Chocolate-Macadamia Cookies

Today is a perfectly idyllic day, so I shall post this recipe quickly and then go outside. Highly recommended, but then I don't post anything that I don't find absolutely smashing. By the way, you can substitute the macadamias with any nut (walnuts are especially good).

The recipe makes 12 cookies, but by the time the lighting was right only these were left.

Chocolate-Macadamia Cookies

• 55g canola oil
• 100g ground jaggery (or sub raw sugar, but jaggery is HIGHLY recommended because it tastes like caramel and is very wholesome)
• 35g dark agave nectar (or maple syrup, or golden syrup, or even sugar syrup if you don't have this)
• 20g warm soymilk (or other non-animal milk)
• 8g vanilla extract
• 103g white flour (I have used both white and wholemeal and like both, but if you're used to cookies made with white flour then use that)
• 32g cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
• pinch salt
• 50-60g macadamias, toasted until golden (I put raw macadamias in a small non-stick frying pan and let sit on a medium-low flame for about 7-8 minutes, stirring frequently)

Preheat oven to 180 C and grease a cookie sheet.

In a mixing bowl, combine the oil, jaggery, agave, soymilk and vanilla until the jaggery has dissolved completely. I usually stick the mixture in the microwave for about 30 seconds to speed the dissolving up. Make sure your mixing bowl is microwave safe!

Sift in the dry ingredients and stir to form a sticky dough. Add the macadamias.

Spoon 12 blobs of dough on the cookie sheet and flatten slightly (they do spread so leave gaps). 

Bake 8-10 minutes for soft and chewy cookies (they will come out looking undercooked, but as long as you can lift them up in one piece it's fine, because after you cool them they'll firm up a bit.)

Bake 10-12 minutes for crispy cookies.

Leave to cool COMPLETELY before storing in an airtight jar, or they'll go soggy from the steam.