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!
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.
Question before making these does it matter if the macadamia nuts are dry or lightly salted?
Hi Jane, either works, but we love using salted dry-roasted macadamia nuts in these cookies.
Hi,could I use this for a cookie cake?
Hi Amy, Sure can! You can use the baking instructions for our Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake as a guide.
I am NOT a baker at all, and I followed this recipe to a tee, and let me tell you, my cookies turned out sooooooo good!!!!! I made these cookies as a surprise for a friend and they were a hit! Thank you so much for making me look like I know how to bake ;).
Love your recipes! I live in Hawaii. Should I store the baked cookies in the fridge? Maybe it’s too warm to store in a container on the counter?
Hi Nancy! You can certainly store the cookies in the fridge if room temperature is quite warm.
I added coconut. Delicious cookie!! However, my cookies looked significantly more flattened than your photo. My dough was refrigerated for two hours prior. Any idea why the cookies weren’t as puffy?
Hi Terry, we’re so glad you enjoyed the cookies! There are a few different factors that can contribute to flatter cookies—this post with 10 tips to prevent cookies from spreading will be a helpful resource. Thanks again for giving these a try!
Amazing! Followed the recipe exactly and it turned out perfectly. This recipe is a keeper.
Usually when I make cookies they come out really bad, even with the premade dough. These are the best cookies I’ve ever had and they’re so yummy. I know when my siblings eat them tomorrow they’ll be gone in an instant:)
These taste amazing! My dough did turn out quite crumbly (I even used a scale to measure everything), so I added 1/4 cup of milk to fix it and that seemed to do the trick.
Absolutely divine! Followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfectly. High altitude readers, I live 5000+ ft above sea level and didn’t need to modify for high altitude. Only thing I added was 1/2 tsp of cinnamon thank you for this recipe!! We’ve been enjoying them with coffee all weekend!
My better half said that these were the best homemade cookies that he ever had!!
Follow the recipe exactly and they will be perfect. I would suggest to all bakers to invest in a scale because measuring cups allow for too much variation in weight/volume. If cookies are dry, for example, your flour may have been too tightly packed in the cup. Find a scale (thrift stores always have them) and follow this recipe and you’ll never miss!
this one was ok! came out a bit dry though 🙁
I would give this recipe another chance! I’ve made this a five or six times and each time was perfect. I’ve had family members get mad if I don’t make them lol. Never had a dry one.
This recipe is a winner! Literally. I baked these cookies for a Holiday cookie contest at work. They won the category for tastiest cookie. So I just wanted to let you know. I followed the recipe exact. Didnt change a thing. They are cookie perfection. All my co workers have the recipe and they know to come here for the best baking recipes. Thank you!
Flavor is amazing! These are, hands down, the best Macadamia Nut cookies I’ve ever made! So many of your recipes are my new favorites! Thank you for sharing! ❤️
I have to give this recipe a 5stars! Very tasty and they are super easy to make just follow the instructions.
I didn’t have time to chill them for 2hr so I did only 1hr. Then I rolled the dough into about 35 balls and put them back in the fridge for another 30min to chill. Preheated the oven, prepared baking sheet and baked first batch. Cooled each batch as instructed. I have to say that the ones that were in the fridge chilling the longes turned out the best, but overall all of them were delicious. As they came out of the oven I sprinkled a little bit of kosher salt and let them cool to room temp.
I would recommend this recipe.
These are fantastic! The flavor is wonderful and they bake up perfectly— so beautifully round with a great texture. I doubled the recipe for a holiday cookie party and ended up with about 60 cookies.
Hi !! I have been baking for years.. but just the past few, I’ve been trying to weigh ingredients. I’m measuring the flour for super chunk, white chocolate, macadamia cookies, and the weight of 2 cups of flour +2 tablespoons equals 288 g. Should I remove flour to the 265 g or try it according to my measurement? Much appreciated! I’m loving Sally’s recipes, always want to improve my baking. ❤️
Hi Lisa, when using your measuring cup, did you spoon and level? It may have been packed in a bit, which is why you’re getting a higher gram measurement. We recommend using the 265g for best results. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
Can dried cranberries be added to this recipe? If so – should I replace some of the nuts/chips?
Hi Kenny! Yes, that’s exactly what we would do.
i love your recipes! theyre very easy to follow, and everyone LOVES them! but a problem ive run into is, when i’ve made these, and 1 or 2 others, they get really flat. they kind of, melt into the pan, i think is the best way to describe it? they get very flat, and whatever is added kind of looks like its sitting on top of something, it does not look like a tasty cookie, like i can usually accomplish with your recipes. can you help me with what i’m doing wrong?
I love this recipe, is there any way I can a maple flavor to it? I’m trying to recreate my friends favorite cookie
Hi Chelsea, you could try replacing 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla extract with 1/2 teaspoon of maple extract. (Or a little more/less to your liking). You might enjoy these maple brown sugar cookies, too!
The whole family loves these cookies! The recipe is simple, and the results are gorgeous and delicious.
I’m excited to try this recipe and the melted butter technique! I want to add dried cherries. Do you have a suggestion of how much and should I decrease the other add-ins?
Hi Jennifer! Dried cherries would be great here. We would keep the total amount of add-ins to 2 cups, so reduce the nuts/chips to make room for some dried cranberries. Happy baking!
You continue to be my go-to site for the best recipes. This one is no exception. What a fantastic cookie!
I am so excited to try this recipe! If I freeze the dough balls to bake later should I bake them straight from frozen or allow them to thaw before baking?
Hi Kaitlen! You can bake them right from frozen. Bake time may be a minute or two longer. Enjoy!
Delicate crispy outside, comforting chewy middle. Divine recipe
What if you don’t want an excessively buttery taste, would you decrease the butter and flour? By how much?
Hi Nicole! The cookies don’t have an overpowering butter flavor. Have you made them? Let us know if you give them a try!
I used 3/4 cup of macadamia nuts because it’s what I had on hand. I missed the part about bringing the dough to room temp & scooped straight from the refrigerator (very difficult). I used a large scoop & made 15 cookies. They baked for 19 minutes total & came out perfect!
I loved your chewy choc chip recipe! Is there any reason why i couldn’t just copy that recipe for the dough base, and just change the mix-ins to white choc and nuts for this one?
Hi Jon, you can feel free to use our chocolate chip cookie dough base with these add-ins if you wish!
These are amazing! I have a question about adapting them into a cake (my roommate LOVES these cookies and her birthday is coming up). I’ve read you can make a cookie-cake by putting all the dough in a springform pan and then baking at the original recipe temp for about 40 minutes. Would that work for this recipe? And any icing recommendations? Thanks so much!
Hi Brianna, we haven’t tested baking this dough in a springform pan, but you could also look at this recipe for a chocolate chip cookie cake and adapt that to use white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. For the icing, I would recommend this white chocolate buttercream. Hope this helps and it turns out great!
Hi, I just have a quick question, I absolutely love these cookies and have baked them multiple times. But now im pregnant and these cookies need to be soft in the middle of course. Do you know if they are safe to eat while pregnant? With the risks of raw eggs and salmonella or listeria?
Hi Cindy! You can always use an instant thermometer to check the temperature of your cookies to be sure – look for 160 degrees F.
Best cookies! I used up some white chocolate from Easter candy. The chunks were perfect. They have a nice crunch to them w/o being hard.