My dad and my brother have birthdays a week apart in December, so the other night we all got together for presents and cake. (This Cranberry Cake with Warm Vanilla Butter Sauce, in case you were wondering. It’s one of my favorite cakes for the holiday season!) My kids were being adorable as usual, especially 2-year-old Valentine, who steals everyone’s heart within 1 second of meeting her. My brother Nathan was trying to convince me that my kids are ACTUALLY cuter than other people’s kids, and he can totally be objective about it. I said no way, you are an adoring uncle, you are totally biased. (But I’ll take it anyway. What parent doesn’t believe their kids are cuter than all the rest?)
Then my dad, father of 5 children, chimed in, “Yeah, I thought all our kids were pretty cute when they were little.” Then he paused and with hesitation said, “Well, except when Karen was about 11 or 12. It was pretty bad.” THANKS A LOT, DAD. We’ll see if I ever make YOU a birthday cake again!!!
He’s totally justified though, and we were laughing about it. Puberty hit me with a ton of bricks, and my mom did NOT help matters by allowing me to get a bad perm and dye my hair orange (it was supposed to be red, like Anne of Green Gables…) Braces, baby fat, oh my. Also, my very first memories consist of adults telling me how cute I was (and also, “stop whining Karen”). So if Valentine is extra adorable now, she might have another thing coming in 8 or 9 years or so. Poor kid. I’ll at least save her from the perm.
Macadamia Nut Cookies
I got a email from an old friend of mine a few weeks ago (hi Christina!!) She sent me the recipe for her favorite Christmas cookie that she makes every year, these Macadamia Cookies.
It’s an old forgotten Better Homes and Gardens recipe. At least it seems forgotten, because I’d never heard of it! And Christina, who clipped the recipe from a magazine over 20 years ago, said that she lost it for a while (she lost her whole recipe binder! Tragic! I’m so glad my binder is my blog, so that it’s impossible to lose. Actually sometimes I have nightmares about waking up to my blog being poof-gone and it’s a terrible thought. Hopefully this internet thing isn’t just a fad.) Anyway, while she was missing her recipe binder, she said she missed this recipe the most, because it’s her favorite Christmas cookie and she made them every year. She tried to recreate the recipe but couldn’t get it right, and couldn’t find the recipe anywhere online. She finally found the recipe binder (hurray!) and the with exact title and ingredients was able to nail down the recipe on the BHG website.
How to make macadamia nut cookies
I’ve made a few minor adjustments to the recipe, but nothing major. It’s a really basic shortbread dough that you roll in chopped macadamia nuts, then bake. After they’ve cooled you spread the top with vanilla cream cheese frosting, and then, here’s the kicker: you sprinkle the top of each frosted cookie with cardamom.
Cardamom is one of the most underrated spices in America, I swear. I’m a little obsessed with it! (One of my top 10 favorite Christmas cookies are these Crispy Swedish Cardamom Cookies. They are amazing.) The cardamom sprinkled on top of the frosting on this recipe really changes the direction of these cookies and makes them a little more exotic and festive for the holidays. If you prefer, you can mix a bit of cardamom right into the frosting while you’re beating it. I think it looks kind of cool sprinkled on top though. You can use any kind of nut that you like for this recipe. Pecans would be delicious, or walnuts. I do love macadamia nuts, but they are so pricey sometimes!
I love the way these cookies look when you roll the outside of each cookie in chopped nuts, but if you are feeling lazy, you can add the chopped nuts to the dough. Either way will work! I tested it both ways. If you mix in the nuts, there’s no need to roll the dough in the egg whites.
I’ve shown what size to make these cookies if you want little mini ones and if you want larger ones. Think of the mini ones like 2-bite-cookies, whereas the bigger ones are more of an indulgence, like eating a big ol frosted sugar cookie. Either way, I always eat way too many!
More Christmas cookies you are going to love!
Butter Pecan Cookies « these are one of my FAVORITE Christmas cookies! Caramel Pecan Thumbprint Cookies « these are similar to today’s recipe because they are rolled in nuts. It’s so good! Nutella Stuffed Gingerbread Cookies « guys. These are so good. Ginger Molasses Cookies « Ginger Christmas Cookies are awesome My Mom’s Fudge « Is this technically a cookies?? No. But maybe kinda it is. The Softest Sugar Cookies of Your Life « Sugar Cookies are definitely Christmas with the right cookie cutters! Whipped Shortbread Cookies from Greedy Eats White Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies from Just So Tasty Oreo Peppermint Crunch Cookies from Inside BruCrew Life Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram
