White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Classic white chocolate macadamia nut cookies are delicious and irresistible!
I’ve been tinkering with these cookies for quite a while now, and finally have the recipe just the way I want it. They’re rich and buttery, and slightly crunchy on the outside but still soft and chewy on the inside. And most importantly they’re filled with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts— a classic combo everyone loves!
Table of Contents
- Why you need to bake these cookies
- Ingredients you’ll need
- How to make white chocolate macadamia nut cookies
- Tips for baking the best cookies
- More cookie recipes you’ll love
- White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies recipe
Why you need to bake these cookies
Two things set these cookies apart from other white chocolate macadamia nut cookies you may have had in the past:
- Toasting the macadamia nuts
- Adding a sprinkling of coarse salt to the cookies after baking
These cookies really have the most incredible delicious sweet and salty flavor! I dare you to eat just one.
Ingredients you’ll need
Let’s get baking shall we? Here’s everything you’ll need for these cookies (full recipe below):
- Salted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Light or dark brown sugar
- Egg
- All-purpose flour
- Vanilla extract
- Baking soda
- Salt
- White chocolate chips
- Macadamia nuts
How to make white chocolate macadamia nut cookies
- Toast macadamia nuts. This helps bring out the best flavor, and I highly recommend this step. Let them cool to room temp while you prepare the cookie dough.
- Cream butter and sugars. Beat them together with an electric mixer and paddle attachment, if you have one. Scrape down bowl at least once. For more about the creaming method (the method used to make these cookies), you can read about it here.
- Add egg and vanilla extract. Mixing after each.
- Mix in dry ingredients. Add flour, baking soda and salt to the mixer bowl and mix on low speed until incorporated.
- Add mix-ins. Just as the cookie dough starts to come together, add white chocolate chips and cooled toasted macadamia nuts.
- Scoop. Use a medium or large cookie scoop to portion dough and arrange a few inches apart on sheet pans lined with parchment paper.
- Bake. Bake in an oven preheat to 350°F for 10-12 minutes for smaller cookies, 14-15 minutes for larger cookies.
- Sprinkle with coarse salt and cool. As soon as cookies come out of the oven, sprinkle with coarse salt. Let cool on the pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Then, enjoy!
Tips for baking the best cookies
- Butter should be soft enough that a pressed finger will leave an indent, but not soft enough that your finger can press all the way through. If it’s shiny or melty at all, the butter is too warm and your cookies may spread.
- Be sure to measure flour correctly! All of my recipes are tested using the spoon and level method (more info through that link).
- These pre-cut parchment sheets are perfect for cookie baking.
- For show-stopping cookies like you see in this post, I like to make them big and use a large cookie scoop. More traditional sized cookies can be shaped with a medium cookie scoop.
- If cookies come out slightly misshapen, use a spatula to press them back into a circle right after they come out of the oven. See more of my tips for how to bake pretty cookies.
- Cookie dough freezes really well. I like to keep a stash in the freezer for fresh-baked cookies on demand.
- These cookies will keep at room temperature for about a week, but are best within a few days of baking.
More cookie recipes you’ll love
- Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Soft and Chewy Chocolate Cookies
- Toasted Coconut, Pecan, and Dark Chocolate Cookies
- Monster Cookies
This recipe was originally published August 2010.
White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies recipe
White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies
Classic white chocolate macadamia nut cookies are delicious and irresistible!
Ingredients
- ¾ cup salted butter , softened to room temperature (170 grams)
- 1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar (213 grams)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (270 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup white chocolate chips (170 grams)
- 1 cup macadamia nuts , coarsely chopped (150 grams)
- Coarse salt , for sprinkling (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Add macadamia nuts to 1 sheet pan and spread into an even layer. Toast in oven for about 5 minutes, then let cool completely.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars on medium high until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and mix to combine.
- Add flour, soda, and salt to the butter and sugar mixture and mix until just combined. Add the white chocolate chips and the macadamia nuts.
- Portion into rounded tablespoon for medium cookies, or 3 tablespoon scoop for large cookies and place onto prepared sheet pans, with about 2 inch spacing. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 to 12 minutes (14-15 minutes for large cookies). Cool on a wire rack.
- When hot from the oven, sprinkle with coarse salt. Let cool for 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer for a wire rack to cool completely.
Calories: 232kcal, Carbohydrates: 27g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 13g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Cholesterol: 13mg, Sodium: 83mg, Potassium: 69mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 18g, Vitamin A: 71IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 31mg, Iron: 1mg
Have you tried this recipe?I’d love to hear about it! Leave a review below or take a photo and tag it on Instagram @completelydelicious with #completelydelicious.
Oh, I love White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies… Yours look perfect! Crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside. I posted a very similar recipe for these last month, I think. Great job!
One of my favorite cookies for sure, these look light sofy crispy all at once
Yum yum yum! I think I'm gonna work my way through your recipe index when I'm in Derry. Can't wait!
These look great!!!
I love White Chocolate Macadamia cookies! They are so underrated…why don't more people love them and bake them?!?!? This recipe will certainly help. Am going to try baking these ASAP. Love the pics too!
