A classic cookie with a decadent flair, these white chocolate macadamia nut cookies are made with browned butter, toasted macadamia nuts, premium white chocolate, and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt. Recipe includes a how-to video!
Gourmet White Chocolate Cookies
These are not your average white chocolate macadamia nut cookies! No, these are decadently buttery cookies enriched with toasty, nutty flavor, sweet white chocolate, crunchy roasted macadamia nuts, and finishing dash of sea salt.
While it may sound complicated, my recipe is actually quite easy to make and doesn’t even require a mixer!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Flavor: Rich, nutty brown butter enriches the cookies and gives them a much deeper flavor that is reminiscent of toffee. It’s our secret ingredient here!
- Texture: Slightly crisp, golden-brown edges with thick, soft centers punctuated with crunchy macadamia nuts and pockets of creamy white chocolate.
- Ease: No mixer needed, since we are starting with melted butter (like when making my butter pecan cookies). Don’t you love it when that happens?
- Chilling: Only 30 minutes to chill, which is just enough time to clean up your countertop, preheat your oven, and prep your cookie sheets.
- Sweetness: White chocolate has a reputation for being super sweet (I talked about this when I shared my white chocolate buttercream), so we’ll use just enough chips to add sweetness without making the cookies cloying.
Ingredients
Most of today’s ingredients are pretty standard, but we do have a few important ingredients that elevate this cookie dough from classic to irresistible!
- Butter. The first step in this recipe is browning your butter. If you’ve never done this before, I walk you through the steps in the recipe and video (just below the recipe). I also have a step-by-step guide on how to brown butter, if you need more help. For extra rich flavor, try using European butter.
- White chocolate. There are a lot of ingredients that I buy generic without issue, but white chocolate is not one of them (and the same goes for baking powder or soda). Ghirardelli is my current favorite brand; you can either chop up a white chocolate bar (my preference for extra melty hunks of chocolate throughout) or just use chips.
- Macadamia nuts. I use roasted and salted macadamia nuts. If yours aren’t already chopped when you buy them, be sure to chop them into chocolate-chip-sized pieces before adding.
- Cornstarch. This is a favorite in so many of my cookie recipes, especially ones that begin with melted butter (like my worst chocolate chip cookies). It helps to keep the cookies soft and prevents them from spreading too much without drying them out (which adding more flour would do).
- Sea salt. This is optional, but I love adding a sprinkle of sea salt to the tops of my cookies just after removing them from the oven.
SAM’S TIP: Your eggs should ideally be at room temperature. To quickly bring eggs to room temperature, place them in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for 15 minutes.
This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- Brown the butter: Melt and cook the butter in a saucepan until it foams, sizzles, and turns brown. Remove from the heat and let cool until it is no longer warm to the touch.
- Stir in the sugars, eggs, and vanilla, then set aside while you whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, then fold in the add-ins.
- Cover and chill the dough before scooping and rolling into 1 ½ tablespoon sized balls.
- Bake until the edges just start to turn golden brown, then remove and sprinkle with sea salt. The key to soft and chewy cookies is to slightly underbake them in the oven and finish cooking outside the oven on their baking sheets.
SAM’S TIP: For round, uniform-looking cookies, roll the scoops of cookie dough briefly between your palms before baking. You can also add a few chocolate chips to the tops after they come out of the oven. This will give your cookies a bakery-style look!
Frequently Asked Questions
Adding the sugars when your butter is warm or hot butter will melt them, leaving you with a soupy, greasy cookie dough and ultra-flat cookies.
On the other hand, if you have cookie dough that isn’t spreading enough, you may have accidentally added too much flour to your dough. This is a common mistake; make sure you know how to measure flour properly if this happens to you often.
I suppose you don’t have to! I do have a separate recipe for white chocolate chip cookies that you could try instead.
Yes, though you may need to let it sit at room temperature for a bit before scooping if you do. If you want to freeze the cookie dough, follow the instructions in my post on how to freeze cookie dough.
If you’re a big macadamia nut fan, give my coconut cream pie a try! It uses a macadamia nut-infused crust for extra flavor 🤍
Enjoy!
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White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (200 g) brown sugar
- ⅔ cup (135 g) white sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature preferred
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups (340 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch cornflour in UK
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cups (170 g) premium white chocolate chips
- 1 cup (110 g) Macadamia nut pieces
- sea salt for sprinkling optional
Instructions
Begin by Browning your Butter:
- Place butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-low heat.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
- Once butter has melted, increase heat to just above medium heat. Stir the butter and scrape the sides and bottom of the pan frequently with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula – the butter will begin to bubble and pop. Once the bubbling/popping slows, the butter will begin to turn brown (see image). Once it begins to brown, remove from heat and pour into a large heat-proof bowl.
