February 19, 2016

Recipe: Stuffed Macaroon White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

This might be the longest title for a recipe but my alternate name, Hawaiian Paradise Cookies, didn't quite explain the gloriousness that these cookies are.


The Pilot and I have enormous sweet tooths (sweet teeth?) He loves coconut. His favorite cookies are white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. For his birthday, I decided to combine two of his favorite things and these cookies were the result.

They are heaven. They are enormous and thick and when you bite into the center of the white chocolate macadamia nut cookie, an explosion of coconut goodness comes through in the form of delicious, delicate, soft, chewy macaroons.


**Note: Macaroons are made with coconut. Macarons are those deliciously adorable little French cookies. Now you know.

I used my favorite coconut macaroon recipe from The Kitchn but please, if you make these, do not use almond extract in your macaroons. In my opinion, macaroons made with almond extract are no longer macaroons. The almond is so powerful that it completely overshadows the taste of the coconut, thus defeating the purpose of why you are using 3 cups of coconut in the first place.

The same goes for the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. A lot of recipes call for almond extract. Don't use it in this recipe. This is an almond-extract-free recipe.


What You Need

For the cookies
1 cup butter softened
3/4 cup each sugar and brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Ingredients (for the macaroons)
3 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
4 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Spread the coconut evenly on a baking sheet and toast lightly for 3-4 minutes. Let cool.
  3. In a bowl or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, sugars, and vanilla
  4. Add eggs
  5. In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, and baking soda
  6. Slowly, incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet
  7. Using a wooden spoon, fold in the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Make sure that they are distributed evenly. I recommend starting with the white chocolate, mixing, then incorporating the macadamia nuts.
  8. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. I refrigerated my dough for an hour.
Next, prepare the macaroons.
  1. Whisk the egg whites, sugar, vanilla and salt about 5-7 minutes until the mixture is very frothy and no liquid remains.
  2. Add the coconut to the egg white mixture.
  3. Scoop the coconut mixture into balls on a baking sheet. 
  4. Bake the macaroons for about 8-10 minutes and let cool.
Now, back to the cookies:
  1. Scoop your cookies onto the baking sheet and flatten them into small discs. 
  2. Plop a macaroon onto half of the discs.
  3. Take the macaroon-less discs and place them on top of the macaroons, gently pressing down to sandwich the macaroons while sealing the sides. 
  4. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are a golden brown. 
  5. Let cool on the cookie sheet 5 minutes before transferring to a wire baking rack to cool.
  6. Try not to eat them all in one sitting.
A Few Notes
  • If you can get your hands on it, use pure vanilla extract, rather than vanilla extract. It offers a much richer taste and I bake exclusively with it!
  • Toasting the coconut first gives the coconut a deeper flavor, which is important when they're nestled inside the cookie, but because the macaroons will be baked 3 times, you want to toast them very lightly so that they don't burn.
  • I highly recommend using a cookie scoop for the macaroons. The mixture will be messy and the cookie scoop keeps them intact without spreading them too much. You can use the cookie scoop for the cookies too.
  • These cookies will likely be huge. You can try making smaller macaroons, but I found that smaller macaroons didn't achieve the same effect of biting into coconut yumminess.

Enjoy!

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