White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

These white chocolate macadamia cookies will rival the ones you can find in a bakery. They extra large cookies with chewy centers, crisp edges and a hint of caramel from the brown butter. What happened to white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies? They were the rage in the late 70s and 80s when Mrs Fields had cookie shops in malls all over the US.

Somewhere along the line they sort of disappeared. But there’s nothing like these buttery cookies stuffed with chunks of macadamia nuts and white chocolate. This is one delicious cookie!

(This white chocolate macadamia nut cookie recipe is adapted from Cook’s Illustrated magazine, 2009 and originally published May 30, 2012)

What’s different about these white chocolate chip cookies?

The recipe is based on the classic Tollhouse chocolate chip recipe with a couple of differences. The first difference is that you don’t cream butter and sugar together and then add the dry ingredients. Instead of creaming, the butter is melted to a golden brown and then mixed with the sugars. The flour, chips and nuts are all just added by hand. We’ll also ditch the stand mixer for this recipe and mix everything in one large bowl.

Ingredients for classic white chocolate macadamia nut cookies?

While the majority of the ingredients in this recipe are standard, I’ve made a few notes here. Use the best quality sweet white chocolate chips you can find. I like Guittard or Ghirardelli. Avoid “baking chips” which are fake tasting. The buttery macadamia nuts and white chocolate are the stars of this show.

• Unbleached all-purpose flour
• baking soda
• unsalted butter
• white sugar
• dark brown sugar. Note: Instead of light brown sugar, use dark brown sugar which gives these cookies a deeper richer flavor.
• Instead of two eggs, this recipe uses one whole egg and one egg yolk.
• sea or fine kosher salt
• vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 8 ounces white chocolate chips* see note
• 3/4 cup macadamia nuts. Coarsely chop the macadamia nuts since this a big cookie. (I use raw, unsalted, but lightly toasted and lightly salted would add another dimension!)

How to make white chocolate chip macadamia cookies

This recipe makes 16 large cookies. It’s best to bake them in two batches rather than putting two trays in the oven.

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat.
• Divide butter. In a 10″ skillet, heat 10 Tablespoons butter over medium hight heat, swirling the pan until the butter is a deep golden brown, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining 4 Tablespoons butter. This will stop the browned butter from getting too dark. Pour butter into a heatproof bowl.

• Add dark brown sugar, white sugar and vanilla to butter mixture, and whisk until fully incorporated.

• Add egg and egg yolk to sugar and butter mixture and whisk until mixture is smooth and no brown sugar lumps remain.

• Let mixture rest for 2-3 minutes in bowl. Repeat this step twice, whisking and resting, until butter mixture is smooth and shiny. Scrap down sides of the bowl.

• Whisk flour and baking soda together.

• Stir in flour mixture with a rubber spatula just until combined.

• Stir in white chocolate chips and chopped macadamia nuts until combined and there are no air pockets.

At this point, the cookie dough can be chilled if desired. I like to chill it for 30 minutes or so, but it’s not necessary.

• Divide the dough into 16 portions. I like to use a food scale, weigh all the dough, and then divide by 16 to get uniform cookies, but you can also use a or eyeball them, and use around 3 Tablespoons dough for each cookie.

At this point you can freeze the cookie dough balls for future baking. Place the cookie dough balls on a sheet pan in a single layer and freeze. Once frozen, place the unbaked cookie balls into an airtight freezer bag.

• Place cookie dough on a baking sheet, 2 inches apart and bake each tray separately until cookies are golden brown puffy in the middle and edges are set. Centers should still be soft, about 10-14 minutes. For even baking, rotate baking sheet halfway.

• Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to completely cool.

• Store cookies at room in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

To bake frozen cookie dough, Place dough on prepared baking sheets and allow them to defrost while the oven is preheating.

Variations:

• Add 1/4 cup shredded coconut to the batter.

• Swap out the white chocolate chips for dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips.