These white chocolate macadamia nut cookies are soft-baked style with extra chewy centers. Melted butter maintains a delicious buttery flavor while an extra egg yolk adds chewiness. They’re absolutely PACKED with white chocolate and salted macadamia nuts.
Everything Old is New Again!
My website’s archives are filled with over 1,000 recipes. Some of my earlier recipes are total hidden gems, but there are others that I’ve felt needed some work. I’ve been working behind the scenes updating older recipes as I find necessary. Most notable updates: peanut butter cupcakes, monkey bread, and yellow cupcakes.
Today’s white chocolate macadamia nut cookies are part of this project. I craved a thicker cookie with softer, chewier centers and a distinct buttery flavor. There wasn’t much in this recipe that really needed to change, so I just made a couple minor tweaks.
They’re now perfect.
Video Tutorial
These are the BEST White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
And here’s why:
- Major chunks—lots of nuts and white chocolate
- Classic comforting flavors
- Extra buttery
- Soft-baked style
- Chewy centers
- Slightly crisp edges
- Easy to freeze
Re-Testing This Recipe
This recipe is a cross between my coconut macadamia nut cookies and my chewy chocolate chip cookies. Like the original recipe first published in 2012, I use melted butter instead of softened butter. I love using melted butter in cookies because it produces an extra buttery flavor as well as a chewier texture. However, it’s not as simple as swapping melted butter for softened butter. (Of course it’s not. It’s BAKING! So particular!)
You see, melted butter—a liquid—creates spread. If there isn’t enough flour to absorb the added liquid, the cookies will spread all over the baking sheet. On the other hand, if there’s excess flour, the cookies will taste dry. Finding the balance between too wet and too dry is a total roll of the dice! Speaking of dry ingredients, I add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch here. This ingredient adds a little extra softness. I don’t add cornstarch when making the coconut macadamia nut cookies because the coconut acts as a really soft dry ingredient, so cornstarch just isn’t necessary there.
The original recipe also used an extra egg yolk. I love this addition! See my chewy chocolate chip cookies if you’re curious about it. Basically, an extra egg yolk = extra richness and extra chew. Both good things.
Two final changes: I add a little more baking soda for additional volume because the original cookies typically over-spread. I also switch the amounts of sugar. Here we use an equal amount of granulated sugar and brown sugar. In addition to sweetening, brown sugar creates a soft and more flavorful cookie and granulated sugar creates spread. Balancing them helps produce a chewy, yet crispy edge cookie.
Best Macadamia Nuts to Use
I LOVE using salted dry-roasted macadamia nuts in white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. The roasted salty flavor pairs beautifully with the extra sweet white chocolate morsels—you won’t regret it!
3 Cookie Tips to Improve Your Next Batch
- Spoon & Level the Flour: The amount of flour makes or breaks a cookie recipe—literally. Spoon and level that flour or, better yet, weigh your flour.
- Chill the Cookie Dough: Chilling the cookie dough, especially since we’re using melted butter, is an imperative step in this recipe. The colder the dough, the less the cookies will over-spread into greasy puddles. You’ll have thicker, sturdier, and more solid cookies.
- Bake 1 Batch at a Time: You get the best possible results when the oven only concentrates on 1 batch at a time. If you need to bake more than one batch at a time, rotate the baking sheets from the top rack to bottom rack a couple times through the baking process to encourage even browning. And turn the sheets around as well. Ovens have hot spots!
Super-Chunk White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: 30 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These white chocolate macadamia nut cookies are soft-baked style with extra chewy centers. They’re absolutely PACKED with white chocolate morsels and salted macadamia nuts. Chilling the cookie dough is imperative, so set aside at least 2 hours.
Ingredients
- 2 cups + 2 Tablespoons (265g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, melted + slightly cooled
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 heaping cup (210g) white chocolate chips*
- 1 cup (120g) roughly chopped macadamia nuts*
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract together until combined. Pour into dry ingredients and mix everything together with a rubber spatula until completely combined. Fold in the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. (You can use a mixer for this step if needed.)
- Cover and chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 4 days. If chilling for longer than 2 hours, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 20-30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Roll cookie dough into balls, about 1-1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie (I like to use this medium cookie scoop), and arrange 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look soft.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 4. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Rubber Spatula | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- White Chocolate Chips: I usually use closer to 1 and 1/4 cups white chocolate chips, about 210g. For looks, you can press a few extra chips into the tops of the warm cookies when they come out of the oven.
