Frosted Cashew Nut Cookies

 

I am meeting up with my daughter and son-in-law later today to take them out for supper. My son-in-law was at the Canadian National Winter Games last week for the Special Olympics and came home with three medals. I am taking them out to celebrate his wins and I wanted to bring them a special treat as well.

I thought they might both enjoy a can filled with some delicious homemade cookies.  Who doesn't love a homemade cookie?   This Frosted Cashew Nut Cookie recipe that I baked was adapted from a recipe I found in the Taste of Home Cookbook entitled, Blue Ribbon Winners.  It looked fabulous.  

Soft brown sugar drop cookies, loaded with plenty of salted roasted cashews and topped with a sweet and creamy browned butter frosting. What's not to love!

It was attributed to Sheila Wyum, from Rutland, North Dakota and is a recipe which won her a ribbon at her local county fair.  I used to enter things at local county fairs. I know how exciting it is to win a ribbon for them!  

 

One year my sister and I each entered our Chocolate Whoopie Pies to our local county fairs, independently of each other, and in two different county's.    We both came up with Blue Ribbons!  It was so exciting.  We both got the same prizes also.  Just goes to show that those were great Whoopie Pies!

I have a great fondness for cashew nuts, and I know my daughter does also.  When I was a child my parents always got a couple cans of mixed salted nuts for Christmas each year. The cashew nuts inside the cans were always prized above all others!  They seemed to disappear really quickly.

 

Eating cashew nuts, so long as you don't go overboard, can actually be quite beneficial to your diet. They promote hearth health, are beneficial to people with type 2 Diabetes, are good for the eyes, make your bones stronger,  boost energy. reduce cholesterol, help with the skin and hair, improve brain function and help with inflammation. 

They are also quite high in calories however,  as well as causing constipation, so it is best to keep their  consumption down to a dull roar. I wouldn't, personally, eat any more than 15 to 20 roasted cashew nuts a day. They do say that eating roasted ones is better for you than eating raw cashews.

Some of their health benefits might be reduced if you are eating them in cookies, however, LOL!  You can't win them all!

These are really delicious cookies.  They are soft and somewhat chewy, crispy edges on the first day, and that browned butter frosting is to die for.

 

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE FROSTED CASHEW NUT COOKIES

Some pretty simple every day ingredients and a can of salted roasted cashew nuts.  Usually these can be a bit expensive, but if you buy them on offer these cookies are much cheaper to make. Every so often our local shop puts them on offer for $2.99 a can, (with a club card) which is a real bargain.

For the cookies:

• 1/2 cup (115g) butter, softened
• 1 cup (200g) soft light brown sugar, packed
• 1 large free range egg
• 1/3 cup (40g) dairy sour cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups (250g) plain all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups (167g) roasted salted cashew nuts, coarsely chopped

For the frosting:

• 1/2 cup (115g) butter, cut into chunks
• 3 TBS single cream (half and half)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups (260g) icing sugar
• additional chopped cashew nuts

I just use regular salted butter.  I don't keep both kinds. Unless a recipe specifies unsalted exactly and I feel it will make a profound difference, I use salted.  If I have any concerns I will cut back on the salt required for the recipe.

I do use free range, organic eggs, but that is a personal choice. Feel free to use any egg you wish, but do make sure they are large and at room temperature.

In the U.K. it was never necessary to refrigerate your eggs. They were actually sold on grocery shelves, not chilled. This is because they did not go through the rigorous washing that eggs do in North America and so their protective covering was not washed away.

 

 

I used full fat sour cream for these. There is a whole cup of butter in these, including the frosting, as well as a whole can (pretty much) of cashew nuts.  I wasn't going to quibble about a few extra fat calories in the sour cream. In for a penny, in for a pound!

I did use a quality cashew nut. Planter's Brand, salted.  As I said, these were bought on offer. When you can get them on offer, scoop them up and then pop them into the freezer where they will keep exponentially longer than they would on the shelf.

I always only use pure Vanilla Extract also. I did buy vanilla beans a while back to make my own from scratch, but have never gotten around to it yet. Watch this space.

 

HOW TO MAKE FROSTED CASHEW NUT COOKIES

These are as simple to make as any drop cookie is.  Just make sure you make the frosting as well. The two go together like peas and carrots!  Also make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature before beginning.

Preheat the oven to 375*F/190*C/ gas mark 5. Line several baking sheets with baking paper. Set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together. Set aside.

Cream the butter and brown sugar together until well combined. Beat in the egg, vanilla and sour cream. Mix well together.

Stir in the flour mixture, combining everything well together. Stir in the chopped nuts.

Drop by the TBS (I used a cookie scoop) onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between each cookie.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and scoop off onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting place the butter pieces in a saucepan. Lightly brown over medium high heat. Remove from the heat and beat in the cream, vanilla and icing sugar, until smooth and thick.

Frost the cooled cookies with this frosting and sprinkle with additional chopped cashew nuts if desired.

 

On their own these cookies were quite good, but really quite unremarkable. I thought to myself, how could these have won a prize????   They were tasty, but they didn't have the wow factor I was expecting from a prize winning cookie.

I made the frosting, spreading it on top and adding some more chopped cashews.  That is when these became AMAZING!! Seriously!   I could totally understand the prize win then!!  I think my daughter and her husband are really going to enjoy these!

Are you a Cookie Monster like I am?  If so, you might also enjoy the following:

SOFT AND CHEWY JAM & SUGAR COOKIES - This small batch recipe makes 15 large, chewy, sugar crusted cookies.  The center of the cookies is filled with raspberry jam prior to baking. Soft and chew with a lovely sugar crunch, these go beautifully with a hot drink or a cold glass of milk.

RASPBERRY CRUMBLE COOKIES - These melt-in-the-mouth crumble cookies are amazingly delicious with a shortbread-like texture, a sweet jam filling and a moreish buttery crumble topping. The same batter is used for both the base and the topping. They are very easy to make and incredibly tasty!

Yield: about 3 dozen

Author: Marie Rayner

Frosted Cashew Nut Cookies

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 10 MinTotal time: 20 Min

On their own the cookies are not remarkable, but add the browned butter frosting, and they are taken to an amazing level of deliciousness!

Ingredients

For the cookies:

• 1/2 cup (115g) butter, softened
• 1 cup (200g) soft light brown sugar, packed
• 1 large free range egg
• 1/3 cup (40g) dairy sour cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups (250g) plain all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups (167g) roasted salted cashew nuts, coarsely chopped

For the frosting:

• 1/2 cup (115g) butter, cut into chunks
• 3 TBS single cream (half and half)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups (260g) icing sugar
• additional chopped cashew nuts

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375*F/190*C/ gas mark 5. Line several baking sheets with baking paper. Set aside.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together. Set aside.
3. Cream the butter and brown sugar together until well combined. Beat in the egg, vanilla and sour cream. Mix well together.
4. Stir in the flour mixture, combining everything well together. Stir in the chopped nuts.
5. Drop by the TBS (I used a cookie scoop) onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between each cookie.
6. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and scoop off onto a wire rack to cool completely.
7. To make the frosting place the butter pieces in a saucepan. Lightly brown over medium high heat. Remove from the heat and beat in the cream, vanilla and icing sugar, until smooth and thick.
8. Frost the cooled cookies with this frosting and sprinkle with additional chopped cashew nuts if desired.

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