• Preheat oven to 350F

to make the macadamia butter

• To make the macadamia butter, put the nuts in the bowl of a food processor and process until the nuts are ground to a butter. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides as necessary. It won't take long, just a few minutes, and the nuts will go from a grainy mixture to a smooth paste. If you are using a small sized food processor, do this in two batches. Measure out 1 cup for this recipe (you may have a little extra.)

for the cookies

• Whisk the egg and the sugar together in a bowl.
• Blend in the baking soda and macadamia nut butter and stir well. The mixture will thicken as you stir.
• Stir in the chocolate chips and the chopped nuts. The batter will be very moist.
• Using a 1 1/2 inch scoop out the dough and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart. The paper helps modulate the heat and prevent too much browning on the bottom of the cookies.
• Press each ball down lightly with your fingers to flatten just a bit, don't flatten entirely, just take the round top down.
• Bake for about 13 minutes until they are just starting to turn golden around the edges, don't over-bake. They will looked puffed, and under-done, but they will settle down and firm up as they cool. I usually recommend doing a test cookie before you cook the whole batch.
• Let the cookies cool on the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack.