White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Bobbi Lin for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich. Prop Stylist: Christina Lane.
Total Time
1 hour plus 12 hours’ chilling
Rating
5(548)
Notes
Read community notes

These cookies take familiar ingredients into the realm of something truly special, celebrating the floral vanilla notes of real white chocolate and the buttery richness of macadamia nuts. Milk powder is sizzled in butter, turning into bonus brown-butter bits that make the cookies sandy and crisp on the outside and fudgy on the inside, all while amping up the macadamia’s nuttiness. If using the optional vanilla bean, the hit of vanilla is amplified by steeping the pod in butter and adding the seeds to the dough along with the extract. An overnight chilling before baking deepens all the flavors and improves the cookies’ final texture.

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Ingredients

Yield:About 12 large cookies
  • 1cup plus 6 tablespoons/280 grams granulated sugar
  • 1vanilla bean (optional)
  • 12tablespoons/168 grams unsalted butter
  • 3tablespoons/20 grams nonfat milk powder (see Tip)
  • 2teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
  • 1teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon almond extract
  • 2large eggs
  • 2cups/240 grams all-purpose flour
  • 1cup/130 grams roughly chopped roasted and salted macadamia nuts, plus more to garnish
  • 1cup/160 grams roughly chopped white chocolate, plus more to garnish
  • Flaky salt
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)

501 calories; 25 grams fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 11 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 66 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 49 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 256 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Add the granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer (or large bowl if using a hand mixer). If using the vanilla bean, use a sharp paring knife to split it in half lengthwise. Use the back of the knife to scrape out the seeds and add them to the sugar.

  2. Step 2

    In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter (with the vanilla pod, if using) and cook until foamy, swirling the pan occasionally. Whisk in the milk powder and cook until light golden brown, whisking constantly, about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking, whisking constantly, until very deeply browned, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat, remove and discard the vanilla pod, if using, and with a stiff spatula, scrape the butter and all the solids into the bowl with the sugar.

  3. Step 3

    Stir to distribute the heat of the butter, then add vanilla extract, salt, baking powder, baking soda, almond extract and eggs. Mix with the whisk attachment on medium-high speed for 6 minutes, stopping once to scrape the bowl and whisk. (This dissolves some sugar and makes the cookies extra chewy.)

  4. Step 4

    Add the flour and mix with a stiff spatula until evenly combined into a dough. Add the nuts and chocolate to the dough and mix until combined.

  5. Step 5

    Divide the dough into ¼-cup (75 gram) portions using a #16 scoop, or a measuring cup. Roll the portions into balls, flatten them slightly into disks, and arrange on a parchment-lined quarter sheet pan or plate. Garnish each portion by pressing pieces of extra chocolate and nuts on top of the cookies. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 12 hours and up to 4 days. (Once chilled, the portions can be transferred to a resealable plastic bag and frozen.)

  6. Step 6

    When ready to bake, arrange a rack in the center of the oven and line a sheet pan with parchment. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange 6 dough portions on the pan and lightly sprinkle each with flaky salt. Bake until puffed, cracked and golden along the edges, 13 to 15 minutes. (If baking frozen dough, increase the bake time by 2 minutes.)

  7. Step 7

    Using a spatula, transfer the cookies to a rack to cool. Repeat with remaining cookie dough. (No need to cool the sheet pan between batches.)

Tip
  • You can find milk powder in the baking aisle of the grocery store, alongside cans of evaporated milk.

Ratings

5 out of 5
548 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Sohla's cookie recipes seem to create wet doughs and and moist cookies. But I have learned to trust her!! Last year's ginger cookies quickly became legendary, far beyond others according to aficionados of the genre. Get the right ingredients, follow the instructions, chill the dough, re-chill the shaped cookies, let baked cookies cool completely on the racks, even overnight. The result will be better than you imagined. Sohla's sweets bring complexity and depth of flavor hard to find elsewhere.

These are very sweet with a salty undertone. Maybe reduce the sugar to ¾ cup and a bit less salt. Also VERY big if you follow the size in recipe. I made about 40-45 gr. size and they're about 3 in. wide. Even so, they are tasty.

