Chewy White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

The butter for these white chocolate macadamia nut cookies tells you when it’s ready by going quiet. It bubbles and pops in the saucepan, the noise fades, and that’s when it starts to brown.

I pour it into a heatproof bowl at the first tan specks. Left in the hot pan, it keeps cooking.

That browned butter gives the dough a toasty base, which keeps all the white chocolate from tasting flat and sugary. Then the dough chills, and I scoop it big.

What I want from the oven is a cookie with edges just going golden and a middle that still looks underdone. It sets on the sheet as it cools.

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How do you keep white chocolate macadamia nut cookies soft?

Pull them from a 350°F oven while the edges are just turning golden and the centers still look slightly underbaked, about 9 to 11 minutes for 50-gram scoops. Then let them cool completely on the baking sheet. The centers finish setting there, so the middles stay soft and chewy.

What Makes It Work

• Browning the butter toasts its milk solids, and that nutty flavor balances the sweet white chocolate.
• A full 2 3/4 cups of flour per cup of butter makes a stiff dough that holds a tall scoop. Sugar Spun Run uses 340 grams, and Sherlina Nym lands at nearly the same weight once her recipe is scaled to the same amount of butter.
• Chilling for at least 30 minutes firms up butter that went in as a liquid, so the scoops keep their round shape in the oven.

I scoop this dough cold, straight from the fridge. A scoop that holds a heaping 1 1/2 tablespoons gets me close to 50 grams without a scale.

Why You’ll Love These White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

• The dough stirs together with a spoon, so the mixer stays in the cabinet.
• Brown sugar outweighs the white, which keeps the middles soft and chewy.
• Big pieces of macadamia give a buttery crunch against the soft cookie.
• Flaky salt on the warm tops cuts through the sweetness of the white chocolate.

Grab These Ingredients

• 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (200 g) packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup (135 g) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature preferred
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups (340 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups (170 to 260 g) white chocolate chips
• 1 cup (110 to 135 g) macadamia nuts, chopped, or macadamia pieces
• Flaky sea salt for sprinkling, optional

Picking the Right Ingredients

Use unsalted butter, since the 3/4 teaspoon of salt in the dry mix is matched to it. When you pour the browned butter out, scrape in every toasted speck from the bottom of the pan, since that’s where the flavor sits.

The white chocolate is the one amount with real room in it. Sugar Spun Run uses 1 cup and a little calm uses 1 1/2 cups, so go by how sweet you want the cookie.

Chips hold their shape better than a chopped bar, which tends to melt into the dough. Macadamias come whole, halved, or as pieces.

Pieces save you the chopping, and whole nuts should be cut into rough chunks. Room-temperature eggs blend into the cooled butter smoothly, while cold ones can make the mixture look tight and lumpy.

How to Make White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

1. Melt the butter. Set the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat and let it melt completely. Line two baking sheets with parchment while you wait. Move on once no solid pieces are left in the pan.
2. Brown it by ear. Raise the heat to just above medium and stir constantly, scraping the bottom and sides. The butter bubbles and pops loudly. When the popping slows and tan specks appear, pour it into a large heatproof bowl right away.
3. Cool the butter. Leave the browned butter on the counter until it comes back to room temperature. Warm butter melts the sugar and can start cooking the eggs. It’s ready when the bowl feels cool against your palm.
4. Stir in the sugars. Add both sugars to the cooled butter and stir hard with a sturdy spoon. Keep going until the mixture looks like wet sand, with no pale pockets of brown sugar left.
5. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir in the eggs and vanilla until fully combined. The mixture turns smooth and glossy, with no streaks of yolk showing when you drag the spoon through it.
6. Add the dry mix. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add it to the butter mixture a little at a time, stirring until only a few dry streaks remain.
7. Fold in the mix-ins. Add the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts and stir until they’re spread evenly. The dough for white chocolate macadamia nut cookies is thick and soft now, with no flour streaks left.
8. Chill the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 350°F about 15 minutes before baking. The dough is ready when the top feels firm, not tacky.
9. Scoop and space. Drop heaping 1 1/2 tablespoon scoops, about 50 grams each, onto the lined sheets at least 2 inches apart. Each ball should sit round and tall without slumping flat.
10. Bake and pull early. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to turn golden and the centers still look soft and slightly underbaked. Sprinkle on flaky salt while the tops are warm, if using.
11. Cool on the sheet. Leave the cookies on the baking sheet until completely cool. The soft centers set as they cool, and the cookies lift off the parchment cleanly once they’ve firmed up.

