Macadamia and Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is one of my favourite Julie Powell quotes from the movie Julie & Julie (one of my favourite movies EVER!):

“Chocolate cream pie! You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when nothing is sure and when I say nothing, I mean nothing. You can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. That’s such a comfort.”

And Julie Powell was so right! It is such a comforting certainty that if you have the ingredients, a relatively reliable set of scales, measuring spoons, an oven and elbow grease and a wonderful recipe book, you will, more or less, make something comforting to eat.

I haven’t been feeling well, so I thought maybe if I whipped something up, and it turned out more or less acceptable, I would feel a little better. And looking at my chocolate chip cookies, I do feel better. I can’t eat them yet. But I do feel a sense of accomplishment that has made me feel better than a caplet of paracetamol ever has!

I added a twist to the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook recipe—macadamia nuts! Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

Makes 24 – 40 cookies

225 g unsalted butter, at room temp
350 g soft light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
400 g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 bicarbonate of soda
225 g dark chocolate chips (or dark choccie chopped)
150 g macadamia nuts roughly chopped (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 170°C (325°F).
Sift together flour, salt and bicarb of soda into a bowl and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure everything is well combined before adding the next egg. Add vanilla extract and mix until well incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure all ingredients are well-combined.
Add the flour mixture in quarters and mix until a smooth dough is formed. Add macadamia nuts and chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed.
Depending on your cookie sheet, arrange 6-8 amounts of cookie dough on baking tray covered with parchment. Bake for 10 minutes.