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.

Great Cooks County Fair

With all the wonderful folks in one place over at Great Cooks Community.com (GCC), we couldn’t help stir up something new and fun for our community.

Our good friend, Lisa Rohner of ChefMomCooks has stepped up to be our GCC Food Events Coordinator. We are thrilled to have her experience, creative style, and enthusiasm leading us to a whole new level of fun and fellowship.

The Great Cooks County Fair (GCCF) will begin by sponsoring one food event each month. Participants will have an opportunity to show off their delicious home cooking, rally their friends and family to vote for their recipe entry, promote their homeblogs (if they're food bloggers), and win a prize or award ribbon! But that’s not all folks…

As Great Cooks Community members, we will show our support to our fellow food bloggers by using our favorite social bookmarking sites, such as Stumble Upon, del.icio.us, etc. to promote the 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winner’s winning recipes posted on the winner’s homeblog (if they're food bloggers).

Think about this my food blogging friends… Today, we have 177 members in our community. Imagine 177 people Stumbling your blog! Consider the amount of traffic. I sure hope the winner's servers can handle the load.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW

First, go join the Great Cooks County Fair Group.

Second, go read the rules for participation. VERY IMPORTANT STEP HERE.

Third, go back to your homeblog(s) and write a post about this terrific new food event taking off! Tell your readers they don’t need a blog to post a recipe or vote for your recipe entry. They just need to be a member of Great Cooks Community.

Spread the word on every food forum you hang out on, other food community networks, Facebook, Stumble the Great Cooks County Fair group page, email every food lover you know.

FOR HEAVENS SAKES- DO NOT SPAM JUST EVERYONE YOU KNOW. Remember this is a food community, we want to enrich it with folks who have a serious interest in cooking, baking, preserving food, food photography, food writers, recipe swappers. It's VERY IMPORTANT that we keep the comfort and joys of membership a positive experience for all.

There are opportunities to become Hosts and Moderators for the Great Cooks County Fair food events. Please contact Lisa Rohner, the GCC Food Events Planner, from her Great Cooks page.
We look forward to seeing everyone participating and coming together for all the awesome fellowship, recipes, encouragement and traffic building opportunities.

Have FUN!

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

This is an easy chicken pot pie recipe that anyone can bake.

Homemade chicken pot pie is a favorite comfort dish for my whole family.  This particular recipe came from my Memaw, she was a comfort food queen!  (Man, I miss her cookin'.) You will want to plan a whole morning or afternoon in the kitchen, but it's all worth it in the end. In the past, I've broken up the work into two days of short tasks, when I didn't have a whole afternoon to dedicate.

Usually, I bake this recipe in a 13x9x2 dish or slightly larger pan.  It makes quite a bit, which is awesome for leftovers.  If you have a family of 4 to 6, don't bother freezing the leftovers.  It will all vanish in a couple of days.

This time, I purchased aluminum mini loaf pans and baked individual pot pie servings.  The recipe filled 8 mini pans.  I planned only to have a top crust, to lower the calories and leave more room for vegetables.  These pies turned out beautifully, and I was able to share them with a dear friend.

START WITH CHICKEN & BROTH

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 onions, quartered
• 2 stalks celery, cut into large pieces
• 1 teaspoon dried basil, thyme, oregano, sage
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 bay leaf

Place all the ingredients in a large stock pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Remove chicken from broth, reserve all the broth.  When chicken is cool enough, remove skin and bones, then shred in large bite size pieces.  (Chicken bites will get smaller after stirring them in later.)

PREPARE THE FILLING & CRUST

• 3 cups potato, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
• 1-2 cups sliced carrots
• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 stick of butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cup Land o'Lakes No Fat Half-n-Half
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 packages of refrigerated Pillsbury Pie Crusts

Cook celery, carrots and potatoes in butter until crisp tender.  Add flour and stir until smooth, cooking for 1 minute.  Gradually add reserved broth and half & half while cooking over medium heat, until sauce thickens and bubbly.  Stir in shredded chicken, frozen peas, salt, pepper.  If sauce looks too thick, keep adding broth.  It's good to keep the sauce on the slightly soupy side, because it will keep thickening as it bakes.

Now, you're ready to assemble the pie(s).  If you want a bottom crust, then use one package (both dough rolls) to line the bottom of casserole pan.  Fill with chicken mixture and cover using second package of pie crusts. Use scraps to decorate top, if you feel fancy.   Be sure to pierce the dough where needed.  Bake at 400F degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

When I assembled the individual mini pans, I used one package of pie crusts and only covered the top. (As shown in photos.)

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