Fine baking is all about good ingredients and a reliable recipe. That’s why I turned to one of my baking idols, Bonnie Stern, for this cookie recipe’s foundation.
Desserts, first published in 1988 and revised ten years later, is over 200 pages of sweet perfection. My revised paperback edition is well-loved, covered in stains and filled with dog-eared page after page of handwritten notes. I found “Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies” on page 108, where I had scribbled “Great!” 20 years ago and made plans to substitute half the chocolate with macadamia nuts.
Mac lovers have a thing for these nuts from Hawaii and you’d think I’d have no trouble finding them on Vancouver Island, just 2,361 miles away… After two supermarket scans, I had given up all macadamian hope until David pounced on two bags at Country Grocer in Cobble Hill.
Bonnie wrote this recipe after lunching with “Mr. Chocolate Himself” (Bernard Callebaut) making me woeful not to have a chunk of his white stuff in my cupboards. I had to make do with PC white chocolate chips.
Luckily, butter fared better. Freshly purchased from Cow-Op, I had a glorious half-pound of Avalon organic unsalted butter that was whipped into a frenzy by Krystal, driving our cookie operation inside the KitchenAid mixer.
Ten minutes earlier, Krystal had placed two cold eggs from the fridge into a bowl of warm water to gently warm them up to room temp for the bake. I knew Promise Valley’s farm stand eggs were the finest and freshest I could find, their deep orange yolks ready to enrich this already rich mix.
For added flavour and a hint of nutrition, I substituted all-purpose with True Grain’s Sifted Spelt. Whether it’s sprouted, whole or sifted, spelt doesn’t disappoint in chocolate cookies.
This recipe delivers gooey, sugar-loving smiles and zillions (okay, just 50) cookies. If you can, hide some in the freezer — a tactic I’ve employed too often to really call successful any more.
Macadamia White Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temp
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp water
2 cups whole, sprouted or sifted Spelt
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp sea salt
1 cup white chocolate chips or shredded
1 cup macadamia nuts
Preheat oven to 350 F
In a mixer using the whisk attachment, cream butter, brown and granulated sugar on high for about 2 minutes or until very light. Mix in one egg at a time. Mix in vanilla and water.
In a medium bowl, whisk together spelt, soda and sea salt.
Add flour mixture to creamed butter in mixer using paddle attachment until combined. Add white chocolate and nuts until just combined.
On a baking sheet lined with parchment, drop cookie mix by the teaspoon and gently roll into balls.
Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Leave on baking sheet for 5 min. before transferring to a cooling rack.
Mado Food 
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