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 or brown butter marshmallow crispy 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!
If you can’t get enough of sweet white chocolate, try my white chocolate brownies and white chocolate peanut butter cookies next!
Print
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 silicone 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 | Silicone 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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I make these frequently for my partner as this is hands down the best recipe for these cookies I have found. They are his absolute favorite!
This recipe was amazing. Amazingly easy and amazingly delicious. I am a cookie lover, and by far this is my favorite cookie and it came out perfectly.
These turned out perfect even though I forgot to melt the butter.
Holy cow… I never comment on recipes but this one is AMAZING, thank you! For us it’s a special occasion cookie because it’s so decadent and nuts are pricey af…
Hi! I was wondering if you could give any recs on what if any egg substitutes you and the team might have success with when baking these (or any other!) cookies? Anything different for cakes?
Hi Aarti! We don’t have much experience with egg-free baking but please let us know what works for you! Here’s all of our egg-free baking recipes if you’re interested in browsing there.
These are the most technically perfect cookies I’ve ever made. They taste great and the texture is spot on. Thank you for the recipe Sally.
This recipe is perfect, cookies came out wonderful crunchy and golden on the edge and soft and chewy in the center. This is first time making white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. Will definitely be using this recipe again. Thank you
I’d say probably you may have used too much flour. Kitchen scales really work and are super cheap now. If at first you don’t succeed try try again, these cookies are so worth it. Good luck.
Could I take out cornstarch and use 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder?
Hi Kiara, we don’t recommend adding baking powder. If you don’t have cornstarch you can simply leave it out.
I don’t have cornstarch, could i use Arrowroot instead? Thx!
Hi Susan, we haven’t tested arrowroot powder in this recipe, but let us know how it goes if you do!
I was gifted a jar of macadamia nuts and decided to try your recipe. I made the dough two days ago and baked them this evening. They are so delicious with milk. Thank you.
I just took them out of the oven and they were delicious! I followed the recipe to the T. I have a food scale and having the weight in grams is extremely helpful. I don’t even use measuring cups. I thought the chips and nuts vs dough ratio was a bit low and it didn’t want to incorporate at first, but it came out beautifully. I left the dough in the refrigerator for 4 days before I baked them. I weighed out about 32ish grams per cookie, tightly rolled them and baked for 12 minutes. The cookies came out crispy on the edges with a soft center! Exactly as Sally described. It made 36 cookies. Thanks Sally and her team, I will make these again!
This recipe is perfection. I have never made a more perfect white chocolate cookie. Crispy on the edges, chewy in the middle, perfect caramel notes and just an all round epic recipe.
Tried it for the first time and it’s a fairly easy recipe to make. I followed all the measurements precisely except for the constarch bec i didnt have any in the pantry but I still got a crispy exterior and a chewy and soft interior. I divided the cookie dough in half and put macadamia and Guittard white chocolate chips. The other half I put macadamia and chopped dark chocolate bar plus Ghirardelli semi sweet choco chips. Got 2 flavors in 1 recipe. Thanks Sally and team!
Just made them and I achieved a crispy exterior and chewy and soft interior. If it’s crumbly maybe there was too much flour? Make sure to use a kitchen scale to measure accurately or if using measuring cups, do the spoon and level method.
This is my favorite base cookie dough for basically any type of add ins. I love the white chocolate macadamia as well. This dough is perfect.
I use a kitchen scale and chill my dough overnight and the results are always consistent and amazing.
If your cookies are crumbly you’ve added too much flour most likely. Get yourself a kitchen scale.
Thanks for this. I’m a fanatic about this cookie, but like some i wanted more texture. So I substitute 1/2 cup spelt flour, and since I couldn’t find it I used rice flour instead of cornstarch. I also add 1/4 TS almond extract – really kicks up the nuttiness.
Measure by weight – otherwise the proportions are WAY off. Brown sugar packed tightly into 3/4 cup measure turned out to be 126grams and I use organic sugar so volumetrucally I had to add quite a bit more for both types.. Just like flour weight varies from brand to brand, same for sugar. First time I used this recipe they were puffy and crumbly, I also remember thinking they needed more sugar. I did find the cornstarch and it turned out the same, so rice flour seems to be suitable as a sub.