Tips From My Kitchen

• Don’t leave the browned butter sitting in the saucepan. The hot pan keeps cooking it, and it can slip from tan to too dark in seconds.
• If the dough is still too soft to scoop after 30 minutes, give it more time in the fridge. a little calm also freezes the shaped balls for 15 to 30 minutes before baking, which helps if your kitchen runs warm.
• I don’t measure the white chocolate too carefully. Somewhere between 1 and 1 1/2 cups lands in the bowl, and I’m fine with that.
• The dough has raw egg and raw flour in it, so skip tasting it until it’s baked.

How to Store It

None of the sources behind this recipe cover storage. What follows is general kitchen practice, not a tested number.

Once the cookies are completely cool, I keep them in an airtight container at room temperature and eat them within a few days, while the centers are still soft. A cookie that has gone firm can soften again with a short warm-up in the oven.

The dough itself only gets a fridge chill of up to 1 hour in the sources, so I bake it the same day. Freezing shaped dough or baked cookies isn’t covered either, so treat a frozen batch as your own test and watch the edges closely when it bakes.

What Goes With White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

• A cold glass of milk, which softens the sweetness of the white chocolate.
• Hot coffee or black tea, since something a little bitter balances a sugary cookie.
• A scoop of vanilla ice cream pressed between two cookies for a quick ice cream sandwich.

What I Use to Make This

• A medium saucepan with a light-colored interior, so you can see the butter turning tan.
• A large heatproof bowl for the hot butter, which then becomes your mixing bowl.
• A heatproof spatula or wooden spoon for scraping the pan while the butter browns.
• A cookie scoop that holds a heaping 1 1/2 tablespoons, for even 50-gram cookies.
• Two baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Common Questions

Why brown the butter for white chocolate macadamia nut cookies? Browning adds a toasty, nutty flavor that keeps the white chocolate from tasting flat. It also means the butter goes in as a liquid, which is why the dough needs a chill.

Do I have to chill the dough? Yes, for at least 30 minutes. The chill firms the dough enough to scoop cleanly and keeps the cookies round and thick.

Why did my cookies come out hard? Most of the time they stayed in the oven too long. Pull them while the centers still look underbaked and let them finish setting on the sheet.

Can I use softened butter instead of browned? You can, but you’ll get a different cookie. CupcakeJemma uses soft butter and less flour, and her cookies stay slightly undercooked in the middle. The flour amount here goes with the browned-butter method.

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Chewy White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Recipe by Daisy MerrittCourse: CookiesCuisine: American

Servings

26

servings

Prep time

25

minutes

Cooking time

11

minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter

• 1 cup (200 g) packed brown sugar

• 2/3 cup (135 g) granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs, room temperature preferred

• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 2 3/4 cups (340 g) all-purpose flour

• 1 tbsp cornstarch

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 3/4 tsp salt

• 1 to 1 1/2 cups (170 to 260 g) white chocolate chips

• 1 cup (110 to 135 g) macadamia nuts, chopped, or macadamia pieces

• Flaky sea salt for sprinkling, optional

Directions

• Melt the butter. Set the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat and let it melt completely. Line two baking sheets with parchment while you wait. Move on once no solid pieces are left in the pan.
• Brown it by ear. Raise the heat to just above medium and stir constantly, scraping the bottom and sides. The butter bubbles and pops loudly. When the popping slows and tan specks appear, pour it into a large heatproof bowl right away.
• Cool the butter. Leave the browned butter on the counter until it comes back to room temperature. Warm butter melts the sugar and can start cooking the eggs. It’s ready when the bowl feels cool against your palm.
• Stir in the sugars. Add both sugars to the cooled butter and stir hard with a sturdy spoon. Keep going until the mixture looks like wet sand, with no pale pockets of brown sugar left.
• Add eggs and vanilla. Stir in the eggs and vanilla until fully combined. The mixture turns smooth and glossy, with no streaks of yolk showing when you drag the spoon through it.
• Add the dry mix. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add it to the butter mixture a little at a time, stirring until only a few dry streaks remain.
• Fold in the mix-ins. Add the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts and stir until they’re spread evenly. The dough for white chocolate macadamia nut cookies is thick and soft now, with no flour streaks left.
• Chill the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 350°F about 15 minutes before baking. The dough is ready when the top feels firm, not tacky.
• Scoop and space. Drop heaping 1 1/2 tablespoon scoops, about 50 grams each, onto the lined sheets at least 2 inches apart. Each ball should sit round and tall without slumping flat.
• Bake and pull early. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to turn golden and the centers still look soft and slightly underbaked. Sprinkle on flaky salt while the tops are warm, if using.
• Cool on the sheet. Leave the cookies on the baking sheet until completely cool. The soft centers set as they cool, and the cookies lift off the parchment cleanly once they’ve firmed up.