Chocolate Brownie Cookies with White Chocolate Roasted Macadamia Nuts (130 calories)

There is nothing exciting about birthdays anymore.  I dread my birthday each year as I get closer and closer to 30.
I keep telling myself that age is just a number, but somehow the fine lines near my eyes tell me otherwise.  I hate aging.  I hate getting old.  I hate feeling tired.  I hate not being able to party past 3 am.  To put it mildly, aging sucks!
I’m one of those people who tries to squeeze in everything I wanna do in a year because I’m constantly worried that time is running out.  So if there is something on my bucket list, I try to make it happen.  In my 20s, I had the oh-you-can-do-it-later attitude, but not anymore.  To me living is living now, in the moment, in the present doing things that make me happy and sharing it all with the people in my life.
Frankly speaking, the only thing on my bucket list is travel, travel, and more TRAVEL.  I simply can’t get enough of it.  The idea of discovering new places, foods, and learning about different cultures is beyond thrilling to me.  Besides travel though, I would like to venture out and take some professional cooking and baking classes for fun. 
So on this June 14th, the only thing I look forward to is celebrating the evening with my husband doing whatever he has planned for us, and hopefully he’ll hook me up with a nice gift.  🙂  I also look forward to the upcoming weekend celebrations with my family and friends.  Other than that, you got me.
And now dessert time!  Recently I made these delicious Chocolate Brownie Cookies, and I was lucky to share them with the ones dearest to me… my husband, my family, and my closest buddies, Jhiane and Marian.  Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, including my picky eater mom, loved these cookies.  They are soft, dense, and gooey.  I toned down the fat and calories by using 1 less tbsp of butter, adding whole wheat pastry flour instead of white flour, and incorporating some turbinado brown sugar instead of white sugar.  Hope you love them as much as my gang did.

NUTRITION: Bittersweet Chocolate also contain a good amount of fat, however they contain antioxidants.  Macadamia Nuts are high in protein and fiber and a good source of healthy fats.  Whole Wheat Pastry Flour adds protein and fiber to these cookies.

• Instead of 3 tbsp of butter, I used only 2 tbsp. 
• Instead of white flour, I used whole wheat pastry flour. 
• Instead of using all white sugar, I substituted half with Turbinado Brown Sugar in the Raw.

• Calories: 130 cals
• Fat: 8.25 g
• Saturated Fat: 2.4 g
• Carbs: 14 g
• Protein: 2 g
• Fiber: 1.3 g

• Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips – 8 ounces (or 1 1/3 cups)
• Unsalted Butter – 2 tbsp
• Whole Wheat Pastry Flour – 1 cup
• Baking Powder – 1/4 tsp
• Salt – 1/4 tsp
• White Sugar – 1/2 cup
• Turbinado Brown Sugar in the Raw – 1/2 cup
• Medaglia d’Oro Instant Espresso Powder – 1 tsp
• Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp
• Eggs – 3
• Ghirardelli White Chocolate Chips – 3/4 cup
• Macadamia Nuts – 3/4 cup (dry roasted & chopped)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. Over a double boiler, add the bittersweet chocolate chips and butter. 
3. The combination will start to melt.
4. The end result should be smooth and creamy chocolate.  Remove the chocolate from the stove and set aside.  Allow the chocolate to cool.
5. In the meantime, combine the dry ingredients… whole wheat pastry flour, baking powder, salt.  Set aside.
6. Make sure the chocolate is warm, and NOT hot.  Add the white sugar, turbinado brown sugar, and vanilla extract. 
7. Blend until well incorporated – this is what you should have.
8. Add the eggs one at a time.  Mix well between each addition.
9. This is what you should have once all the eggs have been added.
10. Add the chocolate batter to the dry ingredients. 
11. Mix until well incorporated, however DO NOT OVERMIX.
12. Add the white chocolate chips. 
13. Dry roast macadamia nuts in a non-stick pan.  This adds loads of flavor.
14. Once they start browning slightly, turn off the stove.
15. Chop the macadamia nuts. 
16. Add the nuts. 
17. Mix the batter for about 10 to 15 seconds until well combined.
18. Using a tablespoon or mini-scoop, drop tablespoons of cookie batter on parchment paper.  Since I do not own 2 cookie trays, I did this step in 2 batches which resulted in 32 cookies total.
19. Into the oven for 11 minutes.
20. This is what you should have.  The cookies will continue cooking a few more minutes once out of the oven so don’t over bake.
21. AMAZING!