WHITE CHOCOLATE MACADAMIA COOKIES

These are so good, especially when they're sampled warm from the oven. It's been a long time since I baked any of these, but I thought they'd be a good choice for Christmas giving.

I need to offer an explanation here: I baked these cookies but had a dickens of a time with the dough. Adding the hot melted butter/margarine caused my "dough" to look more like cake batter. It's been awhile since I made them, so I thought perhaps I'd misread the recipe. I hadn't. I contacted the author of the recipe, who sent a quick reply. She asked if I had let the butter COOL before adding it to the flour mixture. I had not. She assured me the recipe would turn out well if I cooled the butter first. That wasn't in the directions, but it is now.

WHITE CHOCOLATE MACADAMIA COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter - COOLED COMPLETELY
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups chopped macadamia nuts
2 cups white chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
3. Beat together the cooled butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the egg, then beat in the egg yolk, then beat in the vanilla.
4. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture until just moistened. Stir in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips by hand with a rubber spatula.
5. Roll into balls or drop by heaping tablespoons onto baking sheets, and press down on the cookies with your palm a bit to flatten (not too much).
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges look golden brown and the middles don’t look quite set. Allow to finish cooling on the baking sheet.