Shelly's Recipe

CHUNKY CREAM CHEESE AND MACADAMIA NUT COOKIES

Category: Cookies

1/2 cup of unsalted, room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Zest of 1 orange
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts

Beat together butter and cream cheese. Add brown sugar. To this mixture, add vanilla extract and orange zest.

Sift flour and baking powder. Add this to the cream cheese mixture with a wooden spoon. Stir in the nuts. Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour or overnight.

Drop dough by heaping tsp. about 2 inches apart onto lightly buttered cookie sheets. Flatten each cookie slightly with the back of a spoon. (I found that spraying the spoon with cooking spray kept the dough from sticking to the spoon.)

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes at 400 degrees. The cookies should be lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.