The taste and texture of these cookies is unique and addictive.  If you are a fan of ginger or a fan of any cookie with macadamia nuts, you will want to try these.  In the past, my husband made the vegan version of these cookies from the cookbook, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, but I have adapted the recipe to be non-vegan.  This is what happens when you don’t have soy milk on hand so you say, forget this flax seed and canola oil nonsense!  Wow.  I wish that I could admit that my inner dialogue is more interesting than this.

Enjoy!

Candied Ginger Macadamia Nut Cookies

ingredients

• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 ounces dry roasted but unsalted macadamia nuts, finely chopped
• 4 ounces candied ginger, finely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  I used convection and it went okay.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar.
3. Add in the eggs, vanilla extract, coconut extract, baking soda, nutmeg and salt.
4. Slowly add in the flour, careful with the last few tablespoons as not to make the batter too dry.  Depending on how you sift and measure the flour, you may or may not have too much flour.
5. Mix in the chopped macadamia nuts and candied ginger pieces.
6. Scoop* onto a non-stick cookie sheet or a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
7. Bake for approximately 12 minutes.  Cookies are done with edges have lightly browned.

* I use a cookie scoop manufactured by Chip Clip and purchased from Bed Bath and Beyond.  There is a picture of it here.

My co-workers, otherwise known as my official taste-testers, are presented with a baked item of their choice on their birthdays.  Danielle requested Monster Cookies, which are essentially chocolate chip cookies with peanut butter, oatmeal, and M&Ms.  The name is Monster because you are supposed to make them larger than average in size.  I had never heard of, nor tasted Monster cookies, but since I am friendly with (read: om nom nom) chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies and have a peanut butter problem (seriously, we have 7 types of PB in the cupboard right now!) these seemed to be a recipe that I should try.

As I stood in the candy aisle at the store, I spotted a bag of Rolo’s and remembered that Danielle has a fascination with Rolo’s.  Let’s put some Rolo’s inside of her Monster Cookies!  Yes!  We have Monster-Rolo Cookies!  And because I make up words for cookies, like the Smookies, these are christened as MonsteRolos, which I pronounce Monster-o-lo.

I adapted the following recipe from here.

MonsteRolo Cookies

ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter (2 sticks)
• 1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 eggs
• 4 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used dark choco chips)
• 1 cup candy-coated milk chocolate pieces
• 4 dozen Rolos candies, unwrapped

Directions

When Andy and I started dating he called his mother for this recipe.  She has had it on file since he was in kindergarten when his teacher made these cookies for his class.  Apparently Andy was so taken with the cookies that his mom had to get the recipe and they have been a staple of his diet ever since.

Last year he took crumbled up cookies and mixed them into homemade ice cream with maple syrup.  It was divine.

Andy’s Gingerbread Men

Made 45 cookies using a 4″ tall cookie cutter; only one batch fits in a Kitchenaid mixer at a time.

Ingredients

• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup molasses (I used blackstrap, but you are probably better off using regular molasses or a combination of the two)
• 2 Tbsp vinegar
• 5 cups flour (plus more for rolling)
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• .5 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• .25 tsp cloves

Directions

1. Sift together dry ingredients.
2. Cream shortening and sugar.  Add egg.  Add molasses and vinegar.
3. Add one cup of dry ingredients to wet ingredients at a time and mix well.
4. Chill for 3+ hours or overnight
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees (I used convection and it went okay)
6. Roll the dough to .25 inch thin and cut out desired shapes.
7. Place on greased cookie sheet OR parchment paper (parchment paper is such a dream)
8. Bake for 5 minutes.  (5 minutes is not enough time if you don’t roll them thin enough.)

Before the Oven

Oatmeal Cookie

I have been making these for a few years and my coworkers absolutely love them! Sometimes I substitute in whole wheat flour, which I typically do not recommend as a practice for sweets; however I do recommend this for oatmeal cookies.

Ingredients to make over 3 dozen
.5 cup butter
.75 cup firmly packed DARK brown sugar
.5 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1.5 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
.5 teaspoon salt
3 cups uncooked oats
.75 cup raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Beat butter with sugars; add in eggs and vanilla
3. Add in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt
4. Add oats and raisins
5. Spoon onto ungreased cookie sheets.
6. Bake for 10-13 minutes. (my oven was taking 13 minutes using convection setting).

Tips:
1. Use your standup mixer. I can get two batches in my mixer, but it is a strain on the mixer with the final adding of oats.
2. Use slow cook oats
3. If you make very rounded (tall) dough balls, the centers will remain chewy and moist after cooking.
4. There are no issues if you choose to make the batter ahead of time and refrigerate for later. The cooled dough seems to make slightly taller cookies once baked, but I still recommend as okay practice.