Chocolate Marble Chunk and Honey-Roasted Peanut Cookies

Though I love the challenge of making overly-complicated, fussy, restaurant-style desserts, there are times when I crave the simple comforts of a home-baked cookie and a big old glass of ice-cold 

whole milk. Classic chocolate chip cookies are probably my favorites, but they are a bit over-exposed, so occasionally I put my own spin on them, as in my Chocolate Marble Chunk Cookies. 

They’re made from a half-chocolate, half -traditional chocolate chip cookie dough that’s full of chocolate chunks and pecans, and combined in scoop to make a pretty-cool-looking marbleized

 cookie. There’s lots of chocolate action in these delicious cookies. Another one of my favorites is a classic peanut butter cookie, which I learned to make years ago working at the test kitchens of Skippy 

Peanut Butter (a dangerous job, especially if you were determined not to gain 10-20 pounds). I’ve adapted the recipe quite a bit since then, and now add honey-roasted peanuts to the dough, which

 catapults these cookies into superstar status. The heady scent of these cookies in the oven may even remind you of taking a plane trip back in the good old days, before peanut allergies became so prevalent, and honey-roasted peanuts were the snack du jour.

A Monster Cookie

As the editor of Dessert Professional magazine, I taste my good share of high-end, fru-fru, $14 restaurant desserts. And they are generally excellent. But sometimes I crave a simple down-home treat, like a good chocolaty brownie or, my personal favorite, a chocolate chunk cookie studded with macadamia nuts (cousin of the chocolate chip cookie). This recipe is a little different from the standard Toll House cookie recipe—it’s got a little less flour and an extra egg, which causes the cookies to bake up flat and slightly crispy around the edges. This way you can focus on the good stuff, like the big chunks of bittersweet chocolate and salted macadamia nuts. And while my cookies are over-sized, but you can certainly downsize yours by cutting amount of dough you use for each cookie in half.