I suspect that, even though utterly delicious, most people don’t have macadamias in their larder!
White chocolate macadamia cookies are the best!!
Your cookies are gorgeous!
Yum! I want to try one! You should give these cookies a shot– they're almost the same thing but they have raspberry in them, too!
I love it when I find a recipe that someone is willing to say is The Best! I will definitely remember to return to yours when I'm ready to make white chocolate macadamia cookies. They look fantastic (and they sound simple enough).
yum! I saw your profile on PFBlog. I'm also from SLC (although I now live in Spain). Best of luck!
These do look absolutely delicious! I had fun checking out your site today. Thanks for the follow.
I made these to take to work (on my first day, lol) and they were very good. Everyone loved them. I did end up cooking them too long however. I need to learn that less is better! Thanks for the great recipe!
Love your photographs, they´re really good shots.
BEST COOKIES I'VE EVERRR MADE!!!! YUM 😀
thanks for the recipe
I have a couple of questions because I want to make these today. How did you get your awesome cookie shape? Did you freeze the dough at all? Also, I noticed you removed half of the butter from the original recipe. How did this change the cookie?
Sorry for all of my spastic questioning. 🙂
I also roll my cookie dough into round balls before placing them on my cookie sheet. This ensures they bake up in a round shape.
Regarding the amount of butter, I don’t recall off the top of my head what the recipe originally called for. To me, it seems like many recipes call for more butter than is absolutely necessary. For a standard batch of cookies I usually use around 1/2 to 3/4 cup. In this recipe we have some butter and some shortening. While I know a lot of people shy away from shortening, it does produce great results in cookies. I hope this helps.
Oh my goodness!!! These are by far the most delicious cookies our household have ever eaten, and believe me having 5 cookie lover boys in the house and a sweet toothed girl we have tried alot, these are a huge hit! We will never be on the hunt for the best cookie’s again WE’VE FOUND IT! THANKYOU SO MUCH for sharing this recipe, i will be trying your other recipes for sure x
I tried making these earlier today, and while they tasted amazing, the round balls didn’t flatten in the oven! Is there any reason this could have happened?
Hi Analise I was wondering if you have the original recipe from years ago. Made them yearly for friends who loved them but then it seemed that something changed. Now I see the recipe is tweaked again? Can you help all of us who loved the classic recipe?
Hi JR! I haven’t changed this recipe at all since it was originally published in 2010. Other dates mentioned are from site-wide maintenance updates. It’s still the same as it always has been!
Thanks for getting back to me. I just had an epic fail with the cookies 😪 I don’t know why I can’t get them right anymore when for years I never got them wrong! Its not the oven, everything else I bake is consistent. I’m getting scorched bottoms so I can’t get enough color on the tops. Using a light silver cookie tray (the kind with the layer of air) and parchment. I seem to remember them taking longer in the oven in the past. I have an oven thermometer so everything is okay with the temp. The only thing I may be doing differently is when I chop the nuts coarsely I am not including all of the leftover “sawdust” that happens from the chopping. Could that be it? I measure flour in the proper way, so I don’t think that’s it.
What are your thoughts? I need to remake these for my friend. As you know, when they are right they are so good!
Perhaps bake on a higher rack in the oven so the bottoms get less heat and the tops get more brown? Good luck!
Came out great, filled up the cookie jar and froze the rest. Only change I made was to use my food processor to finely grind the nuts to make them easier to swallow
Easy and very good
My family found these were too sweet. I’m seeing other recipes now with a lower proportion of sugar, so I don’t think it’s just us. I’d try a different one next time.
These are yummy chocolatey Carmely nutty crunchy gooey goodness yum yum yum yum yum yum
Oh no the recipe changed AGAIN. I really wish I would have printed out the original recipe. Everyone was disappointed with the last update. I think I need to move on to a more consistent recipe that I can rely on. I don’t have time for experimenting. Best wishes to you and good luck with your blog!
Hi! I just reviewed the recipe as it was written when I originally published it in 2010. Literally the only thing that changed is instead of 1/2 cup butter flavored shortening and 1/4 cup butter, I now use just 3/4 cup butter. Everything else is exactly the same, I can guarantee you.
Like a lot of people, I don’t bake with shortening anymore, and in my opinion the results are the same if not better. Feel free to use the old amounts if you prefer. I hope this helps! Have a good day. 🙂
These are were delicious and super easy. The boyfriend says they are the best cookies I make and to keep the the cookie jar with them!!
Top tier recipe. I made this recipe but tripled the ingredients so I had enough for all of my co workers, my husbands coworkers, my kids, and my in laws which amounts to about 60+ people. They all LOVED it. The only thing I changed was a smidgen of extra vanilla because yum vanilla. It was so perfect. I make cookies for all 60 people every single week in my tiny kitchen and so far this is their favorite cookie.
Hi Violet, thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review! I’m so happy to hear everyone enjoys these cookies. And wow, cookies for 60+ is not a small task. Well done!
Your recipe came out so awesome! I bought dry roasted macadamia nuts with sea salt, so I actually didn’t roast mine. I lined my baking sheets with parchment paper. Ended up with 30 small scoop and 7 large scoop cookies!
Thanks for the feedback, Lori! So happy you enjoyed these cookies!
Absolutely perfect! I rarely eat sweets and do not bake them! My elderly neighbor asks me to bake gigantic frozen ones for him he receives in gift pkgs from Omaha Steaks for Christmas. I thought I would give it a try from scratch for him and researched recipes choosing yours. The only thing I added was 1/2t baking powder, used an ice cream scoop and baked 16 minutes. They were huge, puffy, tender with barely browned bottoms and tops! Thank you for this recipe!
These were incredible!! I let my dough refrigerate for 24hrs before baking and whew! Super moist, rich and chewy; everything I was searching for.
These are great! They are slightly crispy and golden brown on the outside, but the inside is a decadent, soft, chewy texture. I made these for my grandma because she loves this combo and she gave them a thumbs up. A tip is to take the cookies out when they are still soft and then leave them to cool on the baking sheet for about 10-15 minutes. This always helps me to ensure I don’t overbake them!
For the brown sugar, I used half a cup each of light and dark brown. This is one of the best cookies I have ever made, if not THE best. It was certainly better than the pepperidge farm, which used to be fantastic but they must have made a change in ingredients… it seems store bought cookies are going downhill.
Anyway, perfect recipe. I did bake both straight after making the batter and also after it was refrigerated for a while.
Best macadamia nut cookies! I added half a teaspoon of almond extract and it is to die for!
Easy to make.. Excellent.. Tasty..
Definitely a hit !! Thx
Easy to make. Very tasty. Excellent recipe.. Thx for sharing
This is by far the best white chocolate macadamia nut cookie I have ever tasted. I can’t even get a better taste at a professional cookie shop. I did not modify the recipe at all, and the texture and shape turned out perfect. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe with us.
Not enough butter?
I had to flatten them out with a spatula because they hadn’t flattened out enough. I used the correct amount of butter that had been out all day. Egg was room temp. They were good, but they would have been a fat little pile if I hadn’t pressed them down.
Hi, Dale. I’m sorry you had trouble with this recipe! How are you measuring your flour? I’m willing to bet that’s the issue. Here’s how to properly measure flour.
Came perfect!! I really followed the extra tips , like roasting the nuts for 5 min and making sure the butter and sugars were creamed together enough. They were a chewy cookie that held their shape with the perfect amount of flavorful crunch from the nuts !!! Yum!! Thanks!
Just made these last night and since I’m only had a stick of butter in the house, I added 3 T of canola oil to get to the 3/4 cup of a fat. I also had some leftover caramels in the pantry, so cut them up into chip sizes and threw about 1/3 c in the dough as well. Holy smokes- my kids adored these! So, so delicious, the salt at the end made it delicious. This one going in the recipe box for sure!!
These are truly the best cookies ever!!! The instructions and tips are so helpful.
just made these. the shapes came out funky as i don’t have a cookie scoop, but nonetheless they came out perfectly delicious.
Thank you for posting the recipe in grams. So much easier for me and less washing. Great cookies!
The best recipe I’ve tried! They turned out perfect- crunchy and soft!
Great recipe, made 3 1/2 dozen cookies. I used dry roasted chopped macadamias so I didn’t need to roast them. I may try with toffee chips next time for a change. Yummy
These cookie dough came out dry and crumbly and the cookies where crumbly too. Can i fix them?
Hi. You say the recipe hasn’t changed but then you mention it has shortening in it in a comment which I don’t see.
The recipe has been updated from its original version which included shortening. I don’t bake with shortening anymore, so this recipe is all-butter.
Delicious! And quite easy to put together! Thank you for posting this
Recipe, I’ll be baking more very soon
My all time favorite cookie recipe! So so delicious 😋
Awesome cookies! I am just wondering. I was cooking in grams and I found the amount of sugar in grams too much. I left out the 100 g of granulated sugar completely and even after that it was kinda sweet! Can’t imagine how it would taste if I wouldn’t leave that out. Are you sure these grams measurements are correct?
Hi Marie! I just double checked and the gram measurements for the sugars is correct. 1 1/2 cups of sugar is pretty standard for cookie recipes of this size. And yes, cookies are very sweet! I’m glad you were able to make the adjustments and still have the cookies turn out.
Hi, if I buy dry roasted salted macadamia nuts, will it be the same thing as toasting them? Also, if salted, would I reduce the salt amt called for? Thank you!
If you want to use dry roasted salted macadamia nuts, I would omit the toasting and the salt. However, I have not tested this substitution. If you try it, I’d lot to hear how the cookies turn out!
Thanks for the tip about toasting the macadamia nuts! They really are better this way! These cookies are perfect. My husband says they’re addicting.
Put the macadamias in the oven to toast. About half came out burnt after 5 minutes. per the recipe. Foolishly, I tried to salvage what I could. Now they all have a burnt taste