A while ago Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook and I had a conversation on Twitter where she shared her idea of hosting a Virtual Cookie Exchange. Ofcourse I was immediately smitten with the idea: I love baking cookies and seeing all the other cookies would probably give me even more ideas and inspiration for my Christmas Cookie Goodie Bags that I'm giving out at work this year!
Within no time at all Di had a list of names of other Tweeps whom we thought would love to join and the Virtual Cookie Exchange was born! One of Nancy's very talented daughters designed the wonderful badge pictured above for all of us to use in our posts. Di will post a roundup of all the cookies later this week, so be sure to keep an eye on her blog!!
I had a lot of trouble deciding the one cookie I wanted to share with you, there are so many good ones!!! Finally I chose this one because it was voted as the most popular cookie of last years 12 Days of Christmas Cookies, both by my family and coworkers. Since then I've made it several times: the White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Cookie!! These cookies are also a bit versatile: if you like a chewy cookie bake them for 12 minutes, but if you prefer a more crunchy cookie bake them for 15 minutes!
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
(adapted from My Tasty Treasures)
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped macadamia nuts
2 cups white chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
Beat together the melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg, egg yolk and vanilla in a bowl with an electrical mixer until creamy.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture until just mixed.
Stir in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips by hand.
Drop by the spoonful onto a greased or lined baking sheet.
Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until edges look golden brown (I baked mine for 12 minutes).
Cool on the cookie sheet for at least 4-5 minutes so the cookies can set.
Remove to rack to cool completely.
Enjoy!!!
