These White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies have soft centers, crisp edges, and they’re packed white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Two special ingredients make these cookies the best!
Mouth watering cookies with creamy white chocolate, crunchy macadamia nuts, and a sprinkle of sea salt? SOLD. Gimme. Yes, please! SIGN.ME.UP. These cookies check all the boxes.
Every time I make this recipe my family devours them. In full disclosure, when I say “my family” I am mostly referring to myself. Because, who can resist a warm, freshly baked cookie? Not me. And these cookies are THE BEST.
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These cookies are
- Crisp around the edges
- Soft in the middle
- Packed with white chocolate and macadamia nuts
- Sweet and salty
- Quick and easy – no chill time
Essential ingredients
The following ingredients set these cookies apart from others of the same variety.
- Brown sugar: This recipe has more brown sugar than white sugar. The extra brown sugar makes these cookies soft and chewy and imparts a deeper flavor. Make sure your brown sugar is fresh and soft; it can be light or dark brown sugar. The photos you see were made with light.
- Almond extract: In addition to vanilla extract, I also add a splash of almond extract to the cookie dough. The almond extract pairs perfectly with the white chocolate and macadamia nuts. It’s not overpowering, just a subtle, smooth, underlying flavor.
- Sea salt: This is my favorite technique for this recipe. Right after the cookies are finished baking, lightly sprinkle the tops with sea salt. You’ll love the salty-sweet balance! I especially like a flaky finishing salt like Maldon.
Recipe overview
Beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.
Add egg, vanilla, and almond extract.
Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Stir in white chocolate and macadamia nuts.
Scoop and bake.
Recipe tips
- Your butter should be slightly soft, but still cool. If it is too soft your cookies will spread too much.
- Use roasted salted macadamia nuts (if possible). Roasted nuts have way more flavor than raw nuts, and that extra bit of salt really takes these over the top.
- Use good quality white chocolate chips or chunks. Ghirardelli or Guittard are two of my favorite brands. You can also chop a good quality white chocolate bar.
- Do not overbake. Pulling your cookies from the oven when they are still slightly underdone will result in the perfect texture – soft centers with crisp edges. Oven times vary, and the size of you dough balls may vary slightly from mine. Keep an eye on them. When the edges are set and the very center is still slightly underdone, pull them out and allow them to cool with the baking sheet set on a rack.
- Don’t skip the finishing salt. That sprinkle of salt on top of the cookies balances out all that sugar (white chocolate can be super sweet).
How to get perfectly round cookies
Option 1: Immediately after the cookies come out of the oven place a round glass, bowl, or cookie cutter (larger than the cookie) upside down over the top of the cookie. Gently but quickly swirl the glass/bowl/cookie cutter in a circular motion. The edges of the cookie will bump against the inside of the glass creating a perfectly round shape. Note: This only works when the cookies are hot, straight from the oven, and still on the warm baking sheet.
Option 2: Immediately after the cookies come out the oven use the back of a spoon to gently push the edges inward to create clean edges and a perfect round shape.
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Recipe
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to cool room temp
- ½ cup packed brown sugar , make sure it is fresh and soft
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- ⅔ cup chopped macadamia nuts*, preferably roasted & salted
- ⅔ cup white chocolate chips*
- sea salt, for garnish, I like flaky Maldon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and both sugars for 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed. Add egg and extracts and beat until combined.
- Slowly add the flour mixture, beating until just combined. Add ¾ cup each white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts and stir until well combined.
- Scoop 2 tablespoon portions of dough and place the dough balls a couple inches apart on the cookie sheets. If desired, top each ball of dough with a few additional white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts (this makes for a prettier cookie).
- Bake the cookies for 10-13 minutes, until the edges are beginning to turn golden brown and the very center is still slightly underdone. Rotate the baking sheets halfway through cooking time, if necessary. If your dough balls are smaller or larger than 2 tablespoons, adjust bake time accordingly. Make sure not to overbake. The cookies should still be soft in the center when you remove them from the oven.**
- Place the baking sheets on wire racks and allow the cookies to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Chrissie Baker
These cookies were absolutely amazing- one of the best I have eaten! My siblings (including my sister who is a cookie connoisseur) were going crazy over them and wanted to eat all of them! Very simple to make and extremely tasty- 10/10 would recommend ?
Celebrating Sweets
Thanks for the kind review! Glad you enjoyed them!
Jade Manning
Oh hello!! how good this look??
Catalina
These cookies would be perfect to have on hand this week! Look so delicious!
Taylor
Absolutely delicious! Love the flavor from the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.
Krista
I want these in my cookie jar! Love a good cookie!
Cathy
Seriously my favorite…and I lOVE that sea salt on top!
Lynn Winters
Best cookies ever and very simple to make love love love them!!!
Celebrating Sweets
Thanks, Lynn! I appreciate you taking the time to comment. Enjoy!
Kayla
Hey! I’m looking to make this recipe. Do the macadamia nuts absolutely have to be salted? Or it can still work without?
Allison
They don’t have to be salted. I just prefer the extra salt to balance the sweetness. You can always add an extra pinch of salt if you’d like. Enjoy!
Chloe
My batter turned out to be a thick texture almost as if I’m trying to make cookies with the texture of cake. Is that how it’s supposed to be?
Celebrating Sweets
Yes, it’s cookie dough so it should be thick. You should be able to scoop it and the dough holds its shape.
Cierra
Cake mix should be wayyy thinner than cookie dough
Cookie
This is a wonderful recipe for Macadamia/White Chocolate Cookies! Some recipes require chilling the dough, and we didn’t want to wait. My guy isn’t fond of salt, so we experimented with some salt and others not. Salt won, hands down! Thank you for sharing this quick and delicious recipe!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Kay W
This dough turned out too dry and stiff. I literally could not get all the powdered ingredients mixed (and I’ve made scratch cookies a ton in my life). I added a quarter cup of milk and that seemed to do the trick. They were absolutely heavenly. But with macadamia nuts how could they not be right?! Knocked off you star for dry dough. Oh and 10 minutes was about a minute too long but that may be my convection oven I don’t know.
Kay W
That should read “Knocked off one star…”
Celebrating Sweets
Hi, Kay. I’m glad you enjoyed them. Yes, convection ovens bake significantly faster. Thanks for stopping by!