Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Now brown the butter.If you have not browned butter before, I describe it in more detail here. Then pour it into a large bowl. Whisk in the sugar. When it is cool enough to dip your finger in (it can still be hot, just not burning hot), whisk in the lemon zest (or oil). Whisk in the vanilla bean paste.

Whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Whisk briskly to make sure the ingredients are emulsified (blended together completely without the butter fat separating).

Now switch to a rubber spatula. Add the flour mixture one third at a time, mixing completely each time. When the dough is completely mixed together, press wax paper or plastic wrap down on the dough and then cover the bowl and chill for at least one hour or overnight (I always prefer overnight but in this case I was rushed and chilled for 1-2 hours).

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 F. Place the oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven. Whisk together the chopped macadamia nuts and sugar in a flat bowl.

This recipe makes 24 cookies. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Using a 2-tablespoon cookie dough scoop, scoop out the cookie dough, roll briefly into a smooth ball, and then roll each ball in the sugar-nut mixture, pressing lightly to adhere the nuts. Then lightly flatten the ball while still in the sugar and nuts--this will adhere them even further. Then move the ball to the cookie sheet. This cookie should not spread much, so you can get 12 cookies to a sheet, placing them 2 inches apart.

Bake both sheets at once--they will bake for a total of 15-18 minutes, but you should rotate the pans top to bottom and front to back after 9 minutes.

The cookies are done when they start to brown along their edges.

Remove the sheets from the oven, and let the cookies cool for 5-10 minutes on the cookie sheets. Then move them to a wire rack to cool completely.