White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

I was attempting my yearly freezer cleanup when I happened upon a bag of macadamia nuts I had purchased at Trader Joe's this summer. I love macadamia nuts, and how I let these slip to the back of the freezer I'll never know. Resting comfortably next to the nuts was a big block of ghirardelli white chocolate. I HATE cleaning out my freezer. I LOVE baking. I'll just say the freezer is a little less cluttered now that the nuts and white chocolate are gone.


17 ounces all-purpose flour (3 3/4 cups)
1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, or 1 teaspoon table salt
1 ¼ cups unsalted butter (2 ½ sticks)
1 ¼ cups light brown sugar
8 ounces granulated sugar (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 ounces Ghirardelli white baking chocolate, cut into chunks (the size you want to eat in a cookie – not too big, not too small)
macadamia nuts, as many as you can afford, cut into chunks (o.k. about 1 cup I think)

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Using a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until nice and light. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate and nuts. Using a size 20 ice cream scoop (approximately ¼ cup) form dough into balls, and freeze for at least an hour, or up to about 6 weeks. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°, place desired number of cookie blobs on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake about 18 to 20 minutes, or until very light brown but still soft. Let cookies rest on cookie sheet for only 1 or 2 minutes, then gently remove from tray and place directly on counter top until set enough to eat.
p.s. This is the same basic dough as the Strobel Cookie posted earlier. Just make sure to use light brown sugar as dark brown sugar is too strong for the white chocolate.

Stupid Easy Fantastically Good Crusty Peasant Bread

If you love crusty bread but don't like paying $5 or $6 for a loaf at Panera I beg you to make this bread. It's crusty, chewy, full of flavor, and magical. Did I mention how easy it is to make? Stupid easy. Basically you stir the ingredients together, let the dough rest on the counter all day, knead about 10 turns, and bake inside a preheated dutch oven. This recipe was inspired by Cook's Illustrated "Almost No-Knead Bread" which was inspired by Mark Bittman's "No-Knead Bread" in the minimalist column in the food section of the New York Times. Here is my version:
3 cups (15 ounces) unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast (cheat and add a little more yeast if you are in a hurry)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (7 ounces) water, at room temperature or a little bit warmer
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons lager beer (3 ounces) (I use O'Dooles non-alcoholic or even water if I'm out of beer)
1 tablespoon white vinegar (this gives a slight sourdough flavor, substitute 1 tablespoon water if you prefer)

Put flour, yeast, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Dump in water, beer, and vinegar. Stir with a spatula or wooden spoon until a shaggy ball forms. I usually end up mixing with my hand to make sure all the flour is mixed with the liquid. No need to knead. Really. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for about 4 to 8 hours, or more, on the countertop. Sometimes I mix the dough just before bed and bake mid-morning the next day. If you need more time before you are ready to bake the bread punch the dough down and let rise again. And again, if you need.

Place a sheet of parchment paper over a medium mixing bowl. Spray parchment with cooking spray. Dump dough onto a lightly floured counter top and gently knead about 10 turns. Shape dough into a ball and transfer to prepared parchment paper. The dough and paper will sink into the bowl Cover bowl lightly with plastic wrap and let rise about 1 hour.

Place a 6-qt enameled cast iron dutch oven with a tight fitting lid into the oven and preheat to 500 degrees while dough rises, at least 30 minutes. If your dutch oven has a plastic-type handle it will stink at high temperatures. I ordered a metal replacement knob for my pot.

Reduce oven heat to 425 degrees. Dust top of loaf with flour and using your sharpest knife, make 3 slashes over top of loaf. Remove super hot lid from top of pot. Using parchment paper as a sling, lift dough out of bowl and gently place into preheated pot, paper and all. The parchment paper will stick up all around the sides. Don't worry, just put the lid on as tightly as possible and bake for 30 minutes. NO PEEKING. Remove lid and continue baking for 5 to 10 minutes more until loaf is a deep golden brown. Dump loaf out of pan, place onto cooling rack, remove and discard toasted parchment paper, and let loaf cool for at least 45 minutes before cutting. If bottom of loaf is too dark reduce the oven temperature by 5 or 10 degrees and/or reduce baking time next time.

Other versions:

Asiago Cheese Bread:

To the original recipe add 1/2 cup (2 ounces) asiago cheese (cut into little tiny cubes) into flour mixture. Proceed with recipe. This is my current favorite bread - so full of flavor and texture. It makes amazing panini sandwiches.

Cranberry Walnut Bread:

To the original recipe add 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts and 1/2 cup dried cranberries (craisins) into flour mixture. Proceed with recipe.

White Chicken Chili

Many years ago we used to participate in an annual Valentine's Day Chocolate/Chili Cook-off at church. The men were supposed to make the chili and the women the chocolate. Not wishing to be confined to chocolate, I set about to create a chili recipe that could win. Also knowing that red chili dishes would all meld together in the judges mouths, I figured that a different sort of chili would stand out. I was right and this one took home the blue ribbon (really it was a gift card to McDonald's - but still...). Technically, Scott won, because even though I developed the recipe, he actually cooked it. If memory serves correctly, I stood behind him (literally) and coached him through the entire process.

White Chicken Chili

2 cans navy beans, drained with liquid reserved
1 large onion, diced
¼ cup butter
¼ cup flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon Tabasco, if you like a bit of kick
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
½ teaspoon white pepper, or to taste
two 4-oz. cans whole mild green chilies, drained and chopped
1 cup of cubed and cooked chicken breast



In a 6- to 8- quart dutch oven melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and cook until softened and just lightly browned, about 5 to 10 minutes. Whisk in flour, cumin and chili powder. Cook, whisking constantly, 3 minutes. Gradually add broth, half-and-half and reserved bean liquid, whisking constantly. Bring mixture to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes, or until thickened. Stir in Tabasco, salt and pepper. Add beans, chilies and cubed chicken and cook mixture over moderately low heat, stirring gently, about 20 minutes.

If desired, garnish with shredded cheese, chopped cilantro, sour cream, and salsa. Crumbled up tortilla chips are good too.

Serves 4 to 6

If you are out of half-and-half use 1/4 cup heavy cream and increase the chicken broth to 1 3/4 cups.

p.s. I had a bit of a heavy hand when I added the chili powder for the batch in the photo. Okay, so maybe I even doubled the amount, but it was still good!