Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Creamy white chocolate and toasty macadamia nuts, all in a classic brown sugar cookie base.
Texture: Soft and chewy center, crispy edges, and full of crunch thanks to the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts throughout. It’s texture heaven!
Ease: Super simple! You don’t even have to chill the dough (though they’re even more delicious if you do!)
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: It’s a classic, with all the tastes and textures you love.
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Calling all white chocolate lovers: this White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie recipe is for you!
These cookies are soft and chewy in the middle, crispy at the edges, and packed with a delightful crunch from the buttery macadamia nuts combined with sweet white chocolate chips, making them the ultimate cookie perfection.
Reader Love
Made these cookies exactly following the recipe and they came out perfect! I have been trying to perfect the bakery style cookie and this recipe did it!
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Sprinkle of Science
How to Make White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Ingredient Highlight: Macadamia Nuts
- I use unsalted macadamia nuts to allow the white chocolate to shine. You may be able to find them with other nuts in your local supermarket, in the bulk section in a store like Whole Foods or Sprouts.
- You can also buy unsalted macadamia nuts online here.
- You can also use salted macadamia nuts for that ‘salty-sweet’ flavor.
Cookie Tips:
- Measure your flour correctly by weighing it with a digital kitchen scale instead of using measuring cups which are far less accurate. So much so, that you may end up with DRY, crumbly dough and HARD, tough cookies that don’t spread and lack flavor. Learn how to measure your flour correctly here.
- Don’t reduce the sugar. Sugar does so much more than simply sweetening your cookies. It helps in spread and leavening, caramelization, and creating tender cookies that stay soft for days. Learn more about sugar’s role in baking here.
- Ensure your butter is at a COOL room temperature when creaming. Butter that is too warm won’t aerate properly, resulting in sad, flat cookies. Your sticks of butter should give slightly when pressed with your finger but still hold their shape. Your butter should be 67°F.
Pro Tip: Always Scrape Down Your Bowl!
If you’ve ever baked a near-perfect batch of cookies, only to have the last few cookies look like a little explosion happened in the oven, hidden pockets of butter were likely the culprit. Always scrape down the sides and bottom of your mixing bowl several times.
What Kind of Baking Sheet is Best for Cookies?
- A light-colored aluminum half-sheet pan is my favorite for baking cookies.
- Avoid dark nonstick pans as cookies will brown too much.
- Check out my Baking Pans 101 post for side-by-side pictures from my pan experiments and recommendations for the best pans available.
Storage Recommendations
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. To keep them extra soft, add a flour tortilla to the container.
How to Freeze Cookie Dough:
Freeze the pre-portioned balls of White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies dough in a freezer-safe container or Ziptop bag. Bake directly from frozen, lowering the oven temperature to 325°F and adding a few minutes to the bake time. Learn more about freezing cookie dough here!
FAQs
Can I Make This Macadamia Nut Cookie Recipe With a Hand Mixer?
Yes, a hand mixer will work just as well as a stand mixer. Just don’t use the whisk attachment (for either!).
Can I Double This Recipe?
Yes – simply double all ingredients to make approximately 56 large White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies. This works best with a stand mixer.
Do I Need to Chill This Cookie Dough?
No – but chilling the cookie dough for 24-72 hours will yield a thicker, chewier cookie with a more developed, well-rounded flavor. I recommend chilling for at least 24 hours if time permits. If you can’t, no worries; you’ll still get delicious results without the chill period.
Struggling with Flat or Dry Cookies?
My free guide shows you how to fix texture problems and bake cookies you’ll love.
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
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Ingredients
- 3 cups (381 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 sticks (226 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
- 1 cup (200 grams) lightly packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, at cool room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups (255 grams) white chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 cups (210 grams) chopped
macadamia nuts , unsalted*
Instructions
- If baking right away, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium-high speed to cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs and yolk, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Slowly beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the white chocolate chips and nuts with a rubber spatula.
- If time permits, wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours but no more than 72 hours. Let dough sit at room temperature until it is just soft enough to scoop.
- Using a large (3-tablespoon) spring-loaded scoop, drop balls of dough onto prepared baking sheets, spacing at least 2 1⁄2 inches apart.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Recipe Notes
The Ultimate Cookie Handbook
Learn the sweet SCIENCE of cookie baking in a fun, visual way to customize your own recipes frustration-free. Plus, my best 50+ homemade cookies!
Baked these at altitude (saw another question regarding this) and they came out perfect with no changes!
I tried this recipe, wow, perfection. They are soooo yummy. I am adding this recipe to my personal file. THANKYOU
We live at 7500 above sea level. What altitude is this recipe for?
Thanks
Hi Lisa! No one on our team bakes at a higher altitude, so we can’t say what adjustments are needed, if any. If you find that you normally need to make adjustments for a recipe to turn out, then I would stick to whatever you normally do. You can also check out King Arthur Baking’s article here for more help. Let us know how they turn out if you give them a try!
I tried this recipe this morning and not sure why my cookies turn to be thin and flat. The taste is good. I have to try it again to see where I made the mistake since the portrait of yours, seems to be way thicker. Can you give me an advise, please?
Hi Fenny! I’m so glad you enjoyed the flavor! It sounds like your butter may have been too warm, which can cause cookies to spread too much. Be sure to check out our cookie tips just above the recipe here for more helpful troubleshooting ideas. Let us know how your next batch goes!
Would like to add coconut also to the recipe. How much would you suggest
That sounds like a delicious addition, Rose! Our team hasn’t tested adding coconut to this recipe, so I can’t recommend an amount for sure. If you’d like to experiment, feel free to try swapping in some coconut for some of the chocolate chips or macadamia nuts. You could also try reducing the vanilla extract and adding a small amount of coconut extract for even more coconut flavor. Let us know how it goes if you give it a try!
I just baked these cookies yesterday! They turned out perfect and SO DELICIOUS!!! Got rave comments from family!! Thank you for a scrumptious recipe!!
Made these cookies exactly following the recipe and they came out perfect! I have been trying to perfect the bakery style cookie and this recipe did it!
I tried this recipe today, the result is exceptionally tasty! I tried quite a few others before, this one so far the best, so I’ll stick to it.
The dough turned out perfect, smooth but keeping shape, with nice sweetness and flavor. However 12 min baking was not enough, the cookie center is almost raw (they are coming out thick, just as in the original pictures). I’d suggest another 2-3 min, and probably on the top rack, to add more golden color.
I made these today. They are wonderful! I always follow a new recipe exactly the first time and I wouldn’t change a thing. I also appreciate that you give the metric measurements as well because weight is much more accurate when baking.
These turned out very yummy! It made a lot more cookies than anticipated, which was not a bad thing!! I will be printing this for my recipe binder.
Can I use browned butter, and still achieve the same texture? My current obsession is your brown butter Choc chip cookies.
Can these be frozen once baked.
For best taste and texture, we love freezing the pre-portioned balls of dough and baking from frozen; however, yes, you can freeze these in an airtight container after baking them. Enjoy!