Simple White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

In all the twelve years Charlie and I have been married, I've NEVER baked his all time favorite cookie from scratch.  (I can hear the air being sucked out of the room.)  Of course, I love my husband!

While I'm confessing,  I guess it's high time I let you know where I get all my cookie recipes.  The book that is my absolute favorite cookie slash sweet craving cookbook.  I turn to it EVERY TIME I want to bake something sweet for family and friends and it has never let me down.

HERE IT IS, MY SECRET BOOK TO BAKING SWEETS

No, it's not hoity toity.  It's probably not even fashionable to mention in the least little bit, but I don't really care.  This book works for me! I've laughed to myself, many times, when folks have eaten the treats I make from this book and think, I'M the BEST cook ever.  HA! I was only following the directions.

Although I love listening and gathering bits of information about the science behind cooking, the science of baking makes my brain go numb, and my mind's eye glazes over at the thought of experimental baking.  I don't have the time & resources to set myself up for such failures.  When my family wants something to sweet to eat, I go for the traditional favorites first and grab my gal, Betty.

So when Charlie sent me the text message that he was having a rough day at work, I knew I needed to have something comforting for him to come home to, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies.  I turned to Betty and she came through for me in the most delicious way.

HERE'S ALL IT TOOK

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 package (6 ounces) white baking bars, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch chunks
• 1 jar (3 1/2 ounces) or 2 bags (2.25 ounces) macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Heat oven to 350º F degrees. Beat sugars, butter & shortening in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Mix in vanilla and egg.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt, chopped white chocolate and nuts.  With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture a third at a time until all is flour is moistened or absorbed.  Do not over stir.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls (use a 1 inch scooper) about 2 inches apart onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake 9 to 11 minutes, until LIGHT, light brown on the edges.  Cool 1 to 2 minutes BEFORE removing from the cookie sheet.  Continue cooling on wire rack.

NOTE: It's important to bake these cookies on the light side.  They should look under cooked in the center and light brown on the edges.  They will finish setting as they cool on the cookie sheet and have a smoother finish.  I didn't learn this until I baked the last batch of cookies.  As you can see from the photo above, the cookies have cracks.  This does NOT affect their flavor at all.  But I noticed that the last batch of cookies baked for 9 minutes had a creamier texture than the cookies baked for 12 minutes. The smooth 9 minute cookies are shown below, they were eaten immediately after the photo was taken.

By now, all the cookies are gone.  No one cared about or even mentioned the cracks, they just kept going back for more cookies.  The extra chopped nuts really make these cookies hard to put down.  They weren't so rich that one cookie was enough.  Unfortunately.

Mexican Stack Salad

I devoured a Mexican Stack salad for lunch today.  It has an odd combination of ingredients, but MAN, IT IS GOOD! The Mexican Stack Salad is perfect for pot luck gatherings.  If you have enough guests attending, each person picks one or two ingredients to bring to the meal.

HERE'S ALL YOU NEED FOR THIS TASTY SALAD

• 2 pounds cooked ground beef with taco seasoning
• 2 pounds cooked ground beef with taco seasoning (Yes, I wrote that twice.)
• 2 pounds Uncle Ben's rice, cooked (32 oz. Box)
• 2 cups shredded cheese
• 1 box golden raisins, or dried cranberries
• 2 cups chopped pecans
• 2 cups coconut
• 1 bunch green onions, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 carton Sour Cream
• 1 jar Picante Sauce
• Large bag Fritos corn chips

This will easily feed a crowd of 20.  It's a great combination of flavors.  The trick is to convince everyone to put every ingredient on their stack.

I personally love the coconut, taco meat, Fritos, and cranberries together.  Doesn't that sound strange?  But I'm telling you straight up, it's soooo good!

Frozen Cranberry Salad

It's strange to call this a 'salad' when it's really a dessert.  A wonderfully creamy dessert!

The first time we tried this dessert was at a pot luck holiday party.  The best thing about pot lucks is there's always something new to try.  For the adventurous types, this is a lot of fun.  For picky eaters, it's spells an evening of loading up on chips.  For those with highly trained taste buds, they get to play food critic to a buffet line.  See?  Pot lucks are GREAT!

There's nothing weird about this dessert.  It's yummy all through out.  It feels like you're eating cranberry ice cream.  I wouldn't limit this to holiday fare only.  It's good any day, hot or cold.  I took the extra time to make more whipped cream to pipe on top for more festive fun.

HERE'S ALL YOU NEED

• 1 (7oz) can Eagle Brand milk
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
• 1 (10oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
• 1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped

• 1 pint heavy whipping cream, keep cold
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, mix together first five ingredients, set aside.

In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, whip cream, sugar and vanilla on high speed until soft peaks form.

Fold in 1 1/2 cups of whipped cream into cranberry mixture. Reserve remaining whipped cream for piping the top of dessert.  At this point, you could empty the cranberry mixture into a casserole like dish.  However, if you have small plastic serving cups, fill each cup with 1/2 cup cranberry mixture.  This recipe will make approximately 10 dessert cups.

Use a piping bag or 1 gallon freezer bag, with a large piping tip to decorate tops of cups.  Just have fun!