These are the best white chocolate macadamia nut cookies! They’re soft and chewy, with plenty of texture from the macadamia nuts. The key to these beauties is good quality white chocolate, a blend of white and dark brown sugar, a bit of salt to balance the sweetness, and removing the cookies from the oven before they have a chance to get crunchy.
I love the holiday season because it’s an excuse to bake endless creations. It’s hard for me to choose one favorite type of dessert, but cookies are definitely up there. People often request my peanut butter cookies, eggnog cookies, and cardamom snowdrop cookies! Whether they’re hot from the oven or a bit more firmed up at room temperature, the best cookies have a good balance of sweetness with a hint of salt.
These melt-in-your-mouth white chocolate macadamia nut cookies check off all of the boxes for me. They’re a perfectly portioned treat (though who can eat just one?)
How to Make White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Hint: It’s all about the white chocolate!
I’ll repeat myself a few times in this post: you really want to use a good quality white chocolate for the best results. I’m a fan of Guittard and Valrhona. Unfortunately, it can be tough to locate the good chocolate at most chain supermarkets. Whole Foods carries Guittard, and I’ve seen a few Valrhona products at Trader Joe’s, but I tend to stock up online so I don’t find myself stuck.
There are only a few products that I feel this strongly about, including chocolate, cheese, maple syrup, oil & vinegar.
Using good white chocolate can make the difference between these cookies being amazing or too sweet.
Additional Recipe Notes
- I’ve used raw macadamia nuts instead of salted, toasted nuts because I like controlling the salt level. Different brands will have different levels of saltiness. If you can only find roasted, salted nuts, that’s ok! You can either rinse off the salt and then pat the macadamia nuts dry using paper towels, or you can try reducing the salt in the cookies. My guess is to cut the salt down to 3/4 teaspoon (I have not tried this, so proceed with caution).
- You can optionally toast the raw nuts before baking for about 5 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until they’re slightly darker in color and smell amazing. Shake the pan once midway through for even toasting.
- I chopped the nuts very coarsely to create lots of texture. This caused the first batch of cookies to spread out a bit unevenly in the oven instead of holding their round shape. For the remaining batches, I pressed down the cookie dough slightly with a flat-bottom drinking glass, essentially giving them a head start on spreading. I do the same thing with my snickerdoodles, if you’d like to see a photo of the process.
- Instead of using white chocolate chips, you can use white chocolate baking bars or discs (also known as pistoles), and chop them into chip-size pieces.
How Long Do Homemade Cookies Last?
Homemade cookies will keep for 2-3 weeks if stored at room temperature in an airtight container (this does not include cookies that are frosted with perishable ingredients, such as cream cheese frosting).
Can You Freeze The Cookie Dough?
You can scoop and freeze almost any cookie dough! This is a great, make-ahead time saving trick. Scoop the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (or something smaller that will fit in your freezer, if necessary, like a cutting board). Freeze for 1 hour, then transfer to a resealable plastic freezer bag.
Frozen cookie dough is best within 2 months, but will keep longer. To use, simply bake the frozen dough according to recipe instructions (without thawing), and add 1-2 minutes onto the bake time.
How to Measure Flour
For baked goods (as well as desserts like custard and ice cream), I always recommend using a kitchen scale to measure flour by weight instead of volume. Weight (ounces, grams, etc) will always give an accurate measurement of dry goods; volume (cups) can create varied results.
A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 3 1/2 to 5 ounces. That could make a big difference in your recipe! If you still want to use cups, there’s a proper technique to make sure you get the best results possible.
My post How to Measure Flour explains all of this in more detail.
More Cookie Recipes
If you like these white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, you may also enjoy my snickerdoodles, peanut butter cookies, and soft gingerbread cookies with chocolate!
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Ingredients
- 12 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour (3 cups using Spoon & Level Method)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature
- 6 ounces dark brown sugar (3/4 cup packed)
- 7 1/2 ounces granulated sugar (1 cup)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups good quality white chocolate chips (see notes)
- 8 ounces coarsely chopped raw macadamia nuts (1 3/4 cups)
Instructions
- Place an oven rack in the center position, or racks in the upper and lower third positions if you want to bake two sheets at a time, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using an electric hand mixer and a large bowl), beat the butter on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes until it has a whipped appearance. Add both sugars, then cream with the butter for an additional 2-3 minutes until pale and fluffy. Add in the vanilla. Add in the eggs, 1 at a time, mixing until completely combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat just until blended, scraping down the bowl to make sure there are no hidden dry patches. Using a spatula, stir in the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.
- Using a tablespoon-sized cookie scoop, portion cookie dough onto the prepared sheets, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. Chill 15 minutes. Use the bottom of a flat-sided drinking glass to gently press down on the cookies and flatten them out slightly (1/2 - 3/4 inch thick).
- Bake 9-12 minutes for soft, chewy cookies. Less time equals softer cookies, but a bit extra time lets the bottoms caramelize slightly.
- Remove from the oven and cool for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Store leftovers at room temperature in an airtight container for 2-3 weeks.
Notes
Please read my full post for additional recipe notes, tips, and serving suggestions!
Nutrition
Recipe Troubleshooting
For immediate help troubleshooting a recipe, please email me using the form on my contact page. I’ll try to respond to urgent questions as quickly as possible! For all general questions, please leave a comment here :)
I am so in love with this recipe! It truly is all about the quality of the white chocolate, you are so right.
Just saw these in my inbox while trying to decide on one more cookie to make for the holidays! This is it! The just look perfect…and love your tips on measuring flour…I’ve learned the hard way and it makes all the difference!
These cookies have the perfect texture, so yummy!!
Santa’s going to love these
Love how soft these turn out! Delicious!
One of my favorite cookies and your homemade recipe rivals anything I’ve ever eaten! Thank you!
My family loves white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.
These are my mom’s favorite cookie and she loved them!
There’s just something about white chocolate and macadamia nuts! These are heaven.
Such a delicious cookie recipe!
These are so good one of my favorite cookies