White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

These cookies are inspired by my college years; I wanted that nostalgic flavor I’d get from eating a warm subway macadamia nut & white chocolate cookie on campus. It was a treat for my starving self and didn’t have much of a dent into my very tight budget. 

Recipe Origins 

This one started with these four thick & chunky chocolate chip cookies and I’ve worked off it over the past two years to create a dough that was a lot like it in its simplicity but gave more of a traditional cookie spread/shape. While the original goal was a macadamia nut cookie (this one!), once I got to the dough I wanted, I shared a pistachio and white chocolate cookie recipe to my substack last summer. 

For these I did make some slight changes; namely in the sugar and butter preparation. The goal was to get a more butterscotch flavor into the dough. This is done by cooking some of the sugar into the butter – like I do in my sourdough chocolate chip cookies. Also – I brown the butter for more nutty flavor in the dough! 

Recipe Ingredients 

Butter: unsalted or salted – if salted, halve the amount of salt added. Cold is fine. 

Milk: just two teaspoons of whole milk, this replaces some of the lost moisture in the browning process.

Brown sugar: light or dark is fine. It should be soft and moist. 

Sugar: fine granulated sugar. Please note, reducing the sugar will cause the cookies to not spread as pictured. 

Salt: fine sea salt. If using table salt, halve the amount. 

Vanilla: pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste. 

Egg: one whole large egg. 

Flour: all purpose flour of a medium flour content of around 11%. If using a low protein flour, the cookies will spread more. If using a higher protein content, the cookies will spread less. 

Leavening: we’re using baking soda here, no substitutions. Baking soda will spread the cookies. 

Macadamia nuts: While I usually buy raw nuts and toast them myself for freshness, I find macadamia nuts a bit fussy to toast as they can easily overcook. Instead for this recipe I recommend roasted nuts. Salted is fine too but if you are sensitive to salt you may want to reduce the salt added to the dough. 

White chocolate: when buying white chocolate (chips or a bar) check the ingredients to ensure they include cocoa butter. 

How to make White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies 

Brown the butter: set the butter in a saucepan and cook as it melts then the bits start separating. Those bits will turn brown, stir gently and keep going until all the bits are a dark brown (but not black – they should not burn!). Pour into a heatproof bowl and let cool slightly.

Add the sugars, salt and vanilla and whisk very well.  

Set the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds. Whisk vigorously, until you have a shiny mixture

The butter and sugar are hot so you need to work quickly: add the egg and immediately whisk very well. Don’t let the egg sit on the hot mix or it will start to ‘cook’ at the edges. 

Add the flour and baking soda and switch to a rubber spatula to stir the mix until no flour bits are visible. 

The dough is hot: if we add the chocolate it will melt. We’ll cover it with a tea towel for about an hour, until it’s cool and thicker. This also helps the butter firm up and the flour hydrate. 

Chop up the nuts and add them and the white chocolate to the bowl. Mix well to combine. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and set in the fridge for a few hours (overnight works too). 

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Bake the cookies; (I like to do 2 or 2.5 tablespoons of dough for big cookies) until the edges turn golden and the centers don’t look wet. Depending on how large you’ve scooped the dough this can take 10-15 minutes. They’ll continue baking on the pan afterwards so don’t overbake them. 

Let the cookies cool on the pan. Serve warm or, once completely cool, store in an airtight container for serving later. 

The cookies will keep for about three days. 

FAQ on White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies 

Can I use white chocolate chunks instead of white chocolate chips for the cookies? 

Yes absolutely. Always buy white chocolate that has cocoa butter in it. And remember, chocolate chunks (chopped up chocolate bars) are not made to hold shape like chocolate chips, so they will cause the cookies to spread more. 

Can I make the dough ahead of time? 

Yes – once the dough has had its first chill in the fridge and you’ve stirred the nuts and chocolate into it, cover it again with plastic wrap or put it in an airtight container, and set in the fridge. The dough will keep fine overnight. You’ll want to bring it to room temperature before scooping so it’s not difficult to scoop. 

Troubleshooting the Recipe 

My cookies spread too much and are flat 

Several reasons this can happen: too little flour (caused by measuring by cup rather than weighing with a scale), a low protein flour (Gold Medal and White Lily have very low protein content, if you can find out what your flour’s is before baking); not chilling the dough long enough (both in the fridge and at room temperature, this step is crucial for the flour to hydrate and the butter to solidify); or baking the dough when it’s too warm. Bear in mind, using chocolate chunks over chocolate chips will cause more spread – although sometimes this is desired! 

My cookies are domed and didn’t spread at all 

Several reasons this can happen: too much flour (caused by measuring by cups rather than weighing with a scale), a high protein flour (like bread flour), loss of butter when melting (this is why I have you put the sugar on top, you can also use a microwave plate) or reducing the sugar in the recipe. Temperature can also raise some issues; I find it best to bake the cookies when the dough is at a cool room temperature. 

My cookies have a weird flavor 

This happened to me once when making these and I figured out it was the nuts that had gone rancid. Try one before you add them to the dough to be sure they’re still fresh. 

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie Recipe

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Chunky, packed white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies made with a delicious and easy butterscotch & brown butter flavored cookie dough.

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Rest and Chill Time: 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Yields: 10 large cookies

5 from 1 vote

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Ingredients

• 113g or ½ cup butter cold is fine
• 100g or ½ cup brown sugar light or dark
• 50g or ¼ cup fine granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons whole milk
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 190g or 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 95g or ¾ cups roasted macadamia nuts chopped (reduce to ½ cup if you don’t want overly stuffed cookies)
• 135g or ¾ cups white chocolate chips or white chocolate chunks or caramelized white chocolate chunks reduce to ½ cup if you don’t want overly stuffed cookies

Method

• Brown the butter: set a pan over medium low heat and add the butter. Cook as the butter melts, then starts to sputter. Eventually it will go quiet and foam, you’ll see little cream colored bits that look like panko in the bottom of the pan. Use a rubber spatula to stir the butter, scraping the edges of the pan to make sure those bits cook evenly. They will start turning brown and when they are all a rich brown color, transfer to a medium sized heatproof bowl. Scrape up all the bits into the bowl. Let cool for about 5-10 minutes.
• Add the milk, brown sugar and fine granulated sugar, salt and vanilla and whisk very well. Set the mix in the microwave for 30 seconds then whisk it vigorously.
• Add the egg and immediately whisk; don’t wait or the heat of the sugar/butter will ‘cook’ the egg. Whisk vigorously until the mix is well combined.
• Add in the flour and baking soda and stir until the dough is smooth. Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and leave at room temperature for an hour. After the hour, add the nuts and chopped chocolate and set in the fridge for 3-4 hours, or overnight.
• Take the dough out of the fridge about two hours before baking to bring it to room temperature. Prep two cookie sheets by greasing them then lining them with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
• Scoop the cookies onto the pan in 2-2.5 tablespoon mounds.
• Bake the cookies, one tray at a time until they are golden on the edges and the centers don’t look ‘wet’ - about 12 minutes but timing will vary depending on size scooped. If you want flatter cookies, lift the pan slightly and drop it on the counter to flatten.
• Out of the oven some of the cookies might look misshapen; while they’re still very warm, I use a deli container (you can also use a large round cookie cutter) to ‘scoot’ the cookie around to make it circular (see video for guidance).
• Store the cookies in an airtight container, they’ll last up to 3 days at room temperature. If you’d like longer storage, freeze them.

Notes

Note 1: This dough needs to rest and chill for about an hour before baking.

Note 2: please refer to the ‘ingredient’ section when making any changes or substitutions to the recipe.

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