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.
TRACY LYNN DAWSON
I made these gluten free by substituting with almond flour. Honestly the best cookies I’ve ever made, delicious!
Sam
Thank you so much for the feedback, Tracy! I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies! 🙂
Bonnie
I browned the butter and toasted the nuts, and this recipe will be the only white chocolate macadamia cookie I will ever make again!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies Bonnie! 🙂
Sarah Walker
This is a phenomenal cookie recipe. I followed everything except the corn starch, because I’ve never used it. Browning the butter was new to me. It turns out great though. Thank you for posting this. I’ll definitely be putting this recipe in my arsenal. Here’s to living for the sweet tooth.
Sam
The browned butter makes a huge difference! It’s really incredible! I am so glad you enjoyed them!! 😃😃
Sarah
I’m in the process of making these cookies right now. I was wondering if you sifted the dry ingredients…
I usually do, but I’m trying to follow your recipe exactly.
eilis
hiya have made these cookies a few times and they are divine!!! was just wondering would it be ok to keep the dough in the fridge for 24hrs or would that ruin them…..don’t want to lose the lovely texture 😁😁
Sam
So glad you enjoyed them! Yes the dough can keep in the fridge for that long, but the dough will be hard to scoop so either scoop it and then chill for the 24 hours (make sure to wrap the cookie dough balls in cling wrap and then put in a ziploc bag or otherwise contain in an airtight container) or cover and chill the dough and then you’ll need to let the dough sit out at room temperature for about 15-20 minutes to be able to scoop it.
Becs
Could you make these with different nuts like cashew or almond? Thanks 🙂
Shauna L
I followed the recipe as written, it was AMAZING. The browned butter was easier than I thought, now I’m trying to figure out what else I can use it in. Totally obsessed! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
Sam
I’m so thrilled that you enjoyed the recipe, Shauna! Isn’t browned butter amazing? I have a few recipes that use browned butter, if you search “browned butter” in the search bar you might find something else you like, too! 🙂
Amanda
Hello! I was just wondering if you toasted your macadamia nuts before putting them in the dough mix and if so, how did you go about doing that? I’m planning to make these cookies this week and I’m super excited to try out your browning butter method!
Sam
Hi Amanda! If your macadamia nuts don’t come already toasted (I always buy the Mauna Loa brand, they come roasted and chopped) then you don’t have to toast them, they’ll be just fine if you don’t. I hope you love the cookies!! 🙂
Laurel
Wow.
How have I never heard of browning butter before??!
Made these tonight and there just aren’t words to adequately describe them.
Receipe was spot on (although it didn’t mentian how to toast the nuts.. so i googled it, easy peasy)
First time making mac, wht choc cookies and this recipe needs NO tinkering. It’s perfect ❤️❤️ I am forever in your debt for the brown butter thing
Sam
I’m so thrilled to hear that you enjoyed them so much, Laurel!!! Thank you for commenting. <3
Michelle
They didn’t bake flat! I followed everything to the “T”. Your pictures a deceptive. I don’t understand. I’ve got round puff balls. They taste great and they will do fine but the ingredients are too expensive for a mess up. I made the toffee ones and did not use cornstarch, because that makes them more like cake cookies (upon research) and I used a half of a cup less of flour than you suggested. WAY better. The batter wasn’t crumbly at all. I still give it 4 stars because it tastes great, but not 5 because I did exactly what you said and they turned out nothing like yours.
Sam
Hi Michelle, the pictures are hardly deceptive, they’re literally pictures taken of this exact recipe, I took them myself after making them. I’ve made these cookie dozens of times without them coming out puffy so it sounds like the problem may be in the flour, are you using grams or cups? Sounds like you may be packing the cups with flour rather than spooning and leveling and therefore overmeasuring? The cornstarch is actually used to keep the cookies from being too flat (which is the more likely outcome with these cookies), so I’m not sure why you had the opposite problem. Glad you enjoyed the taste overall, but I wouldn’t recommend that others follow your substitutions.
