A while back I came across a recipe for gluten free cookies that used only five ingredients: hazelnuts, sugar, egg whites, salt and vanilla. The pictures looked beautiful but the simplicity and complete lack of wheat or wheat substitutes was what really won me over. I love hazelnuts but I didn’t have any handy. What I did have was a big bag of roasted unsalted macadamia nuts burning a hole in my pantry. Macadamia nuts are so oily, they tend to go bad rather quickly. With salted roasted mac nuts, this is no problem for me as I will generally eat the entire package before it makes it’s way into the pantry but I bought some unsalted nuts to make macadamia crusted halibut (oh. my. yummy.) and I hadn’t found a good use for the leftover nuts. Enter this recipe.
It’s super, super simple, as Sandra Lee would say and it’s also buttery, rich and deeeeelicious. They look like they’d be crunchy but mine were chewy and moist, that might be due to the high fat content of the nuts I used. I barely got these cookies on a plate, we scarfed them so fast! I did add an ingredient bringing the grand total of ingredients to six but you can leave out the white chocolate if you’re a minimalist like that. Feel free to try this recipe out with the nut of your choice! Go nuts! (HA HA! I crack me up.) I plan on making the original recipe with the hazelnuts then making little sandwiches using Nutella as filling. Yum.
Adapted from: Purplefoodie.com
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cup macadamia nuts, lightly toasted, unsalted (reserve 1/4 cup to sprinkle on top of the cookies before baking)
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 large egg whites
- a pinch of salt
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- shaved white chocolate for topping
Directions:
Preheat to 325 F. Line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment.
Pulse nuts and sugar together in a food processor until finely ground.
Beat egg whites and salt in another large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.
Using a silicone spatula, fold the egg whites into the nut mixture. Add vanilla and stir gently until thoroughly combined.
Pour the batter to a plastic zipper bag and snip off the tip. Pipe the batter on the Silpat into one inch rounds, maintaining a finger’s distance between cookies.
Tap the baking sheet a few times on the counter to spread the batter and get rid of air bubbles.
Sprinkle the top of each cookie with the chopped nuts and white chocolate
Bake until golden brown, 7-12 minutes. Keep an eye on it; it goes from golden brown to brown very quickly.
Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Gently transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
So happy you tried these! To make them even crispy, after peeling them off the Silpat, I turn them over and let them sit in the oven at the lowest setting (100C/180F) for about 5-7 minutes.. Maybe that should make even the macadamia ones crispier.