Macademia Nut Cresents

Macademia Nut Cresents

Macadamia nut white chocolate cookies are nothing new. The flavor combination of rich macadamia nuts and silky white chocolate is very popular and found in many mass-produced cookies. My version of macadamia nut and white chocolate cookies uses a very fragile short dough and is sandwiched with white chocolate buttercream and tangy orange marmalade before being dipped in white chocolate. They are one of my best fancy cookies. When produced in small one-bite cookies they are classified in a category known as petit four sec in classic French pastry.

A platter of my Petit four sec-from left to right Frangipane tartlets, Linzer cookies, White chocolate macadamia nut crescents, Dresden schnitten, Checkerboard cookies, Florentine cookies, and Frangipane tartlets.

I first developed this short dough many years ago when I was the executive chef at the Capital City Club in Raleigh, NC. In July I prepared them for a local ACF scholarship fundraiser dinner as a to-go gift.

Fill the baked crescents with white chocolate Swiss buttercream and orange marmalade.

Here is my recipe for the dough along with a step-by-step photo gallery for how to prepare them.

1. Prepare the dough and chill well
2. Roll out the dough on sheet pans and chill again
3. Cut the dough into crescent shapes with a fluted cutter
4. Egg wash half of them to be used for the tops
5. Bake at 350F until lightly brown and baked through
6. Cool to room temperature
7. Pipe a thin fence around the edges of half of the crescents with white chocolate flavored Swiss buttercream
8. Fill in the center with orange marmalade
9. Place the egg-washed tops on the filled bottoms
10. Dip in tempered white chocolate
11. Chill and serve.

Macadamia Nut Dough

Yield: 15 lbs

Ingredients:

3 lbs               Unsalted butter

3 lbs               Granulated sugar

3 lbs               Toasted macadamia nuts, ground

15 each             Eggs

4 ½ lbs             50/50 cake flour/bread flour, sifted

1 Tbl               Baking powder, sifted

6 Tbl               Vanilla extract

2 Tbl               Salt, sifted

Method:

1) With a paddle attachment in a large mixing machine cream butter and sugar until smooth.

2) Add nuts and blend well.

3) Slowly add eggs and vanilla until well-mixed.

4) Add dry ingredients to nut dough and mix well scraping the bowl often to ensure proper mixing.

5) Transfer to a parchment-lined sheet pan and chill for 30 minutes.

6) Remove just what you need and roll out and cut into desired shapes.

7) Bake and use.

Here is another way that I have used the crescents, topped with white chocolate truffles for a garnish on individual white chocolate buttercream tortes

Here the white chocolate macadamia nut crescents were used as a garnish for one of these fancy pastries that I served while I was the Exec Chef at the University Club of MU.

A Taste of Gold

Besides being used as a fancy sandwiched cookie I also use round cookies made from the dough as a base for one of my composed desserts, “A Taste of Gold” which is a layered sphere-shaped dessert made with Mango Bavarian Cream, Rum soaked Sponge Cake and Coconut Pastry Cream encased in a thin White Chocolate. A Taste of Gold is an award-winning dessert and the recipe can be found in my pastry book – Pastry & Dessert Techniques.

For a personally signed copy please email me at daniel.pliska.gmail.com