My brother's birthday is today, and since he's such a great big brother, and since he asked so politely, I made him white chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookies. He's apparently a sucker for Subway's version. Funny story, the first grocery store I stopped at had 2 oz. packages of macadamia nuts for $3.50 or so. Second and third grocery stores didn't even carry 'em. Finally found 'em at Walmart (not a super center, so even though they had limited food in stock, they still luckily had the nuts), 6.5 oz. or so for $5.98. Not the cheapest nuts ever, but at that point I was just happy to have found any at all!
I checked the back of the bag of white chocolate chips, Nestle Toll House brand, and noticed that they had a recipe for White Chip Island Cookies. Since I'm not big into this type of cookie, I called my brother for advice. He'd said the cookies he likes are just like regular chocolate chip cookies, but with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts instead. Toll House's version seemed similar to what I'd expect, but their "island" addition was coconut. My brother figured that since he likes everything else I make that has coconut in it, why not give it a try? So that's exactly what I did.
White Chip Island Cookies
Ever-so-slightly adapted from the recipe found on the Nestle Toll House bag of Premier White Morsels
1 2/3 c. all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/3 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla-nut-butter extract
1 large egg
2 c. (12 oz. package) Nestle Toll House Premier White Morsels
1 c. flaked coconut
3/4 c. chopped macadamia nuts (or walnuts)
Preheat oven to 350F.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, sugars and extract in a separate (larger) bowl until creamy. Add the egg and beat until mixed. Beat the dry mixture into the wet mixture. Stir in morsels, coconut and nuts. Here's where it got tricky for me . . .
My 1st pan, after dropping scoops of dough onto it and baking per instructions, wouldn't level out. The original oven temp called for was 375F, but the outsides were almost burning and the cookies wouldn't flatten, so the insides were still too raw. I decided then to drop my oven temp to 350F. I also decided that, after all my cookies dough blobs were on the cookies sheet, I'd wet my hands, roll them around and flatten slightly for a more even bake. It worked, and my pans became more uniformly done with no burnt edges/raw insides.
I baked each pan for approximately 9 minutes, rotating the pans after 5 minutes.
I never thought of our oven as being hotter than normal, so the temp and time at which to bake your cookies will ultimately be up to you. Only you know your oven and it's quirks. I do advise somehow squishing the cookies slightly though so you don't end up with burnt edges.
I'm not sure I'd make this recipe again. The cookies taste good and I'm sure my brother will appreciate them, but . . . I'm just curious now if I'd have better luck and less hassle with a new recipe. We'll see. Anywho, happy birthday to my wonderful brother! Enjoy!
*This post is linked to Life as Mom’s Ultimate Recipe Swap (URS) for 3/3/11, Freezer Friendly Recipes. Check her blog out for more ideas!
Since Christmas is just around the corner [hey, it is in my book because I’m that girl who listens to Christmas music in July!], I thought I’d post something that has worked out beautifully as part of gift baskets for friends and coworkers during the holiday season in past years. It’s really easy to make, although be careful not to burn yourself with the hot butter/sugar mixture, ‘cause that hurts in a major way [ah, the voice of experience]! And watch it closely --- it’ll burn before ya can yell “what the . . . ”!
I made a few pans of this last year and the year before, broke ‘em up, slid ‘em into cute little holiday food bags and called it a day. And trust me, it’s not like getting fruitcake. People actually enjoy this “surprise”! No, I have no idea why it’s called "surprise" either. Perhaps because it’s made with soda crackers and that’s somewhat surprising? Hmmmmm, wish I could remember where I found the recipe . . .
Chocolate Brittle Surprise
35 unsalted soda crackers
1 c. butter
1 c. packed brown sugar
2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1 c. chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350F. Cover a cookie sheet with foil and spray foil with nonstick spray. Place crackers on foil in 5x7 rows. Microwave butter on high for 2 minutes; add brown sugar, stir and microwave another 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. Pour over crackers and bake 10-15 minutes, checking often starting around the 10-minute mark [to make sure the mixture does not burn]. Remove from the oven and sprinkle chips and nuts over hot crackers; spread after 2 minutes [chips should have melted]. Refrigerate 1 hour; break into pieces. This can be frozen, by the way.
See? Super duper easy! Easy as, well, chocolate brittle surprise! And I bet variations would be just as tasty as the original, like using white or butterscotch chips instead of semisweet. Don't they make peppermint ones around the holidays, too? Now I'm going to have to play around with this --- enjoy!
Update: This will be linked up to Life as Mom’s Ultimate Recipe Swap for today, Thursday, 12/2/10. It's for favorite cookie recipes today, and while I realize this isn't technically a cookie, it wouldn't be the holidays around here without some of this fabulous little dessert. Check out her site for more great holiday cookie ideas!
