These soft and chewy White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies are absolutely amazing! The perfect blend of crispy edges and chewy centers! They’re bursting with flavor from the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts, making these a crowd-pleasing favorite cookie! A must have cookie recipe in your repertoire. Love cookies? Make sure to try my Sugar Cookie Recipe and these Snickerdoodle Cookies!
When I shared my favorite Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies I knew I wanted to “play” with the recipe and see how it would work as a base for lots of other yummy cookies.
I’m happy to report that by simply swapping out the chocolate chips I was able to make this delicious White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie recipe!
The dough is rich and flavorful and has just the right balance of textures (slightly crisp edges and a chewy center). It worked perfectly with the classic combo of white chocolate and macadamia nuts! I was tempted to add some dried cranberries as well, and I think I will another time.
If you love White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies, then you’ll need to make these soon! I sent them off to work with hubby and he said it took about 5.3 seconds for his co-workers to empty the plate! I think that means they’re good? 😉
Personally, I think these cookies taste like they came from a bakery!!
More Delicious Cookies
Here are a few more of my favorites…
Ingredients Needed
In my opinion, a great recipe (cookie or otherwise) is only as great as the ingredients you use. Use high-quality ingredients in the right proportions, and you end up with cookies that have a perfect balance of flavor and spread. With this in mind, let’s briefly chat about ingredients.
- Butter – Adds moisture and a great buttery flavor to the recipe.
- Sugar – This recipe calls for both brown and white sugar. Using only brown sugar would be a little over the top, but you definitely want to use it to give that really caramel-y flavor to these cookies.
- Eggs – This recipe calls for a full egg plus an egg yolk. The extra egg yolk is needed to add moisture and chewiness.
- Baking soda – I’m a big fan of using baking soda in cookies because it gives you that soft, chewy texture and acts as the leavening agent.
- Flour – Use all-purpose flour as the base for this recipe.
- Salt and vanilla extract – enhance the flavor of the cookies.
- White chocolate chips – use a good quality white chocolate for best flavor.
- Macadamia nuts – They’re a rich, soft nut with an almost creamy texture that pairs perfectly with white chocolate. Be sure to use unsalted macadamia nuts since you are adding salt separately to the recipe.
How to Make White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies
I’ll walk you through my process for making this white chocolate macadamia cookie recipe. You can find a full printer-friendly recipe at the end of this post.
- Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking soda and salt) in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Beat melted butter with both sugars until they’re well-combined. The mixture should look smooth and shiny.
- Add the egg and the egg yolk, and mix until fully incorporated. Add vanilla extract and blend well.
- Slowly add the flour mixture into the mixer, then add the nuts and white chocolate chips and blend just until all the flour is incorporated.
- Preheat oven to 350*F and chill cookie dough for 10 minutes (while the oven heats up).
- Scoop the batter (using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop) onto the parchment paper lined baking sheets.
- Bake cookies, one baking sheet at a time for 10 to 12 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from the oven when the edges of the cookies are just beginning to get golden brown, and the centers of the cookies appear slightly under-baked.
- Allow the cookies to cool about 5 minutes on the baking sheets, and they will continue to cook, and firm up. Once partially cooled, carefully transfer cookies to a cooling rack.
Keep the remainder of the dough in the fridge while you are baking the others. Keeping the dough cool will help the cookies keep their shape while baking.
Variations To Try
These cookies are so good, that you won’t be able to eat just one. However, if you make them often you may find that you want to play around with some different flavor combinations. Here are a few ideas:
- Add ¾ cup dried cranberries for a festive holiday cookie
- Add ¾ cup dried cherries for a tasty splash of color
- Use chopped hazelnuts or pecans instead of the macadamia nuts
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie Recipe FAQs
Here are a few answers to common questions I get – and tips for you to use when making these cookies.
- Can You Freeze These Cookies? Yes! While you can freeze the already baked cookies for up to 3 months, I prefer to freeze the dough balls and bake them when I’m ready to enjoy them. Do this after your dough has finished chilling. Scoop out cookie dough and roll them into balls. Then place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze. Once they harden, transfer them to an airtight container. When you’re ready to enjoy them, preheat your oven and place the frozen dough balls onto a parchment-lined sheet, and bake. Tip: you don’t need to defrost the balls before baking them!
- How Long Do These Cookies Last? You can store these cookies for up to 7 days in an airtight container.
- Why Use Unsalted Butter and Nuts? Salt is a terrific flavor enhancer. However, if you use a little too much, it will totally ruin your recipe. Instead of risking that, use unsalted ingredients such as butter and nuts and add salt on your own so that you can control how much goes into your recipe. If you really like the flavor of salt, you could always sprinkle a little finishing salt on the top of your cookies after they bake.
- Why Use Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Mats? I really like to bake these cookies on parchment paper, as noted. Feel free to use Silpat lined baking sheets, or lightly greased baking sheets, but your results may not be identical to mine.
- How do I Know When The Cookies Are Done? Be careful not to over bake the cookies, or they will not have the soft, chewy texture I’ve described. Be sure to remove the cookies from the oven while they still appear to be slightly under-baked (just starting to turn golden on the edges and undercooked center).
- Can I Use White Chocolate Chunks Instead of Chips? Yes! You can absolutely do that. I just recommend using a good quality brand like Ghirardelli. This dough will come together very quickly, which is good because once you make one batch of White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies, you’ll likely need to make another very soon after that!
More Amazing Cookie Recipes
- Sprinkle Sugar Cookies
- Cranberry Orange Cookies
- Gingerbread Cookies
- Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
- Sugar Cookies
How to Make White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 1/2 sticks, melted
- 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts unsalted
- 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
Instructions
- In one large bowl add flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
- Melt the butter, then add to another large bowl, or the bowl of an electric or stand mixer.
- Blend melted butter with both sugars, and beat (or stir vigorously by hand) until the butter and sugars are well combined and the mixture is smooth and shiny.
- Add the egg, then the egg yolk, and continue to beat until fully incorporated.
- Add vanilla and blend well.
- Pour flour mixture slowly into the mixer, then add the nuts and white chocolate chips and blend just until all the flour is incorporated.
- Preheat oven to 350*F and move the bowl of cookie dough to the fridge for 10 minutes (while the oven heats up).
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Scoop the batter (using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop) onto the parchment paper lined baking sheets.
- Bake cookies, one baking sheet at a time for 10-12 minutes (I usually bake mine for 10 minutes).
- Remove the cookies from the oven when the edges of the cookies are just BEGINING to get golden brown, and the centers of the cookies appear slightly under-baked.
- Allow the cookies to cool about 5 minutes on the baking sheets, and they will continue to cook, and firm up. Once partially cooled, carefully transfer cookies to a cooling rack.
- Keep the remainder of the dough in the fridge while you are baking the others. Keeping the dough cool will help the cookies keep their shape while baking.
Notes
Tools Needed
- Mixing bowls
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
- Parchment paper or Silicone Baking Mat
- Baking sheets
Nutrition
Originally published October 13, 2013.
Is it ok if the butter isn’t melted? My mother insisted not to, for some reason.
Yes, you can do either way you want, but the melted butter will result in a chewier, less fluffy texture, which is what I prefer.
One of my favorite types of cookies! I totally agree that having a recipe where the ingredients can be swapped out is the best, especially during the crazy holiday baking season. And the place mat is just beautiful! What a nice gift from an old friend.
Yummy! Although I don’t like white chocolate so I would have to use milk choc x
Heather | Of Beauty & Nothingness