White Chocolate Macadamia Cookie Bars

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookie Bars are soft-baked, chewy, loaded with buttery brown sugar flavor, chunks of white chocolate chips & macadamia nuts. Try this cookie recipe that bakes up in a 9×9 pan for a smaller serving size. From togetherasfamily.com .

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookie Bars


Ingredients:

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (without problem ingredients)
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts


Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9x9 baking dish with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.

2. In a small mixing bowl, add the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Stir with a wire whisk to combine. Set aside.

3. In a separate larger mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, and light brown sugar until creamy and combined.

4. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract just until mixed in.

5. Add the dry ingredients into the wet batter, mix on low to medium-low speed, just until combined and no flour streaks remain in the dough.

6. Stir in the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.
* If wanted, reserve some to press into the tops of the bars before baking OR you can just use extra to press into the tops of the bars.

7. Press the cookie dough into the prepared pan.

8. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown in the center and cooked through.

9. Let the bars cool inside the pan for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before cutting.
* If the bars are cooler they will cut better, but you could definitely eat them warm for a soft & gooey cookie bar.



FAQ:

How To Store Leftovers
Place leftovers in an airtight container, or Ziploc bag, at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Do I Chop The Macadamia Nuts or Keep Them Whole?
You can keep the macadamia nuts whole for larger chunks inside the cookie bars, or chop them up so there are more bits all over. I prefer chopping up the macadamia nuts so there is more to go around.

Tahini Parmesan Dressing

Yes, tahini can be part of an interstitial cystitis (IC) diet. Tahini is a seed butter that contains sesame seeds, which are also bladder-friendly. From callieknutrition.com.

Tahini Parmesan Dressing

Yield: Makes 1 cup of dressing


Ingredients:

1/4 cup pear juice
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons light olive oil
2 tablespoons tahini (if tolerated and without problem ingredients)
1 tablespoon coconut aminos
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons Parmesan cheese (if tolerated)
Salt, to taste
2 to 3 tablespoons of water, or to desired consistency


Directions:

Blend all, taste and adjust salt to desired taste.

Chicken Pie

The next time you’re in the mood for chicken pie and up for making it yourself, trust me it’s really pretty easy, you absolutely should give this a try. It’s thick and delicious, packed with a variety of veggies, tender chicken and topped off with a flaky crust. So good. From bakedbyrachel.com.

Chicken Pie


Yield-4


Ingredients:

Crust:
1 sheet of thawed puff pastry (without problem ingredients)

Filling ingredients:
1 rotisserie chicken
1 1/2 C potatoes, cubed
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 C red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 C corn
1/2 C carrots, chopped
1/4 C celery, optional
1/2 tsp salt (if tolerated)
3/4 - 1 tsp pepper (if tolerated)
3 Tbsp unsalted butter

Sauce ingredients:
1/2 C unsalted butter
1 C all purpose flour
2 1/2 C chicken broth
1/2 C heavy cream
1/4 tsp salt (if tolerated)
1/2 tsp ground black pepper (if tolerated)


Directions:

1. Warm rotisserie chicken per package directions. I warmed mine at 350F° for 30 minutes or so, in a foil bowl on a baking sheet. The foil will help keep any juices nearby and not making a huge mess out of your baking sheet. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes, then slice meat from the bones and cut into bite size pieces.

2. You can work on the veggies and sauce while your chicken warms or you can wait and do each as a separate step.

3. In a large skillet, melt butter. Add potato chunks, cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper. Cook for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the peppers are tender and the potatoes are almost translucent.

4. Remove from heat, transfer potato mix to a large bowl. Add carrots (I used baby carrots cut up), celery (if using), corn, chicken, salt and pepper. Stir well. Set aside.

5. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour, followed by chicken broth. Stir well. Make sure you get the corners of the pan. Pour in cream and sprinkle in salt and pepper. Continue stirring until the mixture is combined and thick.

6. Pour sauce over chicken and veggies, gently stir to coat.

7. Divide among individual baking dishes or one large baking dish. I did several individual dishes. It worked out great for dinner and an extra for lunch.

8. For your crust, you will need one sheet of thawed puff pastry. Slice squares large enough to fit each dish. While still on the counter or your work area, using a fork crimp the edges of each square. Take a knife and cut holes into the center to allow steam to escape.

9. Carefully top each dish with one sheet of prepared puff pastry.

10. Bake at 425F° for 20 minutes. Serve warm.



TIPS:

My biggest bit of advice for this particular dish, use fresh veggies if possible. Only use frozen if you trust the brand, we had some really gross frozen corn not long ago. I decided after that if I couldn’t get fresh or frozen in a brand I trust, then I’d be perfectly content to use canned – again… in a brand I trust. Not all brands are created equal in my eyes. Trust me, if you had tried this nasty bag of frozen corn you’d be in full agreement with me here. So, fresh is best if available.

Chunky Apple Cake

After taste testing lots of apple cakes, I've found this apple cake recipe the best. Full of old-world comfort, the yummy brown sugar sauce really makes the cake special. For a festive occasion, top with a dollop of whipped cream. From tasteofhome.com .

Chunky Apple Cake


Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons ground Ceylon cinnamon (if tolerated)
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (if tolerated)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 cups chopped peeled GALA or FUJI apples

BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream


Directions:

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well (batter will be stiff). Stir in apples until well combined.

2. Spread into a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until top is lightly browned and springs back when lightly touched. Cool for 30 minutes before serving.

3. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine brown sugar and butter. Cook over medium heat until butter is melted. Gradually add cream. Bring to a slow boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. Serve with cake.

Herb Roasted Chicken Breasts

I really like having pre-cooked chicken in the fridge that I can use to quickly whip up a sandwich or wrap, or add protein to a bowl of pasta, salad, or one of my “leftovers” bowls. While I often use a rotisserie chicken for this purpose, they are sometimes just too salty and we have a hard time going through a whole chicken between the two of us. So, this week I experimented a bit more with the “low and slow” roasting method and made these incredibly tender and juicy Herb Roasted Chicken Breasts. From budgetbytes.com .

Herb Roasted Chicken Breasts

Serves-4


Ingredients:

3 Tbsp butter, room temperature
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp salt (if tolerated)
Freshly cracked black pepper (if tolerated)
2 split chicken breasts* (about 3 lbs. total)


Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 275ºF. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and allow it to warm slightly as you prepare the butter herb mix (5 minutes or so).

2. In a small bowl, stir together the butter, minced garlic, basil, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Rosemary pieces can be quite large, so either chop or crumble the dried pieces with your hands before adding them to the mix.

3. Place the chicken on a cutting board and pat it dry on both sides with a clean paper towel. Smear the butter herb mixture over both sides of the chicken. Drying the meat will help the butter herb mixture stick. If the meat is too cold, it will form condensation as you rub the butter mixture over the surface and the butter will not stick.

4. Place the seasoned chicken pieces in a casserole dish that is deep enough to fully contain the chicken. Cover tightly with foil, or with the dish’s lid if there is one. Bake the chicken in the preheated oven for 90 minutes, basting once half way through.

5. Ater 90 minutes, remove the foil, baste again, and adjust the oven’s temperature to 425ºF. Bake the chicken at 425ºF for 20 minutes without the foil, or until the skin is deep golden brown and crispy. Remove the chicken from the oven and let rest for 5-10 minutes.
6. Slice the breasts or pull the meat from the bone. Reserve the juices from the bottom of the casserole dish for drizzling over top of the meat.



Notes-

*This recipe is for bone-in and skin-on chicken breasts. Using boneless and/or skinless breasts will require different cooking times and temperatures, and will yield different results.