Actually, cashews work pretty well in place of macadamia nuts. The taste is more similar to macadamias than walnuts.

I’m getting ready to make these, and reading the notes makes me wonder if 2 teaspoons of kosher salt *must* be Diamond Crystal salt. If so, the equivalent amount of Morton’s kosher salt would be about 1 1/4 teaspoons. This might explain why some would think the cookies too salty if they added 2 tsps of Morton’s?

I don’t know why this cookie doesn’t have more reviews. It is THE best cookie I’ve ever made, and I’ve made lots of cookies. I refrigerate for a few hours than just scoop regular size cookies onto parchment paper and then freeze and then bag up for baking on demand.

These are fantastic made as is - nutty, salty, vanilla scented goodness - or made with any combination of toasted sugar, caramelized white chocolate, and a tablespoon of malted milk powder added with the nonfat milk powder. Marcona almonds worked well in a pinch when I was short on macadamia nuts. My dough has been pretty easy to handle - never too wet - but the overnight rest really helps make a moist cookie.

These won my company bake off for what it’s worth. The batter’s consistency is wet before it rests. As a work around, I portioned everything out, let it rest overnight, then formed the discs from the portioned dough. Worked like a charm.

This is a fabulous recipe. It has a hint of butterscotch to me. I let the vanilla bean steep in the butter overnight. The only caveat I have is it is fairly expensive to make. Vanilla beans are ridiculously expensive and macadamia nuts are as well.

I used malted milk powder and it was even better. Make this cookie!

Horrifyingly delicious. Make them, do not hesitate.

A little more involved than the basic drop cookies I normally make, but wow! The pay-off was worth it. I rarely have cookies come out perfectly, but these looked like cookies I would buy at a bakery. Tasted fantastic too. Made the recipe almost exactly as stated (accidentally bought only a half cup of nuts at the store) and with the optional vanilla bean. Life got busy and these spent two days in the fridge before being baked.

I don't have the space in my refrigerator for trays of preflattened cookies so I rolled balls (44g each) and refrigerated those in a bowl. Was too lazy to warm them to shape them so just baked the balls as is. The ball shape made it so they needed a little extra time in the oven but they still came out cookie shaped and very tasty.

i liked the idea of this cookie and dissolving the sugar in the butter definetely gave them a special texture i not yet tried. i made them a little bit smaller and substituted the macadamia with cashews and they turnes out alright. although i dont know how but my cookies didn't really flatten out like on the picture, they stayed more in clumps..

Sohla, my cookies don’t look like that… in all fairness it might be because of the time frame. We will see, but I can say omg gooood

1/4c cookies are huge! I made a 1.5x recipe and got from it 28 'normal' sized cookies

Made exactly as described but used 1/2 brown sugar and 1/2 white sugar to add a little bit more flavor. These have rave reviews from everyone who eats them!

Chewy without tasting underdone, nutty, salty, exactly what I wanted from this cookie. Perfect! I let the butter cool a few minutes before I poured it into the sugar lest it liquify the sugar entirely, and I froze the dough and cooked straight from frozen. I didn't have a vanilla bean, but they're still decadent and flavorful.

1/4 cup is too much dough!!!!!

Omg DELICIOUS. Wow. I selfishly want to keep this recipe a secret! It’s so good. My only change was to use malted milk powder since it’s what I had. Worth buying macadamias for this recipe!!

These cookies were extraordinary. I made them without variation to the specified recipe. They are among the single best cookies I’ve ever had. I am confused as to why there are only four stars, but I hope that my words will echo in eternity and those searching for great cookies shall look no further.

Sohla’s done it again - these are delicious! I followed the recipe, including browning the butter with the vanilla bean pod skin, and also rested the dough for one day: these turned out amazing, with a beautiful vanilla undertone. I saw some comments about the dough coming out too wet. I didn’t have that issue and weighed everything out. The dough had some slack, but wasn’t too wet.

Made these as directed and they were amazing. The only thing I would change is that the macadamia nuts were a little to big for easy consumption, in my opinion. But overall great cookie and I highly recommend.

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