White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

I try to be a healthy eater. I don't try really hard, but I do try. And because I do put some conscious effort into eating well, I don't feel bad about my cookie binges every now and then. I should have seen this coming as Cookie Monster was my favorite character on Sesame Street. But seriously, how can you not love cookies?

I have to share this recipe. Anyone remember those Otis Spunkmeyer cookies you could get at lunch for $1? These taste like an even better version of the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. Pat and I finished ALL of them in like three days. (So much for claiming to be a healthy eater.)

It's Paula Deen's recipe but I'm putting it up anyway so you don't have to search for it on the Food Network website. *It calls for candied cherries; I couldn't find any at the grocery store, so I used Maraschino cherries instead, but I kinda wish I'd used dried cherries. Maraschino cherries taste a little metallic to me, even though they come in a glass jar. They'd be amazing without the cherries, too!

White Chocolate Cherry Chunkies
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 stick margarine or butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp milk

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup Macadamia nuts
1/2 cup candied cherries*
1-1/2 cups white chocolate chunks or morsels
(Yeah right, I used the entire BAG!)
- Preheat the oven to 375
- In large bowl, cream butter and white and brown sugar
- Sift flour, baking soda, and salt
- Add milk to wet ingredients
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients
- Mix cherries, nuts, and chocolate and add to batter (stir only to blend)
- Drop heaping Tablespoons onto greased cookie sheets, two inches apart
Bake for 11-13 minutes

Since I used way too many white chocolate morsels, my batter didn't stick together very easily, and since there's only one stick of butter and three cups of flour, it gets pretty hard to mix after you add the dry ingredients, but THEY'RE SO GOOD!! It's worth it.