White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

These white chocolate macadamia cookies are some of the best cookies I’ve ever had. The cookies are super soft with melty chunks of white chocolate and toasty macadamia nuts in every single bite. If you slightly underbake them, they will melt in your mouth!

I have this thing where I like to sit in front of the oven and watch chocolate chip cookies bake from start to finish. I like to watch the cookie dough slowly melt and then see how each cookies gets its own unique shape. For some odd reason it fascinates me (anyone else find this interesting or is is just me??).

This white chocolate macadamia cookie recipe is amazing. They’re actually a great Christmas dessert and are perfect for shipping cookies, but really, you can enjoy them at time of year (I know I do)!

My best secret for white chocolate macadamia nut cookies

Use cut up chocolate bars instead of chocolate chips.

Do you usually use chocolate chips when making cookies? If the answer is yes, I have a secret to share with you. When I was in London I tried the famous Ben’s Cookies, and it took me a while to figure out why they were so good, but eventually I did! They use large chocolate chunks of high quality chocolate, and in each bite you get a delicious chunky melty chocolate goodness. You can definitely use chocolate chips, but I highly recommend using white chocolate bars for this. I chop the white chocolate to different sizes, some small, and some large pieces. Using white chocolate bars instead of chocolate chips take these cookies to a whole new level!

How to make white chocolate macadamia nut cookies

1. Sift together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar together. In a mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium speed for one minute until creamy. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.
4. Incorporate the dry ingredients. Add the flour mixture and mix just until combined – but don’t overmix.
5. Fold in white chocolate and macadamia nuts. I recommend doing this on slow speed or even by hand.
6. Chill. Chill the cookie dough for at least an hour.
7. Shape. Roll cookie dough balls 1½ tablespoons in size and place them on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet. I prefer using an ice-cream scoop to do this, but a heaping tablespoon will work, too.
8. Bake. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350°F/180°C just until the cookies begin to brown at the edges.

Note: Pull the cookies from the oven as soon as you see them starting to brown around the edges. The cookies will continue to bake from residual heat even out of the oven, and underbaking slightly is the key to perfectly melty, gooey cookies.

Tips for making white chocolate macadamia nut cookies

• Skip the chocolate chips and use cut chocolate bars. Chocolate chips contain stabilizers which makes the chocolate less melty and gooey – white chocolate bars will make gooier cookies 🙂
• Don’t overmix your cookie dough batter. Overmixing your batter will make the cookies more dense. To avoid this, after adding the dry ingredients, only mix the batter until the ingredients come together. I also prefer using a rubber spatula to fold in the white chocolate and macadamia nuts by hand.
• Slightly underbake your cookies. If you like your cookies soft, the secret is to underbake the cookies, and I find that it’s true for almost any cookie dough. I don’t recommend baking them for more than 10 minutes, unless you make them larger, in which case you’ll need to increase the baking time by a few minutes. Take the cookies out of the oven the moment the edges of the cookies just start to get golden in color. That way, the center will stay soft.

More of my favorite cookie recipes

• Orange Milk Chocolate Cookies: Gooey, rich, and full of flavor.
• Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies: Bakery-style peanut butter cookies made with creamy peanut butter and Reese’s peanut butter chips.
• White Chip Chocolate Cookies: Dark, fudgy, chocolatey cookies loaded with white chocolate chunks.
• Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies: One of my absolute favorites.
• Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake: Perfect for any celebration!

Print

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies Recipe

These white chocolate macadamia nut cookies have tons of melty white chocolate and toasty macadamia nuts! They're chewy in the centers and slightly crispy on the edges – essentially, the perfect cookie.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Chill time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes

YIELD 32 cookies

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups (350g) all-purpose flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks/225g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• ¾ cup (150g) light brown sugar (dark is ok, too)
• ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs , at room temperature
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup (170g/6 oz) coarsely chopped white chocolate or white chocolate chips
• 1 cup macadamia nuts , coarsely chopped

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. In a mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium speed for one minute until creamy. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Add flour mixture and mix just until combined. Do not over mix. Fold in white chocolate and macadamia nuts.

3. I highly recommend chilling the dough for at least 1 hour (or up to 3 days). This step results in thicker cookies that spread less when baked. If you're short in time, you can skip this step but the cookies will be thinner.

4. Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or

   . I used 2 large baking sheets, but you might need 3, depending on their size.

5. If the dough was refrigerated for a long time and is hard to handle, leave it on the counter for a few minutes to soften.
6. Drop rounded balls of dough onto prepared baking sheet, the size of 1½ tablespoons each (use an ice-cream scoop or heaping tablespoon). Bake for 8-10 minutes, until cookies just begin to brown at the edges, but the center is still soft. Cookies will appear undone but will continue to bake on the warm baking sheet. Remove baking sheets from oven to a wire rack and leave to cool for 10 minutes or until the cookies are easy to transfer without breaking, then gently transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Store cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Cookies can be frozen for up to 2 months.