Macadamia Butter Cookies

It's time to get back to my Grandma's recipe boxes and start cooking again, and as I was looking through it for something to take to a New Year's Eve Birthday party, I have to be honest, I just wasn't feeling it.  There are so many recipes for Jell-O salad, cakes, cookies, breads, rolls, pies and desserts it's almost overwhelming. Add to that, I just couldn't find anything that was appealing to make or bake.  First thing I did was call the party hostess and ask her if there was something she "needed" made for the party, hoping I would get an assignment (my Grandma would be proud of that approach).  We talked about what she knew people were bringing, what she had planned for the main dish(es) and whether she needed any help with preparation or to borrow any of my chaffing dishes, but I didn't get any help on deciding what to make.  Ugh! So, this time, I went to my cookbook and magazine cupboard to see what I could find.  Sometimes when I take this approach, I start looking for recipes that fit the ingredients I have on hand and today, I had some "special" macadamia nuts fresh from Hawaii so I had my mission.  And here is what I ended up with, a Macadamia Butter Cookie from the December 2009 issue of Cooking Light.  I will admit, I had to read this recipe a few times because I was looking for "butter" in the recipe..there isn't any...you process the macadamia nuts in a food processor to make a macadamia butter..it's great!  The nutmeg in these provides an interesting taste...next time I make these, I might leave the nutmeg out and see what the cookie tastes like that way.

Macadamia Butter Cookies
2/3 cup macadamia nuts
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
5.6 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/4 cups)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt (I didn't use this because my macadamia nuts included sea salt)
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries, chopped
1 tablespoon granulated sugar


1.  Preheat ove to 375 degrees.
2.  Place nuts in a food processor; process until smooth (about 2 minutes), scraping sides of bowl once.  Combine macadamia butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed.  Add vanilla and egg; beat well.
3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife  Combine flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg, stirring with a whisk.  Add flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat at low speed just until combined (mixture will be very thick).  Stir in cranberries.  Chill 10 minutes.
4.  Divide chilled dough into 30 equal portions; roll each portion into a ball. Place 1 tablespoon granulated sugar in a bowl.  Lightly press each ball into sugar; place each ball, sugar side up, on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Gently press the top of each cookie with a fork.  Dip fork in water, gently press top of each cookie again to make a criss-cross patter.  Place 15 cookies on each of 2 baking sheets.
5.  Bake cookies, 1 baking sheet at a time at 375 degrees for 9 minutes or until golden (my oven is hot so only cooked these for about 7 minutes).  Remove cookies from pan;  cool on a wire rack.  Repeat procedure with remaining cookies.  Yield: 30 servings (serving size: 1 cookies).