White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

When it comes down to it, it’s the classic flavour of a White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie that is the most important factor for cookie bakers and eaters.

This cookie is sweet, but not overly sweet, which allows for the creamy sweet white chocolate chips to shine through. Next, this buttery cookie is kissed with a hint of classic vanilla. What a legendary combination.

Finally, the macadamia nuts do more than just add crunch. They bring a very subtle nuttiness to the cookie’s flavour profile.

The Ultimate Cookie Ingredients

This is an understated classic cookie made with basic pantry ingredients and a few special treats that elevate it to a whole new level.

Here are some of the basic ingredient tweaks that make these cookies extra special:

Brown and White Sugar – A combination of sugars, rather than just using brown or white sugar, gives a mellow, slightly caramel flavouring that doesn’t overpower the other flavours in the cookie.

Unsalted Butter – In general, it is a good idea to bake with unsalted butter because it lets the sweetness of the butter shine through and allows you to control the overall flavour in the recipe.

For this recipe, use room temperature or softened butter (not melted). It is a lot easier to cream the butter and sugar together when the butter is soft.

Eggs – Eggs in baking add moisture (which leads to leavening) and structure to baking. Since these cookies are meant to be only slightly risen, I have reduced the egg measurement to one egg plus an egg yolk. Two whole eggs will result in extra puffy cookies.

Use room-temperature eggs for this recipe. Leave eggs on the counter for a few hours OR allow cold eggs to warm up in a bowl of hot water for 5 minutes. I do this a lot because I can never remember to take them out beforehand.

With the mixer running, add the egg (plus another yolk) then the splash of vanilla extract.

Whisk all of the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, cornstarch, nutmeg) together in a separate bowl then gradually add them to wet ingredients, on the lowest speed. Scrape down the sides a few times to ensure all ingredients are mixed uniformly.

Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and mix in the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts by hand.

Instead, scoop up a heaped tablespoon of cookie batter and roll it into a ball with your hands. Evenly space 12 cookies on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. The batter will be quite sticky, so if you like, you can quickly moisten your hands. This helps to prevent the batter from sticking to your hands.

Before placing in a 350 F oven, flatten the dough balls slightly with the palm of your hand.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on the efficiency of your oven. To ensure the cookies are soft and chewy, do not overbake! In fact, with this cookie, it is best to underbake it. We like to remove them from the oven once the edges begin to turn to a golden brown colour.

How to Store White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Store the White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies in a cookie jar or tin for up to a week…which makes them a great option for sending in a Christmas cookie exchange.

They freeze well too, which makes them a great ‘make ahead’ Christmas cookie. Just make sure they are in an airtight container so they don’t end up tasting like a ‘freezer’.