Bakery Style White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies are extra large thick cookies, chewy throughout and studded with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. The trick to making these cookies bakery-style is to use a quarter cup worth of dough to make each cookie for an oversized cookie.
These chewy cookies come together quickly, with just one bowl and 10 minutes of prep. Then they are ready to go straight into the oven. No chilling/refrigerating is required.
I love to make bakery-style cookies so much that I've put together an entire section of thick chewy bakery-style cookies. Check out these Kitchen Sink Cookies, my favorite Chocolate Chip Cafe Cookies, or even these White Chocolate Pretzel Cookies for when macadamia nuts are just not in the budget (they can get expensive!).
On the flip side, if you're looking for smaller-batch cookie recipes, I've got those too. Check out these classic Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies, these Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies, or these Small Batch Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. Or if you're just looking for something a little bit different try these Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies.
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love These Cookies
- Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- High-Quality White Chocolate Chips
- Macadamia Nuts
- Maldon Sea Salt Flakes
- Extra Large White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- How to Make White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie FAQs:
- If you're looking for other cookie recipes, you may love these:
- Bakery Style White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Why You'll Love These Cookies
Easy to Make: They come together super quickly, with no chilling, and no special techniques or equipment required. You can mix them by hand, with a hand mixer, or a stand mixer.
Bakery Style: They are oversized cookies which makes them extra satisfying, chewy, and indulgent.
Flavor and Texture: The combination of sweet white chocolate and crunchy salty macadamia nuts is so good!
Ingredients
Below are the ingredients needed to make Bakery Style White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies.
- Butter: Use softened butter. If you have not softened the butter ahead of time, stick it in a large microwavable bowl and microwave for 45 seconds at 20% power. Flip the butter over in the bowl and microwave for 45 seconds at 20% power. Add 30 seconds at a time as needed until softened.
- Brown Sugar & Granulated Sugar: This recipe calls for more brown sugar than granulated sugar, adding a little more flavor and moisture.
- Eggs: Use large eggs, pasture-raised if possible.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: For leavening. Check to make sure that they are not expired.
- Salt: To balance and brighten flavor.
- Vanilla: Use real vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla. If you bake somewhat regularly, consider buying a large bottle of vanilla extract at Costco. It is more economical and will last you at least a year.
- Flour: Use all-purpose unbleached flour.
- Macadamia Nuts: These can be expensive, but they add a nice crunch. I like to use roasted salted macadamia nuts. See the discussion below on macadamia nuts.
- White Chocolate Chips: Use a high-quality brand such as Ghirardelli or Guittard. See the discussion below.
- Maldon Sea Salt Flakes: These can be expensive and if needed they can be left off, but they complement the macadamia nuts and the sweet cookie dough. A box will last a year or possibly two.
To learn more about these cookie ingredients, see my Guide to Cookie Ingredients.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
- Macadamia Nuts: You can substitute macadamia nuts for pretzels, which are also salty and crunchy. For more details see my recipe for White Chocolate Pretzel Cookies. You could also choose another nut such as pecans or pistachios. Both would work well in this cookie.
- White Chocolate Chips: You could also use any variation of chocolate chips such as milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate chips or even butterscotch chips.
- Vanilla: If you don't have real vanilla extract and don't want the expense of purchasing it, just leave it out. The cookie will not taste as rich, but it will still be sweet and delicious.
- Flaky Sea Salt: The same goes for the sea salt, if you don't have it and don't want the added expense, just leave it off. Do not use table salt to sprinkle on top.
- Drop Cookie: If you don't have a quarter-cup measuring cup, or don't have the time to shape the cookies into quarter-cup rounds, just drop two tablespoons worth of dough onto the cookie sheet to convert the recipe into a drop cookie recipe and bake the cookies for 8-9 minutes.
High-Quality White Chocolate Chips
Selecting high-quality white chocolate chips makes all the difference. White chocolate from a store brand or lower quality brand usually doesn't taste very good. However, a brand like Ghirardelli makes much, much better white chocolate chips. They taste better, they melt better, and they make a much better cookie. If you’re going to make any baked goods with white chocolate, it is well worth it to buy the higher-quality white chocolate chips.
Macadamia Nuts
Macadamia Nuts are also notoriously expensive. I used dry roasted macadamia nuts with sea salt from Costco. If you are considering also snacking on any leftover nuts (they are a great snack) you could consider buying the large bag from Costco. However, they’re also sold at many other stores in smaller portions.
I chop the nuts so that they are roughly cut in half. This is totally based on preference, but I like to have larger chunks of nuts in the cookies.
Side Note: When we were living in San Diego for a few months, we went to the local farmers market a few times. Once, one of the vendors offered to let me try a macadamia nut. It was still in the shell and he showed me how to crack it and pull out the nut inside. Such a cool experience!
Maldon Sea Salt Flakes
Maldon Sea Salt Flakes are expensive. However, a box of this salt will last you well over 1 year. I bake and cook a LOT and I have had my box of sea salt flakes for close to 3 years. A little bit goes a long way. You can use it on all sorts of baked goods (especially anything with chocolate), as well as dinners. It’s great when sprinkled lightly on veggies like Green Beans with Toasted Almonds or its especially good on Grandma Pie Pizza.