And if you have a programmable stove as I do, do the process that lets you specifically turn the actual temperature. I gave an LG stove and online instructions went well. Calibration I think is the right word. My stove was off by 15 degrees.
Thanks forcrescing me in my search for the best recipe for this cookie. Baking illustrated was close, but yours was right on – especially the idea that more Chios make it better!
Don’t forget to chill. It changes results in a good way.
Hi used coconut sugar instead of brown I’ll keep you posted on how they went as dough is currently in the fridge!
Excellent cookie! Followed the recipe exactly and loved it. I wonder if choc chunks would be better than the chips.
Hi, I’ve reduced the sugar by 10G but still find it a little sweet, can I further reduce the sugar?
Hi Jasmine, You can try reducing the sugar further, but keep in mind that sugar plays an important role in the taste, texture, and structure of a recipe, so we’re unsure of the results when using less sugar.
I used 3/4 cup brown sugar like stated in the recipe but only 1/4 of white sugar because I usually cut all sugar in recipes. The dough was chilled and scooped with an ice cream scoop for even balls. They didn’t spread as much as I thought they would (maybe because of the reduced sugar…) but the texture and taste were still really good.
I had the same problem as a couple of you had. I followed the recipe to a T but my cookies came out crumbly. After five minutes like the recipe says, I tried transferring them to a wire rack, they just fell apart…
Does anyone know why and what to do about it?
I would appreciate the advice.
Hi Camille! Dry cookies are usually the result of too much flour in the dough. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Ok, so I completely screwed up making these cookies lol. Not paying attention, I mixed the brown sugar with the flour . However, determined as I am, I continued on following your directions. I did NOT refrigerate my dough, it was nothing but a bowl of crumbles. Again, though I continued on. Rolling the balls and seeing what I would get….?
And I am absolutely astounded by the outcome! They came out unbelievably awesome!
Thick, they did not run thin.
Fluffy and full bodied!!
A very soft and slightly chewy goodness!!
Thank you so much for a wonderful recipe (even though I messed it up lol) !!!
Can I sub oil for melted butter? I’m out of butter but really want to make these cookies!
Hi Ann! Oil really isn’t a suitable replacement for butter in cookies.
You made a mistake. I’ve made them dozens of times. They’re not crumbly.
These cookies are amazing! Followed the recipe to the T, used a good scale to measure ingredients, and they came out perfect! Crispy on the edges, chewy in the middle. Perfection!
Agreed! I’ve used this recipe several times to the T and never had a crumbly texture. Ensure you’re following the exact instructions! Hopefully you get good cookies when you try again!
i like this recipe, but i feel like my cookies never come out the same.
I adore this recipe, and my cookies always come out nice, but i have baked them 3 separate times, and each time they come out different! first time was a trial attempt and they came out very thick but delicious, second time i made them smaller in size and had like 80 cookies!, third time they came out very golden with a soft crisp and delicious. not sure why they keep coming out different but whatever
There were so many nuts and chocolate chips it barely holds togeather, deff not my fav recipe
Can I use this recipe and make into bars? 8×8 or 9×9?
Hi Annette, you could try these as bars in a 9×13 inch pan. We are unsure of the best bake time.
This is just what I was looking for in a white chocolate/macadamia nut cookie-love them! Texture, taste, looks-they turned out perfect!
The macadamia nuts were a little challenging to find but finally did and so happy I did! I used your measurement of closer to 1 1/2 cups of white chocolate chips because no cookie can have too many, lol. Ever since I learned how to use a kitchen scale I’ve not measured dry ingredients. Perfectly accurate every time. Loved this recipe will make again!
Texture was extremely difficult to work with and maybe too many nuts and chocolate chips. All in all, they taste fine.
Best recipe ever for these cookies. My husband eats them so fast.
These cookies have a rich decadent quality.
I was proud to offer then to my family and friends.
They aren’t the kind of cookie you can make on the spur of the moment as specific ingredients and techniques are required.
I thought they were worth the planning and work.