White Chocolate – Macadamia Nut Cookies
The All-American Cookie Book
Makes 25-30 cookies

Baggett suggests you wipe off the nuts if they are salted.  Because I love to taste salt in my baked goods, I opted not to take that step.  They were not overly salty.  She also recommends greasing the baking sheets or lining them with parchment – neither of which I did.  The cookies came off just fine.

1½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/3 cups all-purpose white flour
¾ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons (1¾ sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1½ tbsp. milk
2½ tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. almond extract
8 ounces top-quality white chocolate, coarsely chopped, or 1 1/3 cups top-quality white chocolate morsels
1 1/3 cups (about 6 ounces) coarsely chopped macadamia nuts

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

In a food processor, process the oats in on/off pulses until ground to a powder.  In a medium bowl, thoroughly stir together the ground oats, flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.  In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter until lightened, about 1 minute.  Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat until very fluffy and smooth.  Add the egg, milk, vanilla and almond extracts and beat until incorporated.  Beat or stir in the flour mixture until evenly incorporated.  Stir in the white chocolate and macadamia nuts until evenly incorporated.

Using an ice cream scoop or spoons, drop the dough onto the baking sheets in generous golf-ball-sized mounds, spacing about 3 inches apart.  Pat the mounds down slightly.

Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, in the middle of the oven for 12 to 17 minutes, or until the tops are pale golden and the edges are just lightly browned; be very careful not to overbake.  Reverse the sheet half way through to ensure even browning.  Transfer the sheet to a wire rack and let stand until the cookies firm up slightly, 2 to 3 minutes.  Using a spatula, transfer cookies to wire racks.  Let stand until completely cooled.

Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 1 month.