White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

I know most of you are in the middle of the warmest part of your summer.  But, summer in Fairbanks is winding down.  One of our neighbors even had the nerve to mention some yellow leaves they saw on the ground.

Our tomatoes are beginning to produce lots of red beauties, the broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage are all ready to harvest (always all at the same time), the farmer's market is full of produce, and we start to put our yard away for the winter.

Huge broccoli ready to be harvested.

We begin by cutting back the plants that have flowered out, the irises, the lilies, the delphinium, the yard starts to look a little bare.  We save the hanging baskets until the very end, but sometimes it is hard to tell when to pull the plants.  We can get a hard frost in August or we can wait until mid to late
 September with just a few nights where you cover your plants.  The last few years have been on the warmer fall side, I'm not complaining.

The lilies after they were cut. Click here to see them in full bloom.

Dave worked hard this weekend, getting caught up from us being in the real world, and the beginning of putting away the yard.  He really doesn't have a sweet tooth, but this is one cookie he loves.  I mixed this up, baked a dozen and put the rest in the freezer to bake later.  He ate one and I gave the rest to the boys across the street.  Dave complained I gave them all away!  Won't he be surprised when I pull fresh, warm cookies from the oven after dinner for the next couple of weeks.  He works hard, he deserves it.

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies
adapted from Celebrating Cookies, Leisure Arts


1 c. butter, softened
1 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
2 c. white chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture.  Stir in macadamia nuts and white chocolate.

Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets.  Bake at 350ºF for 10-12 minutes.  Cool cookies slightly on baking sheets, transfer to wire racks to cool.

Makes about 6 dozen cookies


Tips:
I keep my chocolate and nuts in the freezer.  Just add them to the cookie dough frozen, it helps skip the step of putting them into the fridge for 1/2 hour for the butter to firm up and helps prevent the cookies from spreading so much.

I use a #40 scoop for my cookies so I got about 4 dozen cookies instead of 6.

Random picture of the blond boy and the DIL (Daughter In Law) from our trip to the real world.

July 30, 2012     Daylight 18  hours, 20 minutes     Current Temp. 65ºF