Oatmeal Macadamia Chip Cookies

Last weekend there were two places I wanted to bring something to share for munching. But time was tight so I wanted one recipe that could be used for both. There wasn't much in the house but a quick search through the pantry yielded oatmeal, macadamia nuts & chocolate chips. Put those together and it's cookies. After seriously altering my usual chewy oatmeal raisin cookie recipe it didn't take long to make a double batch of these soft cookies. I used coarse sea salt for a sort of burst of salty-sweet flavor.

Oatmeal Macadamia Chip Cookies
100 g rolled oats (1 cup)
2 oz macadamia nuts, dry roasted, lightly salted (1/2 cup)
130 g all-purpose flour (1 cup)
1/4 tsp salt, preferably coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
75 g sugar (6 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
75 g light brown sugar (6 Tbsp)
1 lg egg
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°.

Put nuts in food processor, pulse until very coarsely chopped. Add oats, pulse 5 times or until oats are very very coarsely ground (not even close to flour).

Combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a bowl.

Cream together butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg. Add applesauce, stirring until combined. Add flour mixture, stirring until just barely combined. Add oat mixture and chocolate chips, stirring until just combined.

Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake one sheet at a time for 9 minutes (convection) on until tops are lightly golden. Slide parchment off cookie sheets to cool.

Store in a tightly sealed container separated by parchment paper.

Makes about 30 cookies