White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Who doesn't love white chocolate macadamia nut cookies? I followed this recipe and it was a hit! I believe that it was the almond extract that makes the recipe so good.

1 cup butter, room temp
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup chopped white chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In mixer, cream together butter and both sugars. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and almond extract. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking salt. Gradually mix in. Add macadamia nuts and chocolate. Scoop onto baking sheet using an ice cream scoop for uniform sized cookies. Bake for 10 minutes until golden brown.

It is especially careful not to over cook these as they should be golden brown around the edges and still a bit soft in the middle. The texture is just crunchy enough and just ooey-gooey enough to make the perfect cookie.

"Turtle"

"Turtle" was made for my friend Cleo's sis-in-law's 17th birthday, since they say she looks like a turtle and they call her that sometimes we thought it would be fun to surprise her. The cake is Dark Chocolate Fudge and Devil's Food with Milk Chocolate Frosting by Duncan Hines. There is a Smuckers caramel filling with crushed pecans between the layers. Sand is made from brown sugar and crushed pecans. The turtle hump is formed with hand-molded Rice Crispies Treats and covered with Wilton precolored fondant. The sugar flowers and leaves were Wilton. This was a really cute and fun cake to make. It tasted great and if I were to make another turtle flavored cake, I would mix the pecans into the batter before baking and instead of using the caramel as a filling I would inject it into the baked cake.