- Macadamia Nuts: I used salted dry-roasted macadamia nuts. You can use unsalted, raw, and/or whichever macadamia nuts you love most. Salted dry-roasted adds incredible flavor though.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
These were so good! I didn’t have roasted and salted nuts, so I doubled the salt to 1 tsp and toasted my nuts in a pan before using. Just the right amount of salt to offset the white chocolate. I had to bake 3 minutes longer than the recipe stated, but after that they were perfect!
Could I use peanuts instead of the macadamia nuts?
Absolutely!
Hi Sally, I used dark brown muscovado sugar for these cookies and I feel the molasses taste was too strong. Is it better to use regular dark brown sugar? Any specific brand? Thanks a lot!
Hi Beatriz, thanks for giving this recipe a try! For a less intense molasses flavor, try using light brown sugar next time.
I can’t seem to find the nutritional information. Do you have that?
Hi Jennifer, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp
I made these and they were DEVOURED! Everyone loved them! I also made a batch with vegan butter for a friend and people couldn’t tell the difference!
Thanks for the recipe!!
Hi, thank you for taking the time to explain the reasons and providing the tips. I can’t wait to try it!!!
I am new to the baking realm and am a bit confused since there are so many different versions of anything and everything online.
It’s my understanding that brown sugar is a bit denser than granulated sugar, with your recipe, I will measure both by the weight you specified but just hoping to understand a bit more.
Also, the recipes of the cookies I have tried before recommend chilling the dough in the fridge a bit before baking. Your recipe recommended bringing the dough to room temp if it has been in the refrigerator for a few days. I thought chilling the dough allows the butter to solidify, hence will spread less. (maybe that’s why my cookies still spread thin after chilling, and not over beating the butter and sugar). Is it because this recipe started with melted butter instead of room temp. butter?
Thank you so much for your time. I really looking forward to your reply and want to explore more of your recipes.
Hi Coco, If chilling this cookie dough for longer than 2 hours it will be too hard to scoop and roll into balls. If you chill the dough for a few days you will want to let it sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before rolling. This isn’t long enough to bring it all the way back to room temperature – but it will soften it back up just enough to scoop. I hope this helps!
Another great recipe! These cookies are delicious and so easy to make. I added 1/4 tap of coconut extract which added an additional flavor touch. Thanks as always Sally!
Absolutely the best white chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever had. For me, the rise and texture are perfect- so glad I came across this recipe. Does your chocolate chip recipe produce a similar spread and rise? Could I simply swap regular chocolate chips for the white ones in this recipe? Thanks for making my annual contribution to the Fourth of July celebration one of the best I’ve been able to bring!
Hi Sally can I leave the chocolate chip out? I’m not really a fan of chocolate chip neither white or regular. Please let me know.
Hi Simone, yes, you can omit the white chocolate chips if desired. No other changes to the recipe needed.
Hi Sally thank you!
Hi, baked the cookies this morning and they have a lovely combination of flavors. I was wondering if there was a possibility of a ‘less sweet’ recipe.
Hi Oriella, You can slightly reduce the sugar, but we wouldn’t reduce it more than 4-5 Tablespoons. Sugar not only sweetens the cookies, it provides texture as well. You could also cut back on the white chocolate chips, which are very sweet. Glad you enjoyed these!
Should the butter be melted until it’s that amber color or just until it’s liquid?
Hi Oriella, just until melted, and then allow it to slightly cool. Hope you enjoy these cookies!
Hi. First time making this cookie with your recipe. My batter combined butter sugar mixture and dry ingredients mixture seems wet. When i mix with macadamia and chocolate, it seems less wet but i just wonder that it normal? Thanks!!
Hi Sue, the dough will be a little wet/sticky before chilling. If it seems excessively wet, you can try adding a tablespoon or two more flour to help bring it together. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
Hey Sally! How should I reheat the cookies when I put them in the freezer? Should I let them thaw first?
Hi Anne, for baked, frozen cookies, we recommend letting them thaw overnight in the refrigerator before enjoying. You could always put them in microwave for a few seconds too, if you’d like to enjoy them warm vs. room temperature.
i don’t like nuts so is it fine if i don’t add them ?
