolate chunks are FANtastic, and the cookies are perfect.  I think I'll be making these cookie again (especially since I have some of those expensive chunks left).

Oh, and a special note about macadamia nuts: be sure to taste one before adding them to your cookie dough.  There's nothing worse than wasting expensive white chocolate by baking it into cookies with rancid nuts.  Ugh.  Believe me, I've done it.  Taste the nuts first.  Actually, that's probably a good rule to follow with all nuts.  Once you know they're good, seal up the leftovers and freeze them.  That's your best bet.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

    --adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup Crisco vegetable shortening
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
• 1 1/2 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, Crisco, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla extract. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture just until combined. Stir in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto parchment-lined cookie sheets. (*As usual, I refrigerate my dough and scoop into balls that I place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and freeze.  Once dough is frozen, I place the balls in a gallon sized zip top bag.)
3. Bake for 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until puffed and golden brown on edges.  Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.