These are as delicious to eat as they are to display for a 4th of July celebration. You should be proud to add them to any Independence Day food table whether it be at a casual outdoor picnic or something more formal indoors.
The white drizzle finishes off the red, blue and white chocolate chip macadamia cookies, pulling them all together with design. The macadamia nuts add the right crunch and flavor along with the white chips and vanilla flavored cookies.
Mix up this easy to make cookie recipe. Then separate the dough into 3 portions, coloring two of the portions with red and blue gel food coloring. Leave the third portion uncolored to present at the white cookies. Wrap and
refrigerate to let them set overnight or even a couple of days. Scoop them into balls and bake. After baking, add some whole macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips on top of each cookie. When cooled, drizzle with the melted white chips or candy wafers. Yum! What a pretty display…and just as pretty to eat!
This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies, depending on how large you scoop them.
Prep your baking pans:
Line them with parchment paper to keep cleaning to a minimum.
Preheat your oven to 350F degrees a few minutes prior to baking.
Gather up the Ingredients:
½ C Butter, soft
½ C Shortening, white
½ C Sugar
1 C Brown sugar
2 Eggs
1 Egg yolk
1 T Vanilla extract
3 C Flour
2 t Cornstarch
1 t Baking soda
½ t Baking powder
¾ t Salt
1 C Chocolate chips, white
½ C Chocolate chips, white, for garnish
1 C Macadamia nuts, salted, rough chopped
½ C Macadamia nuts, left whole for garnish
Red gel food coloring for red cookies
Blue gel food coloring for blue cookies
White chips or wafers for melting, drizzling
Mix and bake:
-Preheat your oven to 350F degrees a few minutes before you’re ready to bake them.
-In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter and shortening until light and creamy.
-Add the sugars and beat until well combined and creamy.
-Beat in the eggs and yolk, one at a time, along with the vanilla extract, until well combined.
-Sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Beat on low until combined. Then beat at a higher speed for one minute. Do not overbeat.
-Separate the dough into 3 equal portions in different mixing bowls.
-In the first bowl of cookie dough, drop in a few red gel food coloring drops and knead or stir it to give the dough a nice red color. The dough may deepen while it is refrigerated overnight.
-With the second bowl of cookie dough, drop in a few blue gel food coloring drops and knead it give it a nice blue color. The dough may deepen while it is refrigerated overnight.
-With the third bowl of cookie dough, no food coloring is needed.
-Stir in the white chocolate chips and rough chopped macadamia nuts.
-Wrap each color cookie dough in separate plastic wrap and then in separate sealable plastic bags and refrigerate for 24 hours. This will meld the flavors and possibly deepen the colors.
-The next day or even a day or two later, take the refrigerated dough packages out and scoop 2-3 tablespoon sized balls. You can either roll them for perfection or leave them rough around the edges.
-Place the dough balls onto the parchment paper lined baking pans.
-Refrigerate again for 30 minutes.
-Bake at 350F degrees for 11-12 minutes. The cookies should be golden with very light golden edges. I check them at the 8-minute mark to rotate my pans 180 degrees.
-Let the cookies cool on the pans for 5 minutes.
-Before the cookies have cooled, place 2-3 whole macadamia nuts and a few white chocolate chips on the top of each cookie dough ball - red, white and blue.
-Melt the white chips or wafers and drizzle over the top of all the cookies, red, white and blue.
To store:
These cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
To refrigerate, cover in an airtight container and store up to a week.
I like to freeze the cookie dough balls for up to a month by sealing them in a plastic bag or other airtight container. Thaw them in the container in the refrigerator overnight or on the counter. If you’re in a hurry for these treats, place them on a parchment paper lined baking pan and allow to thaw for about 20 minutes at room temp.
These cookies are fun to make and arrange for any Independence Celebration Event – fancy or not so fancy. They are easy to set out on a serving platter or in a celebratory basket with little red, white and blue American flags. However you present them, “Bake your own Memories!”