White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies (Update)

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A classic cookie with a decadent flair, these white chocolate macadamia nut cookies are made with browned butter, toasted macadamia nuts, premium white chocolate, and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt. Recipe includes a how-to video!

Gourmet White Chocolate Cookies

These are not your average white chocolate macadamia nut cookies! No, these are decadently buttery cookies enriched with toasty, nutty flavor, sweet white chocolate, crunchy roasted macadamia nuts, and finishing dash of sea salt.

While it may sound complicated, my recipe is actually quite easy to make and doesn’t even require a mixer!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

  • Flavor: Rich, nutty brown butter enriches the cookies and gives them a much deeper flavor that is reminiscent of toffee. It’s our secret ingredient here!
  • Texture: Slightly crisp, golden-brown edges with thick, soft centers punctuated with crunchy macadamia nuts and pockets of creamy white chocolate.
  • Ease: No mixer needed, since we are starting with melted butter (like when making my butter pecan cookies). Don’t you love it when that happens?
  • Chilling: Only 30 minutes to chill, which is just enough time to clean up your countertop, preheat your oven, and prep your cookie sheets.
  • Sweetness: White chocolate has a reputation for being super sweet (I talked about this when I shared my white chocolate buttercream), so we’ll use just enough chips to add sweetness without making the cookies cloying.

Ingredients

Most of today’s ingredients are pretty standard, but we do have a few important ingredients that elevate this cookie dough from classic to irresistible!

Overhead view of ingredients including macadamia nuts, white chocolate, brown sugar, and more.
  • Butter. The first step in this recipe is browning your butter. If you’ve never done this before, I walk you through the steps in the recipe and video (just below the recipe). I also have a step-by-step guide on how to brown butter, if you need more help. For extra rich flavor, try using European butter.
  • White chocolate. There are a lot of ingredients that I buy generic without issue, but white chocolate is not one of them (and the same goes for baking powder or soda). Ghirardelli is my current favorite brand; you can either chop up a white chocolate bar (my preference for extra melty hunks of chocolate throughout) or just use chips.
  • Macadamia nuts. I use roasted and salted macadamia nuts. If yours aren’t already chopped when you buy them, be sure to chop them into chocolate-chip-sized pieces before adding.
  • Cornstarch. This is a favorite in so many of my cookie recipes, especially ones that begin with melted butter (like my worst chocolate chip cookies). It helps to keep the cookies soft and prevents them from spreading too much without drying them out (which adding more flour would do).
  • Sea salt. This is optional, but I love adding a sprinkle of sea salt to the tops of my cookies just after removing them from the oven.

SAM’S TIP: Your eggs should ideally be at room temperature. To quickly bring eggs to room temperature, place them in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for 15 minutes.

This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

How to Make White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Overhead view of a bowl of cookie dough topped with white chocolate chunks and macadamia nuts.
  1. Brown the butter: Melt and cook the butter in a saucepan until it foams, sizzles, and turns brown. Remove from the heat and let cool until it is no longer warm to the touch.
  2. Stir in the sugars, eggs, and vanilla, then set aside while you whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
  3. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, then fold in the add-ins.
  4. Cover and chill the dough before scooping and rolling into 1 ½ tablespoon sized balls.
  5. Bake until the edges just start to turn golden brown, then remove and sprinkle with sea salt. The key to soft and chewy cookies is to slightly underbake them in the oven and finish cooking outside the oven on their baking sheets.

SAM’S TIP: For round, uniform-looking cookies, roll the scoops of cookie dough briefly between your palms before baking. You can also add a few chocolate chips to the tops after they come out of the oven. This will give your cookies a bakery-style look!

Overhead view of a tray of cookies made with white chocolate and macadamia nuts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are my cookies spreading so much?

Adding the sugars when your butter is warm or hot butter will melt them, leaving you with a soupy, greasy cookie dough and ultra-flat cookies.

On the other hand, if you have cookie dough that isn’t spreading enough, you may have accidentally added too much flour to your dough. This is a common mistake; make sure you know how to measure flour properly if this happens to you often.

Do I have to add nuts?

I suppose you don’t have to! I do have a separate recipe for white chocolate chip cookies that you could try instead.

Can I make the dough in advance?

Yes, though you may need to let it sit at room temperature for a bit before scooping if you do. If you want to freeze the cookie dough, follow the instructions in my post on how to freeze cookie dough.

Close-up view of a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie missing a bite.

If you’re a big macadamia nut fan, give my coconut cream pie a try! It uses a macadamia nut-infused crust for extra flavor 🤍

Enjoy!

Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜

Close-up view of a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie missing a bite.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

A classic cookie with a decadent flair, these white chocolate macadamia nut cookies are made with browned butter, toasted macadamia nuts, premium white chocolate, and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt. Recipe includes a how-to video!

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 11 minutes

Chilling Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 56 minutes

Servings: 28 cookies

Calories: 226kcal

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Instructions

Begin by Browning your Butter:

  • Place butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-low heat.

    1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter

  • Once butter has melted, increase heat to just above medium heat. Stir the butter and scrape the sides and bottom of the pan frequently with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula – the butter will begin to bubble and pop. Once the bubbling/popping slows, the butter will begin to turn brown (see image). Once it begins to brown, remove from heat and pour into a large heat-proof bowl.

  • Allow butter to cool to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.

Cookie Dough

  • Add sugars into cooled browned butter and stir well.

    1 cup (200 g) brown sugar, ⅔ cup (135 g) white sugar

  • Add eggs and vanilla extract and stir until well-combined.

    2 large eggs, 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

  • In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

    2 ¾ cups (340 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt

  • Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring until ingredients are nearly completely combined.

  • Add white chocolate chips and macadamia nut pieces and stir until ingredients are well-incorporated.

    1 cups (170 g) premium white chocolate chips, 1 cup (110 g) Macadamia nut pieces

  • Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill cookie dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before proceeding.

  • 15 minutes before you are ready to bake cookies, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Once oven is preheated and cookie dough has chilled, drop dough by heaping, rounded 1 ½-Tbsp-sized scoops (50g) onto prepared cookie sheets, placing at least 2″ (5cm) apart.

  • Bake on 350F (175C) for 9-11 minutes or until edges are just beginning to turn golden brown (cookies should still be quite soft when you remove them from the oven, and may even appear slightly underbaked in center).

  • Sprinkle lightly with sea salt immediately after removing from the oven.

    sea salt for sprinkling

  • Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet.

Notes

Storing

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 226kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 115mg | Potassium: 80mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 221IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.

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