Macadamia Nutty Chocotastic Cookies

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Hi, I’m so excited to share this new recipe to all you cookie lovers, chocolate lovers and nut lovers. Welcome to my Macadamia Nutty Chocotastic Cookies!

 

Macadamia Nutty Chocotastic Cookies www.feastingisfun.com
Macadamia Nutty Chocotastic Cookies www.feastingisfun.com

 

Are you a cookie lover?  I am!

Homemade cookies are sooo much better than regular, shop bought ones. The taste is always better, you know exactly what has gone into them and you just cannot buy the smell of home baked cookies. Ooh that warm, buttery, delicious smell that drifts from the oven making your home feel – well – more like home!

These Macadamia Nutty Chocotastic Cookies so deserve their wacky name. They are stuffed to the brim with nuts, chocolate chunks and are Chocotastic!!!

Macadamia Nutty Chocotastic Cookies www.feastingisfun.com
Macadamia Nutty Chocotastic Cookies www.feastingisfun.com

 

Everyone who has tried these cookies had absolutely fallen 100% in love with them and immediately requested more. Now that, has got to be a reaction worth sharing.

Sharing is a major inspiration in my baking. I love seeing the reaction on someone’s face, when you give them something that you have made with them in mind. For this recipe, the inspiration was our children. They all work so hard at school and home and it’s wonderful to treat them.

My cookie preference, as I’ve mentioned before, on this blog, is always for oat/fruit cookie combos like these Walnut Fig Oat Cookies . But I know how much our children love chocolate and they don’t have chocolate bars very often at home, so baking something special like these Macadamia Nutty Chocotastic Cookies really is a treat for them. As I use good quality ingredients there are no hidden nasties, that is very imortant to me.

Recipe : Makes Approx. 26 Macadamia Nutty Chocotastic Cookies

225g/8oz Unsalted Butter at room temoerature

175g/6oz Dark Brown Sugar – I used muscavado sugar

1 Large Egg Yolk

1tsp Vanilla Extract

225g/8oz Plain White Flour

50g/2oz Cocoa Powder

1/4tsp Salt

175g/6oz Macadamia Nuts – roughly chopped

225g/8oz Milk Chocolate Chunks or Chips

Method : Preheat oven to 185C/170C fan.

Place the sugar and butter in a bowl.
Place the sugar and butter in a bowl.

 

You really do need the butter to be very soft. I actually put the bowl in the microwave on medium for 20 seconds, as my butter wasn’t soft enough. Ideally you want butter that you can easily push a knife, flat side down, through.

Beat or whisk the sugar and butter together, for 5 minutes, until pale and light. Don’t worry if there are still little specks of sugar once the mixture is whisked.

Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract to the bowl.
Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract to the bowl.
Whisk or beat for 5 minutes until the mixture is paler.
Whisk or beat for 5 minutes until the mixture is paler.
Sieve the flour, cocoa and salt into the bowl.
Sieve the flour, cocoa and salt into the bowl.
Add the chopped nuts and chocolate chunks.
Add the chopped nuts and chocolate chunks.
Mix everything together until the have the most delicious, chocolate, nut studded cookie dough.
Mix everything together until the have the most delicious, chocolate, nut studded cookie dough.

 

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using an ice cream scoop make 1" balls of cookie dough.
Using an ice cream scoop make 1″ balls of cookie dough.

 

Ensure the cookie dough balls are well spaced apart.

Press down on each cookie dough ball to flatten.
Press down on each cookie dough ball to flatten.

 

Place the cookies into the oven and bake for 15 minutes exactly. The cookies will still seem soft when baked. Remove from the oven.

Macadamia Nutty Chocotastic Cookies allow to cool completely on the tray.
Macadamia Nutty Chocotastic Cookies allow to cool completely on the tray.

 

As this mixture makes such a big batch of cookies you can freeze half of the dough, in a freezer bag, for up to 3 months, or keep wrapped in cling film and refridgerated for up to a week. Or you can wash up the baking trays and bake the rest, just as I did 😉

 

Macadamia Nutty Chocotastic Cookies www.feastingisfun.com
Macadamia Nutty Chocotastic Cookies www.feastingisfun.com

 

Once cooled, these cookies have a deep chocolatey flavour complimented by the beautiful, buttery, Macadamia nuts. Ooh these are sooo good. They have to be up there, at the top of my favourite cookies ever list. What? Don’t you have a list???

Make these for yourself, to share with friends, family, neighbours. If you know someone who loves cookies bake them some Macadamia Nutty Chocotastic Cookies and watch the smile spread across their face as they take their first bite!

If you love cookies then you will love these Extreme Chocolate Cookies 

Cheer Up Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sammie x

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Chocolate Macadamia Nut Brownies

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Hello lovelies. Do you need a chocolate hit? And, do you want to sink your teeth into something chocolatey, fudgey and studded with nuts? You are, because I’m here to help! Welcome to my Chocolate Macadamia Nut Brownies.

Chocolate Cravings…

So, the other night I was craving, I mean really craving chocolate. And not in the bar form, in a Brownie! Am I alone in my craving? Thought not!! Anyway it was too late to bake, so I settled down to sleep, thinking about Brownies.

It was still there, the craving, in the morning. Although, not so much the craving for chocolate, more the need to bake Brownies.

While I have a couple of Brownie recipes Nuts About Brownies and Triple Chocolate Brownies  on this blog, I was in the mood for experimenting. Given that I’d had a couple of baking disasters during the week I knew this could be risky business!! Yet I ploughed on, wading through my collection of cookbooks in search of inspiration. And as usual I took a bits and pieces of information from here and there and came up with an idea-ish of a recipe!!

I love looking through cookbooks, however, I can honestly say there are very few recipes I follow completely from the start. Rather, the books are more a visual and written inspiration for how I like to cook and bake. Although I still have much to learn, what I know already serves to help me put a recipe together. It’s fun too, coming up with flavours, textures etc. on my own. Also, it’s how I learn and that is a big part of the enjoyment I get from cooking and baking.

Creating The Best Brownie Recipe

So, to the Chocolate Macadamia Nut Brownies – melted chocolate was top of the list in creating this recipe. Lots of it. Since I have a new bag of Macadamia Nuts in the cupboard they were guaranteed a starring role. Chocolate Chunks obviously, because – more chocolate!! The rest, well I know that brown sugar lends a depth to chocolate recipes, yet I still wanted that shiny, crackled top, synonymous with a good, fudgey brownie.

Chocolate macadamia nut brownies cut into squares.

 

These Chocolate Macadamia Nut Brownies are everything I wanted and more. Fudgey, dense, intense chocolate flavour, with whole, buttery, Macadamia nuts for added crunch. So pleased am I with them I am sharing the recipe with you.

Recipe : Makes 20 Chocolate Macadamia Nut Brownies

200g/7oz Milk Chocolate

150g/5oz Dark Chocolate

225g/8oz Unsalted Butter

4 Large Free Range Eggs

1tsp Vanilla Extract – I use Nielsen-Massey 

1/4tsp Salt – I use Maldon 

125g/4.5oz Dark Brown Sugar

100g/4oz Caster Sugar

75g/3oz Plain White Flour

1/2tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

225g/8oz Macadamia Nuts

175g/6oz Chocolate Chips – plain or milk

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan, gas Mark 4, 350F.

First of all, line a 22.5cm x 30cm (9″ x 12″) tin with aluminium foil. This makes it so easy to remove the brownies once baked and less time cleaning up.

Melting The Chocolate For The Brownie Batter

Break up the chocolate (or chop) into individual squares, dice the butter and place both into a heat proof bowl. Place the bowl over a simering pan of water (a double boiler) ensuring the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.

Yep, I know. My bowl was too small, even for my smallest pan. Duh!!! So I improvised by using a steamer on top of the pan and placing my bowl in the steamer. This way you definetely won’t have the bowl touching the water. If you do try it make sure the water is just simmering, otherwise your hands could be burnt by the steam.

Stir the chocolate and butter until two thirds melted.

Improvised double boiler using a steamer!
Improvised double boiler using a steamer!

 

Then remove the bowl from the pan and continue stirring until the chocolate and butter are completely melted. Using this method may be a little more labour intensive, it does stop the mixture heating up too much, thus less time for it to cool down. Me impatient? No I like to call it efficient!

Set the melted chocolate and butter aside to cool.
Set the melted chocolate and butter aside to cool.

Making The Wet Ingredients For The Brownie Batter

Place the eggs, vanilla extract and salt into a bowl. Mix until combined.

Add the two sugars into the mixed egg and vanilla.
Add the two sugars into the mixed egg and vanilla.
Stir the sugar and egg mixture until combined.
Stir the sugar and egg mixture until combined.
Pour the cooled chocolate mixture slowly into the bowl stirring slowly.
Pour the cooled chocolate mixture slowly into the bowl stirring slowly.
Ooey gooey chocolate brownie mixture.
Ooey gooey chocolate brownie mixture.

Adding The Dry Ingredients To Create The Finished Brownie Batter

Sift the flour and sodium bicarb. into the bowl.

Add the macadamia nuts on top of the sieved flour.
Add the macadamia nuts on top of the sieved flour.
Then add the chocolate chunks.
Then add the chocolate chunks.

 

Fold all the ingredients together, resisting the urge to taste a spoonful!

Chocolate Macadamia Nut Brownie batter.
Chocolate Macadamia Nut Brownie batter.
Chocolate Macadamia Nut Brownies pour the mixture into a lined pan. Rap the pan onto the worktop a couple of times to allow any air bubbles to rise to the top.
Chocolate Macadamia Nut Brownies pour the mixture into a lined pan. Rap the pan onto the worktop a couple of times to allow any air bubbles to rise to the top.

Baking The Chocolate Macadamia Nut Brownies

Place the pan in the middle of a preheated oven and bake for 30 – 40 minutes. The Chocolate Macadamia Nut Brownies are cooked when the top is set and shiny, there should still be a hint of wobble when you gently shake the pan. Always better to slightly underbake Brownies. As soon as they are baked remove the Brownie pan from the oven.

Chocolate Macadamia Nut Brownies leave to cool in the tin.
Chocolate Macadamia Nut Brownies leave to cool in the tin.

 

Once completely cooled it’s so easy to remove the Brownies from the pan, in the foil. And then peel away the foil and slice into 20 squares.

These Chocolate Macadamia Nut Brownies are soo good. I’m not kidding, I was blown away by how dense, fudgey, chocolatey and more-ish these brownies are.

I shared them with friends, neighbours and of course our crew. And all of the feed back was good, so now I’ve shared them with you!

If you have enjoyed this recipe for Chocolate Macadamia Nut Brownies you may also like these:

Chocolate Biscuit Base Mini Egg Brownies

Chocolate Biscuit Base Mini Egg Brownies
Chocolate Biscuit Base Mini Egg Brownies

Rich Raspberry Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Rich raspberry chocolate fudge brownies
Rich Raspberry Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Chocolate Fudge Brownie Bites

Chocolate fudge brownie bites with white chocolate hearts piped on top.
Chocolate Fudge Brownie Bites

 

How do you like your brownies?

Frosted, plain, with nuts, without?

I’d love to hear from you.

Sammie x

No part of this post may be reproduced or duplicated without the written permission of the owner. Please see my Disclosure Policy.

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