Comfort food

There are different kinds of comfort food for me..its varies from spicy to sweet!

With my fiance off on a business trip, I was really missing him and feeling very lonely.

I was trying to keep myself busy with things and planned my day.. my initial plan was to make bread but just didn't get the drive.. My aim was to have it as my breakfast for the week..but I suddenly had the craving for something sweeter and I found myself reminiscing about something I loved back when I was living in Jersey.

NJ and NY have abundance of good bakeries and one of them was located on my way to work. My colleagues and me would ensure we took full advantage of this!! It was the Zaro's Bakery. Working in Newark and having a good bakery around was really an unusual thing! Zaro's had a great variety of muffins and cookies (real big ones!). I loved their white chocolate and macadamia nut soft cookies..they were heavenly! Since then, I always end up hunting for a similar one!

I was craving for those cookies but just couldn't get myself to buy one of those! So then I thought, why not make them myself.. n why not make a healthier version of those..n have those instead for breakfast! I also had a bunch of other reasons to bake something. I recently bought a new set of mixing bowls and had to use them sooner or later! I also got myself a new phone and decided that my cookies would be the first thing I click!

So the goal was to make sure the essence of the cookie was maintained but in a healthy way, obviously I decided to go the Oats way. The original recipe asked for using all-purpose flour but I used whole wheat. I also substituted half of the sugar for honey and reduced the butter by a little bit.

White chocolate & macadamia oatmeal cookies

Ingredients: (Makes 12 cookies)
1.5 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
7-8 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons rolled oats
1/4 cup chopped white chocolate
1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets (used parchment paper to avoid the greasing).
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter, honey, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the oats, white chocolate, and macadamia nuts until evenly distributed. Refrigerate this mixture for about 15-30 mins. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are toasted. For crisper cookies, bake longer. If you leave the cookies on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to cool on wire racks you will have a softer bottomed cookie.

These came out really well. So light and yummy, and not too sweet, which is just perfect for me. I baked them for 12 mins to get the crunch. So as far as the week goes I definitely have a good start planned for each day. These cookies were so simple and quick that I already plan to make another batch in the week with a different combination.

Happy baking!

P.S. All pics shown here were clicked through my new phone! :)