You can find Maldon Sea Salt Flakes at Whole Foods, Target, a large grocery store, or on Amazon.
Extra Large White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
To make extra large cookies use a quarter cup measuring cup to measure out a quarter cup of dough for each cookie. I have measuring cups with a flat bottom and tall sides, which helps with portioning out and shaping the dough. See the picture below of the measuring cup that I use. Regardless of the shape of the measuring cup, remove the dough from the measuring cup and shape the dough into a round thick cylinder with a flat bottom and top, like a small hockey puck.
How to Make White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Below are the step-by-step instructions for how to make Bakery Style White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies.
Note: The recipe card with instructions, ingredient list, and quantities is included further below these step-by-step photos.
Step 1. Preheat the oven to 350℉. Add the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar to a large mixing bowl and combine. This can be done by hand or with a mixer. For more details on the impact of mixing by hand vs. with a mixer, see this experiment on mixing cookie dough by hand vs. with a hand-held mixer.
Step 2. Add the eggs and combine.
Step 3. Add the baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and salt and combine.
Expert Tip: Adding the baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and salt to the bowl with the wet ingredients allows you to incorporate them evenly before adding the flour. This way you do not need to pull out a separate bowl to combine the dry ingredients first. Just one bowl: less to pull out, less to clean!
Step 4. Add the flour and mix until just combined.
Step 5. Add the white chocolate chips and lightly chopped macadamia nuts. Use a large spoon to combine.
Expert Tip: Macadamia nuts can be quite large, so to incorporate them into the dough, chop the nuts lightly. Don't worry about being too precise, but cut them roughly in half or quarters. You still want big chunks, but if they are whole they will be too big for the cookies.
Step 6. Shape the dough into round a hockey-puck-like-shape using a quarter-cup measuring spoon. Press the dough into the quarter cup measuring spoon, removing any excess, then turn the dough out onto a cookie sheet. Re-shape into a cylinder shape that loosely resembles a hockey puck.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven when you see one or two spots on the cookies that have turned lightly brown. They will continue to cook on the still-warm baking sheet after removing them from the oven.
Step 7. Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven, sprinkle the cookies with Maldon flaky sea salt.
Expert Tip: Add the flaky sea salt after removing the cookies from the oven while they are still warm. This will allow the salt to stick to the cookies. Don't wait until they cool or the salt won't stick. Adding the flaky sea salt after baking the cookies gives you a larger surface area to add the salt.
For more tips and tricks see my Guide to Making the Best Homemade Cookies.
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie FAQs:
Macadamia nuts are expensive because the growing and harvesting of macadamia trees is difficult. Macadamia trees take 7-10 years to begin growing nuts. Then the harvesting is made difficult because the thick shell hides whether or not the nut is ripe. The nuts also mature several times throughout the year, so not all nuts are ripe at the same time.
They originated in Australia, but are commercially grown in Hawaii which has the perfect climate for macadamia trees.
Bakery-style cookies require slightly more flour so that the cookies can hold up despite their larger size. Use a quarter cup measuring cup to portion out large bakery-style cookies.
These White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies last for 3 days on the counter, wrapped in plastic.
Store these cookies in a plastic Ziploc bag or covered in plastic wrap on the counter for three days. They can also be frozen. Prior to eating, place on the counter to warm up to room temperature.
If you're looking for other cookie recipes, you may love these:
Crispy Salted Caramel Cookies: Crispy cookies with a puddle of gooey caramel in the middle and sprinkled with flaky sea salt.
White Chocolate Pretzel Cookies: A variation on White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies, but with crunchy pretzels instead of macadamia nuts.
Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cafe Cookies: Extra large and thick melty chocolate chip cookies with shards of chopped chocolate.
Small Batch Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies: Makes 12 cookies, crispy on the outside and bottom, chewy in the middle.
If you tried this Bakery Style White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Bakery Style White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup roughly chopped macadamia nuts
- 1½ cups white chocolate chips (high quality such as Ghirardelli)
- Maldon sea salt flakes for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.
- Add the eggs and combine.
- Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla and combine.
- Add the flour and mix until just combined.
- Add the macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips and stir to incorporate.
- Using a quarter-cup measuring cup, portion out a quarter cup worth of cookie dough. Shape into a thick round disk, like a small hockey puck or a burger slider.
- Place 8 on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Immediately upon removing from the oven sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Notes
- The dough can be mixed by hand with a large spoon, with a hand mixer, or with a stand mixer.
- Adding the baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and salt to the bowl with the wet ingredients allows you to incorporate them evenly before adding the flour. This way you do not need to pull out a separate bowl to combine the dry ingredients first. Just one bowl: less to pull out, less to clean!
- Macadamia nuts can be quite large, so to incorporate them into the dough, chop the nuts lightly. Don't worry about being too precise, but cut them roughly in half or quarters. You still want big chunks, but if they are whole they will be too big for the cookies.
- The cookies are done when they are lightly browned in just a couple of places. They will continue to firm up on the still-warm baking sheet.
- Add the flaky sea salt after removing the cookies from the oven while they are still warm. This will allow the salt to stick to the cookies. Don't wait until they cool or the salt won't stick. Adding the flaky sea salt after baking the cookies gives you a larger surface area to add the salt.
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