macadamia & coconut shortbread

my mom always asks for a home-made meal for mothers day (and her birthday or christmas for that matter). of course, this is my favorite gift to give, but this year i stumbled upon a book that reminded me of my family in so many little ways... i had to buy her a gift! this of course, did not replace the home-made meal. the book, 'the doorbells of florence' is a collection of adorable photos of doorbells in florence italy paired with fictional short stories about the people behind the doorbells. not only is this a perfect light read for our family vacation to italy this summer (how fitting!) but the historical architecture and vintage fixtures are things both my parents love!

i appreciate so many things about my mother. for example, thank you mom for buying a new boat just in time for our sunny spring weather. what better place to host a picnic than in the middle of lake union floating on a boat? i tossed together a quinoa salad and baked some coconut & macadamia nut short bread cookies. delicious. 

*this recipe makes a fairly small batch, i doubled it so that there were extras to gift to my mom, sister and save some for myself. my cat also nibbled away at one. 

macadamia & coconut shortbread cookies:

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp

3 tablespoons raw sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts, crushed or finely chopped 

1 1/4 cup unbleached flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 egg

sugar for sprinkling 

cream together softened butter with sugar. add egg and blend. add remaining ingredients and stir until it forms into a ball. place the dough in wax paper and chill in fridge for 30 minutes (no more, no less! if you leave it in longer, be sure to let it sit out at room temp for 20 minutes or so to soften so that it doesn't crumble apart when you roll it out). powder both sides with flour and roll to 1/4 inch thickness and cut to size or use cookie cutter. another option is to roll the dough into a log, chill it for 30 minutes and then cut thin slices from the log to form the cookies (a little more tricky to make them evenly thick) place cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet. sprinkle with a little sugar if you like (i used a toasted coconut sugar gifted to me by my sister) bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until the edges are barely brown! check the under sides of the cookies before you pull them out - they should have just a little color and not too toasty. cool on a rack. store in a tin for up to a week. who knew a cigar box would fit my cookies so perfectly??