White chocolate and macadamia cookies

We had friends over at the weekend, for dinner. They brought dessert: lovely lemony moist lemon drizzle cake with chocolate honeycomb ice cream which I'd never had before but will have to have again soon (Crunchie icecream? Imagine). The combination was utterly divine. They kindly left the remains of the cake and ice cream so I didn't feel the urge to bake yesterday; I had however baked Jo Pratt's white chocolate and macadamia cookies last week and forgotten to write them up, so I'm taking the opportunity today. I love macadamias; I am less keen on white chocolate, but I was prepared to give it a go since the cookies looked easy and moreish.

To make the cookies, you simply beat together butter and sugar until pale and creamy, beat in vanilla extract and egg yolk, and mix in plain flour, white chocolate chunks and chopped nuts. Mix until you have a smooth dough. Roll into balls the size of golf balls and press flat onto a greased baking sheet; bake until golden and cool on a wire rack.


They were really moreish and the white chocolate did work, although I suspect I'd have preferred milk or plain chocolate in them just because they were pretty sweet. I don't have an achingly sweet tooth and am very partial to dark chocolate. That said, I couldn't stop eating these cookies; they should have had a Do Not Touch sign attached to them. I took one to work for a coffee break and found myself nibbling its edges furtively, like a mouse, far too early for cookies to be on the foodie agenda. I offer hungover students as my excuse; when they've been into your office, bleary-eyed and confused and dishevelled, and smelling of last night's trip to the pub, I don't need an excuse for a cookie.