These Chocolate Macadamia Cookies are incredibly easy to make. Super soft, chewy and buttery cookies, loaded with white chocolate chunks and macadamia. 10 ingredients – 10 minutes to bake – 1 bowl.
Today I show you one of my favorite cookie recipes. It’s one of my favorite because the cookies are easy to make, there is no chilling required, and you don’t need any fancy ingredients. They are soft and chewy, and just perfect. You can take this as a basic cookie recipe and add any mix-ins you want.
What you will learn:
- How to make the best White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies
- What makes cookies chewy
- How to freeze cookies and cookie dough
- How long do cookies last
- Substitutions for chewy cookies
How to make the best White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies
Start with melting the butter. I recommend melting the butter in the microwave in a heatproof bowl until about 2/3 melted. Then remove the butter from the microwave and stir until completely melted.
Transfer the butter together with white and brown sugar to a large mixing bowl and mix with an electric mixer on medium speed just until combined.
As you can see the butter-sugar mixture is very liquid.
Then add egg and vanilla and stir just to combine.
Then add flour, baking powder, and salt and stir until combined. The dough should be very soft and slightly sticky to touch.
Fold in white chocolate and macadamia. I used high-quality white chocolate from Lindt and chopped it into chunks. It’s up to you if you use white chocolate chips, white chocolate chunks, or a combination of both.
However you decide, please make sure that the chocolate is high-quality because it will affect the taste of the cookies. The better the chocolate, the better the cookies.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. To get 12 evenly sized cookies, I recommend using a kitchen scale. Measure the weight of the cookie dough and divide it by 12. This makes sure that all cookies are evenly baked. Then scoop 6 balls of cookie dough on each baking sheet with about 4-5 inch space in-between.
Bake one baking sheet after another. Bake cookies for 10-11 minutes.
What makes cookies chewy?
There are a few factors which help to create a chewy cookie.
- Melted butter which is not too hot
Cookies with melted butter are chewier compared to cookies using soft or cold butter. But the butter shouldn’t be hot when you add the sugar. The best way to get melted butter which is not hot is to melt it just by 2/3 in the microwave and stir until it is completely melted. In this case, you make sure that the butter is liquid but not too hot. The butter should be dull and not look-through.
Side note: I made the experience that high-quality butter leads to a chewier cookie texture compared to low budget butter. So make sure to use good butter.
2. Measure all ingredients correctly
That’s also a secret to perfectly chewy cookies. Spoon and level the flour by spooning the flour with a tablespoon into the measuring cup until full and level with the back of a knife. Take care that you don’t shake the cup that the flour flattens (because then more flour fits in the cup) and also don’t push the flour into the cup with the back of the knife.
Also, take care to use large eggs. Not medium but also not extra large. More or less egg in the cookie dough has a huge impact on the texture of the cookie. From cakey to hard, everything is possible with the wrong egg size.
3. Mix just until combined
The problems with overmixed cookie dough are underestimated. If you overmix the cookie dough at any step, the cookies will get dry and cakey instead of dense, soft, and chewy. So please, be sure that you don’t mix longer as just combined, at every step.
4. Don’t overbake the cookies
When you remove the cookies from the oven, they don’t look done, but that’s actually good! They should look underbaked and doughy. That’s the secret to super chewy and soft cookies.
Don’t worry because of raw cookie dough because they are baked through, although they don’t look like that. They will keep baking on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes before you transfer them to a wire rack.
You know that they are ready to remove from the oven when they start to look pale, puffy, and dry.
How to freeze cookies and cookie dough
If you want to make the cookie dough ahead and want to freeze it, then scoop the cookie dough into balls and place in the freezer for 30-60 minutes until firm. Then remove the cookie dough balls from the freezer and tightly wrap each ball in plastic foil twice. Place them in a freezer bag and squeeze out all the air.
Thaw them before you bake them. Therefore, unwrap the cookie dough balls, cover lightly with a napkin and let them stand at room temperature for about 1-2 hours. The warmer the place where they stand, the shorter it will take until they are room temperature. Then place them on baking sheets and bake as described.
If you want to freeze baked cookies, that’s also no problem! Let them cool completely, then wrap each cookie tightly in plastic wrap twice. Place in freezer bags and remove as much air as possible.
For thawing, unwrap cookies and let stand at room temperature for about 1-2 hours. Then transfer to an airtight container and eat within 2 days.
However, fresh cookies are always the best. I just want to say that.
How long do cookies last?
After they are cooled to room temperature, store them in an airtight container up to 4 days. If it is hot where you live you could alternatively store them in the fridge. In the fridge, the cookies will last up to 6 days. Remove them from the fridge before you want to eat them and let come to room temperature. This takes about 30 minutes.
You could also warm them in the microwave for 15-20 seconds. Did you ever try this? That’s delicious!
However, cookies are best eaten within the first 3 days.
Substitutions for White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies
Well, I don’t recommend to substitute anything else but the mix-ins. I tested these cookies with gluten-free flour, no egg, vegan, etc. and they all didn’t turn out as they should.
But use this recipe as your basic cookie dough recipe and add any mix-ins you love. Nuts, cranberries, chocolate chunks, chocolate chips, raisins, peanut butter morsels, wrapped caramel, etc. Whenever you want to have a chewy and buttery cookie, this is the recipe you need.
As you can see in the photo below, I also love to mix up white chocolate and milk chocolate with macadamia.
If you make this Chocolate Macadamia Cookies recipe leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #alsothecrumbsplease on Instagram! Would love to see your snap!
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These Chocolate Macadamia Cookies are incredibly easy to make. Super soft, chewy and buttery cookies, loaded with white chocolate chunks and macadamia. 10 ingredients – 10 minutes to bake – 1 bowl.
- 1/2 cup butter, melted (113g)
- 1/2 cup granulated white sugar (100g)
- 1/8 cup brown sugar (25g)
- 1 large egg
- 1 vanilla bean* (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
- 1+5/8 cups all-purpose flour (195g)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped (90g)
- 1/2 cup high-quality white chocolate chips or white chocolate chunks (85g)
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Microwave butter until 2/3 melted. Then stir until it's completely liquid. Transfer together with the sugars to a large mixing bowl and stir with a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment on medium speed just until combined, maximum 1 minute. Add egg and vanilla* and mix for about 30 seconds just until combined. Add flour, baking powder, and salt and mix just until combined. Don’t overmix at any step or your cookies will dry out. Fold in chopped macadamia and white chocolate.
Scoop 12 equal sized balls out of the dough, place them onto the prepared baking sheets and bake one sheet after another for about 10-11 minutes. Remove from oven when they look dry, puffy and pale. They will look underbaked, but that's good. Let cool for about 5 minutes until they are firm enough to move them. Then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely. The cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature up to 4 days.
Recipe Video
*First, cut off the straight end of the vanilla bean. Then place the tip of your sharp knife below the curled end and cut the vanilla bean through the middle of the bean lengthwise. Although you don't need to cut it all the way through, it's ok when you do so. Then open the vanilla bean and scrape out the flavorful seeds with the back of your knife. Just use the seeds.
SUBSTITUTIONS
Replace the macadamia and the white chocolate with any kind of mix-ins you love.
RECOMMENDATION
- Read the blog post for additional information on how to make, store, and freeze white chocolate macadamia cookies, and also what to do to get super chewy cookies.
- Watch step-by-step photos to see the required consistency in every step.
- Watch the 41-seconds video to see the whole process of making the cookies.
These are a classic and one of my favourites. And who doesn’t love a chewy cookie. Great tips too.
I think chewy cookies are the best! Thank you so much, Marie!