Once in a while, a recipe shows such promise you make it again and again, until getting it exactly right.
That’s what happened with these crisp-on-the-outside, chewy-in-the-middle bright-colored cookies, voted the family favorite ‘new recipe’ their first year and a cheerful addition to holiday cookie platters ever since.
That first year, I mixed batch after batch, each an improvement but never quite right.
Finally I found the trick: the macadamia nut butter must reach a consistency someplace beyond creamy commercial peanut butter, smooth and almost runny.
Instead, in my large food processor, 2/3 of a cup of nuts, the quantity for a single batch, turns out a grainy, crumbly mess of nuts, hardly a nut butter. The cookies still taste great but don’t flatten properly.
Luckily, the fix is easy: make a double batch! You won't be sorry, the cookies are that good! And the dough freezes well so you can bake some now, the rest later. (Or you might also process a double quantity of nuts but use only half the resulting butter.)
Grate fresh nutmeg if it’s available. Watch the first tray carefully, removing it from the oven when the cookies have begun to flatten but are still a bit puffy and still look a bit unbaked. The cookies will flatten and the golden color will continue to develop.
CRANBERRY-MAC MORSELS
Chilling and baking: 30 minutes
Makes 30 cookies
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 2/3 cup macadamia nuts
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1-1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon sugar (for dipping)
In a food processor, chop the cranberries into small pieces and put aside. In the same bowl (washing isn’t necessary), make a nut butter by processing nuts until very smooth (like runny peanut butter), about two minutes, scraping bowl once or twice. In a mixing bowl, combine nut butter and sugars. Add vanilla and egg and beat well. Add flour, soda, salt and nutmeg and beat at low speed until just combined. The dough will be quite thick. Stir in cranberries by hand with a wooden spoon.
Preheat the oven to 375F. Cover dough and chill for 10 minutes. Roll dough into one-inch balls and press top of each ball in sugar. Place balls on baking sheet covered with parchment paper, leaving two inches between the balls for the cookies to spread. Press balls gently with a fork, twice in criss-cross-fashion. Bake for 9 minutes or until just golden. Let cool briefly, then transfer to a paper towel or rack to cool completely.
More Recipes for Cookie Swaps
This is also the first year that I'm experimenting with a Kitchen Aid standing mixer. A triple batch of cookies mixed up just fine in it; there was also no need to separately incorporate the cranberries.
Never miss a Kitchen Parade recipe: Sign up for an e-mail subscription.
© Copyright 2005 Kitchen Parade
Your Comments:
12/30/2006