These were really yummy! But I used half the sugar and it was I love macadamia nuts but where I live they are really expensive but i still bought them because they taste so silky and delicious 🙂
Hello! I seem to be out of white flour, but have probably 7 other kinds of flour (whole wheat, coconut, spelt, buckwheat, oat, cassava…). Which do you think would be the best alternative?
Hi Julie! Each of those flours will create different results, so it’s hard to say which would be best — if you give any of them a try, we’d love to know how they turn out for you.
Thank you for this recipe! It is perfect! The texture is chewy and crispy, it is sweet but not sickeningly so, it really hits the spot!
Wow wow wow!! This recipe is excellent. I’ve never been good at making cookies but this is the first time they turned out absolutely perfect. So rich and sweet, with a perfect crispy browned bottom. Love it
Made the dough yesterday and baked them today,they are so delicious nice and buttery with a chewy texture will be making these cookies again this week
Hi there
Looking forward to baking these! Question though: I almost always use softened butter with my cookies – just curious about why melted for these? (Just so I understand…). Thanks so much!
Hi Celeste! We love using melted butter because it produces an extra buttery flavor as well as a chewier texture we were looking for in this particular cookie.
Hi! I love this recipe, I’ve made these cookies at least a dozen times. I was curious if it works the same if you mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients instead of the other way around?
Hi Alexis, I’m so glad to read how much you love these cookies. Honestly it works either way for this particular recipe. As long as it’s totally mixed!
I wanted to make a treat for my adult son’s birthday after our meal. I found this recipe and baked it in 2 round cake pans. I did leave them in the oven until they browned but they were chewy, soft and crisp edges. The best ever!! People raved about them. Thank you for sharing. This is my new Go-to recipe for cookies.
Loved this recipe came out perfectly! I was hoping to make chocolate white chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookies (my favorite as a kid), could I achieve that by adding cocoa powder to this recipe and if so how much?
Hi Jenny, for a chocolate-based cookie, we’d recommend using our inside out cookies recipe — you can add a combo of white chocolate chips + macadamia nuts to that dough. Let us know if you give it a try!
Is it possible to make this recipe into a cookie cake?
Hi Delores, sure can! You can use the baking instructions for our Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake as a guide.
Loved them! I was given a bunch of macadamia nuts so I made cookies and these were so good! Yes they did crumble a bit when scooping them but they turned out great and I’m definitely making again!
Perfect Thankyou for the helpful tip. Now if if I am doing brown butter and you mentioned to count for the lost moisture… so if the receipt says “3/4 cup or 170g of melted butter” and I’m doing brown butter, how much butter should I be using? Still 3/4 cup or now it’s 1 cup (226g)?
Hi Marie, we recommend browning an additional tablespoon of butter to account for the lost moisture. So, we’d recommend browning 13 tablespoons (3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon) of butter, then measuring to ensure you have enough / don’t have too much.
Okay so if I understand this correctly. So it’s 13 tablespoons which is (3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon) which is 173g?
Hi Marie, an additional Tbs of butter weighs about 13 grams. So you’ll need about 183 grams of butter to start. Enjoy!
This recipe looks so promising but I have no idea what I did wrong! I was pretty meticulous and followed the recipe to a tee double and triple checking the recipe…and they came out overspread and super crunchy 🙁
It’s driving me crazy trying to figure out what I did wrong!!
Hi Hetal! Thank you for giving these cookies a try, these tips to prevent cookies from spreading should help for your next batch.
I made the cookie dough last night and cooked the first half this morning, these are so freaking tasty.
I’m so excited to cook the second batch, they’re a whole new level of delicious while still warm on the cooling rack. Will definitely make again sometime!
I took some pics:
Have been looking for a recipe like this for quiet some time. Thanks! Can I use presalted macadamia nuts? You mention salted nuts in the beginning but I find no notion of salted nuts whatsoever in your recipe. Thanks in advance.
Hi Michelle, we used salted dry-roasted macadamia nuts. You can use unsalted, raw, and/or whichever macadamia nuts you love most. Salted dry-roasted adds incredible flavor though.
I absolutely love this recipe but my cookies always end up being kind of a mound shape rather than flat like your pictures. Any suggestions?
Hi Chad, when cookies aren’t spreading, it means that there’s too much dry ingredient (flour) soaking up all the liquid. Are you using the spoon and level method or weight method to measure? If you’re in the middle of baking a batch and the cookies still aren’t spreading, remove them from the oven, and use a spoon to slightly flatten them out before returning them to the oven. Hope this helps!