These EASY white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies are the perfect combination of sweet, nutty, soft and chewy perfection! They're loaded with creamy white chocolate chips and crispy chunks of macadamia nuts and baked until slightly crisp on the outside with a perfectly soft and slightly chewy center.
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time8 minutesmins
Chill Time1 hourhr
Total Time1 hourhr23 minutesmins
Course: Cookies
Cuisine: American
Keyword: macadamia white chocolate cookies, white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies, white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies, white chocolate macadamia cookies, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, white macadamia nut cookies
Servings: 20
Calories: 186kcal
Author: Averie Sunshine
Ingredients
½cupunsalted buttersoftened to room temp
½cupgranulated sugar
½cuplight brown sugarpacked
1large egg
1 to 2teaspoonsvanilla extract
1 ½cupscups all-purpose flour
½teaspoonbaking soda
½teaspoonsalt
1cupwhite chocolate chips
½cupmacadamia nutscoarsely chopped (I use dry roasted and lightly sea salted macadamias)
Instructions
To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large bowl and handheld electric mixer), add the butter, sugars, and beat on high speed untii pale and creamy, about 3-4 minutes; stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the egg, vanilla, and beat on high speed to incorporate and until creamy, about 1-2 minutes; stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and beat for 1 minute to incorporate.
Add the white chocolate chips, macadamia nuts, and beat for an additional 30-60 seconds, or until the flour and add-ins have been completely incorporated; do not overmix.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to chill for 30-45 minutes. Tips - Do not skip the step of chilling the dough because your cookies will be much more prone to spreading during baking. However, don't chill for long because the dough will become too firm and it'll be like chiseling rather than scooping it out. You can also chill it in the freezer for about 20 minutes if you have the freezer space to do so.
Preheat oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat liners; set aside.
Using a medium cookie scoop, form cookie dough balls each using approximately 1 1/2 tablespoons dough (I made 20 balls). The overall yield will depend on the exact size of your dough balls.
Place dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, spaced at least 2 inches apart.
Bake for about 8 to 9 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden browned and set. Baking Tips - Do not overbake. Cookies will continue to firm up as they are out of the oven and cooling, so it's ok to pull your baking sheets even if the cookies appear slightly undone. These cookies taste best when they're slightly underbaked rather than overbaked. Plus, white chocolate is prone to scorching and doesn't look very pretty if you overbake it. For optimal results, I bake cookies on the middle oven rack, one sheet at a time, rotating the baking sheet once midway through baking. The unevenness of your oven's heat output and air circulation (all ovens have this problem, some more so than others) will be very notable on white/light colored cookies like this, which is why I recommend rotating your baking sheets and only baking one sheet at a time so you can really pay attention to what's happening. If you made your cookies smaller/bigger than mine, baking time will vary. Bake as necessary in your oven; baking times listed are an estimate only.
Optionally, immediately after the cookies come out of the oven, if desired you can add a half dozen white chocolate chips to each cookie for beautification. Barely tap them in and they will melt a bit and adhere.
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for about 10 minutes, or until firm enough to transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Notes
Storage - Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. However, if you're putting these in a cookie exchange, you can feel quite confident that they'll taste great for 7 days. Make sure not to overbake them though!You can freeze baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Make Ahead - Or you can freeze unbaked cookie dough balls for up to 3 months and then bake off as many cookies as you'd like when the time is right. If using this method, there's no need to thaw before baking - simply add a couple minutes to the overall baking time. Or you can keep prepared cookie dough balls airtight in the fridge for up to 48-72 hours before baking them off.