Macadamia Walnut Cookies

In many ways, I feel my dad is one of my best friends. After my family moved to the United States, I had some serious issues speaking English (didn’t speak any at first). Because I couldn’t communicate with my classmates in elementary school, it was really hard to play with them even though I wanted to and I’m sure they wanted to too. Since the only word I could say was “No” conversations went like this:

“What’s your name?”

“No”

“That’s an interesting name, where are you from”

“No?”

“Never heard of that. Want to play in the jungle gym together?”

“No”

It was puzzling for everyone involved. And as a result I had very few friends in early elementary school. But where I lacked friends at school, my dad filled in as my very best friend. Every day after school, I’d go home and play around the neighborhood with my dad. We biked every trail near my family’s apartment, went to every beach in town, and looked into every hole in the tide pools at the beach. I knew the towns we lived in inside out, and when I close my eyes, I have a mental map of San Diego labeled with all the fun places I went with my Dad. Not only was my dad my best friend, he was also instrumental in helping me learn English. Every morning at breakfast, my dad would read to me from an English story book while I ate breakfast. Each third grade essay I wrote for class, he would read it with me to make sure I was learning how to put together nouns and verbs correctly. During summers, my dad gave me “reading assignments” that he’d made up so I could practiced reading. Between my third grade and fourth grade summer, I noticed a huge improvement in my ability to read and for the first time I could check out books to read at the school library! I was beyond excited.

As I grew older, I continue to have my weekend adventures with my dad. My family moved to an area with a lot of nature. Hidden in the valleys were lakes and ponds to be explored, and with my dad we set out to scope out all the trails in our new neighborhood. From when I was little till right up to when I went to college, every weekend was a new adventure with my dad. He was my best friend growing up, and I never for a minute wished I played with kids my own age. These days I live at school most of the year, but every time there is a long break my parents and I pick a new place to visit and we explore it together. Whether it’s the corners of San Diego or a completely new city in a new country, I always look forward to these adventures. Some people say they like traveling with their friends. But I know I love traveling with my parents. Close or far, there’s a never a dull moment on an adventure with my dad. Every Father’s Day I am reminded of how fortunate I am to have a dad like mine.

These cookies are my father’s day gift to my dad (the other gift was a sign for dogs to not poop on our lawn…but that is a story for another time). He is the biggest fan of macadamia nuts I know. These come with pops of crunch throughout, highly recommended if you enjoy different textures in cookies. Since macadamia nuts are very buttery nuts, it gives these cookies a very luxurious taste after the nut oil seeps into the cookie in the baking process.

As for mailing, these cookies held up really well in the mail. I put them into a to-go food container, and then placed that container in a cardboard box with some stuffing paper (newspaper or old advertisement paper work great too!) to make sure the cookie box does not slide too much. None of the cookies cracked, so I’d say they had a good trip.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and Father’s day too! What’s your favorite memory with your dad? Let me know in the comments below!

Macadamia Walnut cookies

Savoring Spoon

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Total Time 32 minutes mins

Servings 25 cookies

Ingredients

  

Dry

• 2.5 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Wet

• 1 cup vegan margarine room temperature (temperature is important!)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Toppings

• 1.5 cups chopped macadamia nuts
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 F, line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Whisk dry ingredients together.
• In a large bowl, beat margarine with a hand/stand mixer until smooth. Add in sugars and cream until smooth. Add the water and vanilla, and mix till smooth.
• Slowly add flour mixture to the margarine and sugar mixture, beating as you go.
• Add in mixed nuts, and stir till well incorporated.
• Make balls of cookie dough with a cookie scoop or measuring spoon. I made cookie dough balls about a heaping 1.5 tablespoon in size. Leave 2 inches around each cookie (they spread!).
• Place dough balls on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes (12 for very soft, 14 for crunchier cookies). The edges should be golden brown and the cookies will spread a little.
• Let cool for 5 minutes outside the oven, then transfer to cookie racks to cool completely.

For more macadamia cookies…

Oatmeal Macadamia Cookies