Cashew White Chocolate Cookies

The other day I went grocery shopping and I bought cashews. Dangerous. Very dangerous!

Before moving to the US, I lived in India for a year. I was working in the United Nations and I had a really cool job because I got to do a lot of fieldwork in the country side (remember? I came here for my PhD in Agricultural Economics.) I was a rural development specialist and that brought me to marvelous places all over India. Those who have been to India know that traveling around the country is not always the easiest thing. At least, it wasn’t in my case because I was not going to touristy places. I was not (always) traveling by plane and staying in 5 stars air-conditioned hotels. And I was not going out for a few hours with the option of going back to the hotel during the hot hours. Fieldwork meant 12-14 hours in the fields, sometimes with 110 degrees and 95% humidity. But, boy, it was a very rewarding job!

During those long hours my favorite snack was cashews! Bags and bags of cashews sold at every corner or little stand on the road. I never ate more delicious cashews in my life!

Now, I’m totally addicted to them. That’s why they are dangerous! Finishing one big back of cashew in 1 hour is sure less bad than eating 20 cookies in the same amount of time…but the calorie count is still high.

I usually try to refrain myself from buying them too often but yesterday I could not resist. And when I opened a kitchen cabinet and saw white chocolate chips I already knew that cookies would have sealed them in a perfect union. I put a few more ingredients together and in no time we had a wonderful Sunday breakfast.

The picture on the left is technically not right. I messed up (on purpose, for once) with the white balance and I actually like it much more than the one on the right, with the right white balance!

Now, I just have to try to forget I still have cashew in my kitchen.

Cashew White Chocolate Chips Cookies

Ingredients*:

Yields 15-20 cookies depending on the size

130 gr (4.5 oz or 1 cup) all purpose flour

30 gr (1 tbsp) cornstarch

2 gr (1/2 tsp) salt

5 gr (1 tsp) baking powder

100 gr (3.55 oz or 1/2 cup) sugar

113 gr (1 stick or 1/2 cup) butter

1 egg

5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract

60 gr (1/2 cup) chopped cashews


75 gr (1/2 cup) white chocolate chips

*You can actually use any type of chocolate chips that you like and different types of nuts.

Preheat the oven at 375F for about 10mins and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl mix together the flour, the cornstarch, the baking powder and the salt.

In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and the butter till they are well mixed. Add the egg and the vanilla extract and mix until well incorporated.

Cookies approaching milk...

Stir in the flour mixture and whisk until you obtain a homogeneous mixture.

Finally, add the chopped cashew and the white chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter on the baking sheet leaving enough space between each of them because they almost double in volume when done.

Wait...No! Don't jump! Wait for me!

Bake for about 15 minutes. When done let them cool on a cooling rack.

Have a sweet day!