Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and I really wanted to get this recipe posted for those that may wish to try it for that celebration.
This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, and is very easy to make.
You will get 20 cookies from this mix, but please take note that the mix is very tacky – which is what I wanted – as its main purpose is to just hold the delicious macadamia nuts together whilst baking, and to give them a yummy “brownie like” coating.
I originally made this recipe for two dear friends, one of whom is gluten free and dairy free, and I wasn’t exactly sure how they would work out. But I have been so pleased with the result.
Macadamia nuts are not cheap and I am aware that this recipes uses 450g worth. I decided to stick with macadamias because I was baking for dear friends and I wanted them to feel special. But for another time I will try cashew nuts as I am sure they will work too, but you won’t get the big bulbous look that I was after which makes these cookies look so impressive.
When placing the mix onto your tray (or baking trays if needing to use two), don’t be tempted to scrape around the mixing bowl to collect any last bits of batter … if you do and add that to your nuts, you will find that the batter will spread onto the tray while cooking, and you won’t get the “rounded mounds” of coated nuts that I was aiming for in this recipe. If that doesn’t bother you then please use all the batter, but in my last two tests of the recipe I left about 2 tbls of batter behind and preferred the final look of the baked cookie.
- 400g roasted macadamia nuts + 50g extra for topping
- 250g raw caster sugar
- 75g Dutch cocoa powder
- 25g cornflour
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes, or ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 2 x 60g eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 50g roasted macadamia nuts
- Sea salt flakes
- Preheat oven to 160 degrees fan forced and place rack into middle of oven
- Line a large baking tray with baking paper … you will get 20 cookies out of this mix so if you don’t have a large tray use two trays and cook them individually … the cookies will spread a little during baking and you don’t want to cramp them onto a single tray
- Prepare the topping first: finely chop the 50g macadamia nuts and combine with the salt and put aside
- Place 400g macadamia nuts into a medium mixing bowl and put aside
- Place sugar, cocoa, cornflour and salt into TM bowl and mix 10 seconds / speed 4
- Scrape around bowl
- Add eggs and vanilla and mix 10 seconds / speed 3, scrape around bowl and repeat 10 seconds / speed 3 … mix will be very tacky but that is what you want to bind the nuts
- Add the mix to the nuts … to get the rest of the mix out (because its tacky), remove what you can from the ™ bowl with a flexible spatula then turbo x 1 second to dislodge the balance of the mix, scrape around bowl and add to the nuts (see note about cleaning your TM bowl)
- Fold everything together with a metal spoon (wooden spoon will stick too much to the mix)
- Have a jug of water handy, dip a teaspoon into the water, and then into the mix to collect a decent spoonful and dollop onto the tray … I like to use a second teaspoon to push the mixture off the first teaspoon
- NB: You will get 20 cookies from this mix … the aim is to collect all the nuts so that they are coated in the batter, but if there is any batter left in the bowl after placing your 20 cookies on the tray leave it there … if you scrape the bowl and add that batter to the cookies it will spread onto the tray and you won’t end up with little “mountains” of coated macadamia nut cookies
- Sprinkle each cookie with a little topping … any topping that falls onto the tray push back into the base of the cookies with a spoon so that you don’t waste it … it will stick to the cookie as it bakes
- Place tray into oven and bake 15 minutes, turn tray around and continue for another 5 minutes
- Remove tray from oven and allow cookies to cool for 30 minutes
- To remove cookies from the tray, lift the baking paper with one hand, and gently peel off the cookies with the other hand and place onto a cooling rack to cool completely … if you try to lift straight off the tray without peeling off the cookie you may lose a little mixture off the base because it is very “brownie like”, but will firm up as it cools
- Once cool store in a sealed container where they will keep for at least a week
To clean a TM bowl after making a sticky or tacky batter: If I'm making a sticky bread dough I’ll do this process for 3 minutes, if it’s a cake or biscuit batter then I’ll do it for a minute ... it all depends on how tacky I think the bowl is. So fill the TM bowl with tap water to just above the centre of the blade shaft, add a light dollop of detergent, then heat 1 to 3 minutes / 60 degrees / speed 6 ... remove the lid, pour the water out and your bowl should be clean if it’s a cake or biscuit batter, but let it sit for 30 minutes or so if it’s a sticky bread batter
This looks A M A Z I N G and I can’t wait to make them. Thanks for sharing your beautiful recipes Gina ❤️
Fiona … everyone that has tasted them has loved them … I’ll bring some over in March xo
Hi is cornflour =corn starch?
Hi Liyana … yes, they are the same thing … corn starch is what is the term commonly used in the US … hope that helps xo Gina