Recipe: Even nut haters may like these holiday cookies with pine nuts

Much as I love a good nut, I almost universally hate nuts in baked goods. Not in brownies. Not in chocolate chip cookies. Certainly not in banana bread or carrot cake.

I've had this aversion since I was a kid. Nuts in a savory dish, such as pad Thai or spicy peanut noodles or African peanut-tomato soup? I'm all in. But add them to a sweet and I'm afraid I'll have to pass.

With one exception. I don't pretend to understand why, but I have discovered that I enjoy pine nuts in just about anything, including many baked goods. In the U.S., we tend to associate pine nuts with savory dishes, such as pesto or salads. But in Italy, they also frequently appear in cookies, tarts and other baked goods.

That's how I got the inspiration for these easy drop-style holiday cookies. They are my version of a chocolate chip cookie with walnuts. The pine nuts add a wonderful toothsome creaminess that plays so well with the white chocolate chips and orange zest. But if dark chocolate is more your style, swap it and the cookies will still be delicious.

This Nov. 3, 2014, photo shows chewy white chocolate pine nut cookies in Concord, N.H. The pine nuts add a wonderful toothsome creaminess that plays so well with the white chocolate chips and orange zest. (AP Photo/Matthew Mead)

In this Dec. 1, 2012, photo, Associated Press food editor J. M. Hirsch poses for a portrait in Concord, N.H. This week, Hirsch shares a recipe for spicy peanut chicken satay: an easy, weeknight-friendly chicken dinner. (AP Photo/J.M. Hirsch, Sharon Ramer)

Recipe: Even nut haters may like these holiday cookies with pine nuts

Cooking on deadline • In Italy, pinenuts often appear in cookies, tarts and other baked goods.

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