- Allow butter to cool to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.
Cookie Dough
- Add sugars into cooled browned butter and stir well.1 cup (200 g) brown sugar, ⅔ cup (135 g) white sugar
- Add eggs and vanilla extract and stir until well-combined.2 large eggs, 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.2 ¾ cups (340 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt
- Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring until ingredients are nearly completely combined.
- Add white chocolate chips and macadamia nut pieces and stir until ingredients are well-incorporated.1 cups (170 g) premium white chocolate chips, 1 cup (110 g) Macadamia nut pieces
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill cookie dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before proceeding.
- 15 minutes before you are ready to bake cookies, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Once oven is preheated and cookie dough has chilled, drop dough by heaping, rounded 1 ½-Tbsp-sized scoops (50g) onto prepared cookie sheets, placing at least 2" (5cm) apart.
- Bake on 350F (175C) for 9-11 minutes or until edges are just beginning to turn golden brown (cookies should still be quite soft when you remove them from the oven, and may even appear slightly underbaked in center).
- Sprinkle lightly with sea salt immediately after removing from the oven.sea salt for sprinkling
- Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet.
Notes
Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Michael
Hi! What are your thoughts about using the dough from the “worst chocolate chip cookie” and substituting the chocolate chips for the white chocolate and macadamia nuts from this recipe?
Sam
That could certainly work. 🙂
Michelle LeClair
Made these last night, loved the cookie!
Anneke Meyer
Just love this recipe. One of my favorites. I never knew that making cookies would be so much fun. Thank you for making it so easy with all your step by step guides and video’s.
Marsha
What changes do I need to make if I live in a high altitude (5500 ft)?
Sam
Hi Marsha! Unfortunately I am not familiar with high altitude baking so I can’t say for sure if there would need to be any alterations made. If you do try it, I would love to know how it goes. 🙂
Isabel
I did this and the “Worst chocolate chip cookie” for the cookies exchange and am glad to tell you I won. 😁 Thanks!
Isabel
Is this the same recipe as it was before? Or did you change something in it?
Also, I am doing a cookie competition, and am wondering which one of your cookie recipes do you think would win? I think I am going to do these. But wonder if you think you have a better cookie recipe.
Sam
Hi Isabel! This is the same recipe. I just updated the post to add a little more information. You certainly can’t go wrong with this cookie, but my personal favorite is the “worst chocolate chip cookie.” 🙂
Millie
Perfection!!! So glad I discovered your site
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this, Millie! Thank you so much for trusting and trying my recipes, I really appreciate it!
Kristina
Hi Sam! The flavor of these cookies are phenomenal! The browned butter really makes it. I like a cookie to spread out more. Could I omit the cornstarch or reduce the amount? Love all of your recipes by the way!
Sam
Hi Kristina! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Yes you can omit the cornstarch completely, you can also try baking on 350F instead and reduce or skip the chilling. I hope that helps!
Brooke
My go to site for baking. Love all SugarSpunRun’s recipes. The only change I make is I add about 2 tablespoons of orange zest and a little almond extract. If you need a chocolate chip cookie recipe, check out her browned butter bourbon chocolate chip. They are game changer. Yes, sometimes when you see you have to refrigerate the dough, It can be annoying, but it is so worth it. follow her directions.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for all the love, Brooke! Those additions sound amazing 🤩
Patti
Hi Sam,
This is the “same” recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies, Nutella Stuffed Cookies, and maybe a couple of others.
There are minor tweaks – Nutella adds 2 T. of flour and 1 tsp.. of cornstarch, White Chocolate Macadamia adds an extra 2 tsps. of cornstarch.
Are these minor tweaks crucial for the individual recipes? Does something special happen when slightly increasing the amounts?
I’m second guessing myself. I don’t want to get it wrong.
Sam
Hi Patti! I make slight tweaks to each recipe for best results depending on add ins etc. A cookie base is pretty similar from cookie to cookie. 🙂
Isabel
These are my favorite kind of cookie!!!! I love them so much!!!
Could i double the batch but not double the macadamia nuts? Would it still taste good?
Sam
Hi Isabel! Yes that should be totally fine. The cookies *may* spread slightly more without the extra nuts but I think they’ll still be fine and shouldn’t spread too much. Enjoy!
Barbara Pesante
Wonderful recipe! I used dark brown sugar bc that’s what I had, so the cookie is darker but they are so moist & flavorful! Yum! Love Sugarspunrun recipes!