Selah
You are so kind, Sam. You respond low-key and understandable, (hard to find on this planet). Your husband is married to a jewel! I only wish that this world could take lessons from you. Thank you!
Sam
Thank you very much! I try to help my readers get the best results from their recipes. 😊
Taylor
mine turned out the same way 🙁
Followed the recipe EXACTLY. did not pack the flour. maybe it was all the baking powder? definitely not flat ooey-gooey cookies like I hoped 🙁
Mikaru86
There seems to be a slight mistake with the temperatures. In step 1 you specify preheating to 375°F or 190°C (which is the correct conversion). But in step 8 you specify baking at 350°F which you also convert to 190°C, but 350°F should be 175°C (well, 176.67°C, but let’s not be pedantic XD).
So now I’m wondering which temperature is the correct one. I usually bake my cookies at 175°C, so I’m inclined to go with that, but maybe you are aiming for a crisper outside with a soft center and the higher temperature of 190°C is intentional?
Sam
Oops, thanks for the catch!! I tried these cookies at both 350 & 375 with success (baking slightly longer at 350), but ultimately decided that I liked them best at 375 (or 190C), so that’s what it should be! Thank you for letting me know about that, I’ll go in and fix it now!
Mikaru86
Thanks for the clarification, again (it seems like me previous comment was eaten by the comment system XD).
I went with 190°C-ish (my temperature dial is a bit imprecise and I didn’t want to overdo it, so probably around 180-185°C) for the first batch but the edges were just starting to get a tad too dark for my taste, so I reduced that to 175° for all the other batches. I baked them all at 11 minutes (I used 60g dough balls for all batches, that’s why I went with the high end of the range you gave) and they seem to have come out perfectly. Although they aren’t exactly perfectly soft and chewy. The edges are slightly crumbly but the center is somewhat soft (but not “you can bend the cookie without breaking it” soft). But I also let them rest on the baking sheet while the next batch was baking and didn’t remove them after 3 minutes, so that might have also reduced the softness a bit.
Next time I’d probably use 10 minutes at 175°C for a slightly softer result, but that is just my personal preference.
Mikaru86
Your rule is just no unbaked cookie dough right? I see an obvious loophope: Put the dough in the oven for a few seconds. Technically it is baked then. It might be just a tiny bit underbaked, but it’s technically baked 😉
Sam
That’s pretty much how I would bake all my cookies if I wasn’t sharing recipes. “Bake at 350 for 2 minutes. Cool slightly. Enjoy.” 😉
Sues
Haha I love that you gave up eating raw cookie dough for Lent! I totally would not be able to resist eating this cookie dough!! Power to you 🙂
Dawn
ok, perhaps change your Lenten “give up raw dough” to doing something for someone else, volunteer more etc. that will get you off the hook for anytime you need to give in 🙂
Those cookies look amazing- what white chocolate chips do you prefer to use? Your go to chip?
Sam
I seriously should! I don’t know how I’m going to make it! 😉
My favorites are the Ghirardelli white chocolate chips! Though Hershey’s and Tollhouse are quite acceptable substitutes. 🙂
Mikaru86
Those look amazing. After the great success with the chocolate cookies last week (http://i.imgur.com/rKXqUhc.jpg details and more pictures to follow as soon as I find the time to sit down to upload the pictures and write an update) I’ll have to try this. I’ve never used browned butter, but this is as good a chance as any to do so. I also have some cans of chocolate covered macadamia nuts left that would go well with this, maybe just hammer them into smaller pieces in a freezer bag…
I’ll let you know how they turn out 🙂
Sam
I’m glad you liked the chocolate cookies! Are those espresso beans on top? That sounds like a great idea 🙂
I think you’ll love the browned butter, it really takes everything to the next level, and the chocolate covered macadamia nuts should be pretty fantastic in here, too 🙂
Mikaru86
Yeah, I finally found a use for the leftover chocolate mocha beans. I wasn’t really a fan of those (they were too intensely coffee-y for my taste), but my colleagues really liked them.