Macadamia Butter Cookies

Are you on the lookout for Butter Free Cookies?

How do Macadamia Cookies that substitute homemade macadamia butter for regular butter sound?

I love these humble homee-style cookies that are probably best described as a less crumbly peanut butter cookie without the peanuts.

Macadamia Butter Cookies are a popular drop cookie at our house where one of my favorite cookie lovers has a serious peanut allergy.

Fortunately, macadamia nuts are a safe alternative for him, so my radar kicks in whenever I come into range of a cookie recipe calling for macadamia nuts.

Dried cranberries provide a slightly tart contrast to the richness of the macadamia nut butter. The dough is somewhat sticky; chilling it briefly makes handling easier.

The Macadamia Butter Cookies dough is shaped into balls, pressed in sugar, placed on prepared cookie sheets, pressed with a fork to flatten, and baked.

Macadamia Butter Cookies Recipe

This recipe requires a food processor to grind the macadamias into macadamia butter. A high powered blender such as the Vita-Mix would also do the job. You may also be able to find already prepared macadamia butter at your health food or specialty food store.

2/3 cup macadamia nuts
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries, chopped
1 tablespoon granulated sugar (for rolling)

Preheat oven to 375F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg until well blended; set aside.
Place nuts in a food processor and process until smooth (about 2 minutes), scraping sides of bowl once. Make sure it is really creamy.
In a large bowl, combine macadamia butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, and brown sugar.
Beat with a mixer at medium speed until creamy.
Add vanilla and egg and beat well.
Add flour mixture to sugar mixture and beat at low speed just until combined (mixture will be very thick and a bit sticky).
Stir in chopped cranberries.
Chill dough 10 minutes in the refrigerator.
Divide chilled dough into 30 equal portions and roll each portion into a ball.
Place 1 tablespoon granulated sugar in a small bowl.
Lightly press each ball into sugar and place sugar side up, on prepared baking sheets, at least 2 inches apart.
Dip a fork in water and gently press the top of each cookie with the back of the fork to form a crisscross pattern and flatten the cookies.
Bake cookies, 1 baking sheet at a time, for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden.
Transfer cookies from the baking sheet to wire racks to cool.