My super sweet, always agreeable, never give you a hard time child has finally reached the age of testing his limits. Now every direction is met with a resounding NO, every explanation is followed by but, everything on his plate besides peanut butter and jelly sandwiches gets an ewww, and socks are his worst enemy.
I had a feeling this time would come. I do know, however, that the sweetness will always be there waiting to be coaxed out with hugs and cookies.
These Macadamia Butter Cookies will surely do the trick for coaxing a little sweetness out of anyone this Valentine’s Day. They are especially perfect for those non-chocolate lovers out there! The trick is to process macadamia nuts into ‘macadamia butter’, and use it much like you would peanut butter. Use whole nuts to start and process until very smooth – when I bought pre-chopped macadamias for this recipe once, the dough came out too dry.
Macadamia Butter Cookies with Dried Cranberries
adapted from Cooking Light, October 2002
makes 30 cookies
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup macadamia nuts
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries, chopped
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- 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.
- Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and ground 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 chopped cranberries. Chill 10 minutes.
- Divide chilled dough into 30 equal portions; roll each portion into a ball. Place 1 tablespoon granulated sugar in a small 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 the fork in water; gently press the top of each cookie again to form a crisscross pattern. Place 15 cookies on each of 2 baking sheets.
- Bake cookies, 1 baking sheet at a time, at 375° for 9 minutes or until golden. Remove cookies from pan; cool on a wire rack. Repeat procedure with remaining cookies.
Shortbread 
These look absolutely delicious! I have some dried cranberries I need to use up!