White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Written by joythebaker on September 30, 2009 – 2:13 am -
If this blog were written by 13 year old me instead of 28 year old me… I can safely say that I would blog about these White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies every. single. day.
One bite of these cookies and… oh heavens! I feel like I’m being dropped off at the mall to meet my friends on a hot summer day. We speak Gibberish and Pig Latin. We are fluent enough in both made up languages to combine the two into one mega made-up language. It’s pretty sick.
One bite of these cookie and I have tragically frizzly triangle hair and my twenty dollar allowance in my pocket. My friends are trying to convince me to see Jurassic Park and all I want to do is sit on a bench with a bag of White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies from Mrs Field’s and try to muster up the courage to go talk to the cute cashier at Sbarro Pizza.
One bite of these cookie and, yes… I’m wearing overalls. Yes.. I only have one strap buckled. Yes… one hanging strap on overalls is super cool.
Who knew one bite of a cookie could be so transforming…. and awkward. It’s a good thing I don’t make these very often.
These cookies are a sweet treat. Boy oh boy are they sweet. Between the brown sugar and the white chocolate chunks… wowza! Sweet. These days I like mine best with a milky cup of coffee. The browned butter adds a lovely nuttiness to the batter, kicking up the lovable factor on this already stellar cookie.
Brown Butter White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
adapted from Betty Crocker
makes 2 dozen small cookies
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, don’t even think of using margarine
1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup white chocolate chunks
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium saucepan melt the butter, swirling and stirring the butter until nicely browned bits appear in the bottom of the pan. This may take about 5-7 minutes. Once the butter is browned, remove pan from heat and set aside to cool a bit while you measure out the dry ingredients and set them aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer add the brown sugar and slightly cooled butter. Beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add egg and beat for one minute more. Add milk and vanilla extract and beat to incorporate.
Turn the mixer off, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the dry ingredients all at once. With either the stand mixer on low, or by hand with a spatula, incorporate the dry ingredients until just mixed in. Fold in the chopped nuts and white chocolate chips.
Scoop two teaspoon sized balls onto a lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cookies are deliciously golden. Remove from oven and let rest of the baking sheet for 3 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
Posted in Cookies, In the Kitchen, Recipes, Sweets | 81 Comments »
Ack! I’ve been waiting for you make these cookies! I didn’t want to try a recipe from anyone else. My husband LOVES white chocolate macadamia nut cookies — he’s going to fall over when I send these to him in Iraq. I could just hug you!
Iraq!? Oh My! I could just hug the both of you! If these cookies are going all the way to Iraq, they might be best if you undercook them a bit. I hope he loves them!
I had frizzy triangle hair too! My sister used to call me mushroom head… very, very tragic. These cookies, however, look amazing. I’ll be making them this weekend!
I think it will be even without the nuts.
Ohhhh, I think may have to make these very soon. Just as soon as I can get my hands on some macadamias again!
the ones at Au Bon Pain do the same thing to me, I can hardly wait to give this recipe a shot!
Girlie I am with you on the Mrs. Field’s/overalls/Sbarro mall tragic-ness. Love. Can’t wait to make these so I too can be transported back to that oh so special (awkward) time.
I am bookmarking this one – I love white chocolate and the addition of macadamia for that bit of extra crunch – yum!
OH yum. So gonna make this for my cookie jar.
Oh My! the overalls (think we call them dungarees in the UK) with only one strap done up brings back vague memories…and being 13 with bad air and terrible attempts at make up! sometimes its a good thing to have grown up!
cookies look scrummy!!!! yum yum yum!
yes… it’s very very good to have grown up.
OMG (as my 16 year old would say), these look amazing!!!
LOL! The Hubs and I were talking the other day and I told him how I used to wear overalls back in the day and he said they were never in style. What the heck does HE know, right?
hahahaa! the hubs just wishes he were cool enough to wear overalls back in the day… for serious.
Oh my good Lord these sound good. Funny thing is they are my favorite cookie, but I’ve never made them myself! LOL I’ll have to try it soon.
When I read the title of this post my first thought was “My favorite mall cookie!” Then I read your story and giggled of your mall experience. My mall time consisted of Orange Julius, the OP store, and the cute boys at the corn dog stand. Pastel Plaid with a nice perm, bangs sprayed high over to the side. Awesome.
I have never made this cookie but that’s about to change. Thanks Joy!
Good stuff. I have to admit, the white chocolate macadamia was my fave, too, but when I was even littler than 13. I love that you browned the butter; such a great idea. Lovely, as always.
oh my goodness, those look amazing! i was allergic to chocolate when i was little (tragic, i know) so i have the best memories of my grandma buying me bars of white chocolate from the candy department at macy’s.
I’m drooling over these! They look gorgeous!
Hi there Joy, your cookies look delectable! May I please know if these cookies chewy/soft or crunchy/crispy? I love crunchy cookies but these look SO good either way! =)
Hi Dee. The outside of these cookies has a little crunch to it, but the inside is super soft. Of course with the nuts, there’s always a bit of crunch!
Those sound amazing! I rocked the one strap overalls in my teen years too:)
this is such a treat!
Totally agreed….these look totally fabulous (notice the judicious use of the word “totally”!)!!! I have a question though. In your pictures, it looks like something else besides macs and white chips are added. Something else chunky. Could it be toasted bits of chopped macadamia? Could it be toffee? Inquiring minds need to know!
Hey Alison! It’s all macadamia and white chocolate chips. I bought two different kinds of chopped macadamia nuts… two different brands, that is. What you’re seeing might be a darker toasted nut combined with a lighter toasted nut. But seriously!? Toffee!? Yes!
This recipe justifies white chocolate to even the biggest WC snob. I’m just so tired of all these snobs who are anti-WC, aren’t you? What if we just called them vanilla chips? Mmm-hmm…that’s what I thought.
If you could have seen past all the orthodontic contraptions in my mouth and we were friends, I would sit on the mall bench with you, hypothesizing about the awesome after-work life of the Sbarro guy. Then when we got totally bored of doing that, we might shop at Contempo Casuals in search of clothes that would help us channel Blossom.
Aaaahhh chocolate snobs! I think white chocolate is just lovely. I don’t care that it technically doesn’t have cocoa in it… it’s still lovely.
And we totally could have been friends. I had a Six vibe going on… you totally could have been my Blossom!
Let’s get floppy hats with the fronts flipped up and big fake flowers attached and bake something together! Ha!
Love the idea with the browned butter. Totally love your website, everything that I have tried has turned about beautifully uber delicious. Thanks for all the input and great pictures
Oh, I wore the one-strapped overalls too, while spending my allowance on Mrs. Fields (One sugar, one chocolate chip, one M&M, usually) Or Cinnabon. I had the side-bangs, wore purple EG’s socks, and the Cavaricci pants that I begged my parents for (white ones, nonetheless). Thankfully there is not much photo evidence of this.
You should do a middle school food special, complete with coordinating outfits! Photoshoot at the mall!
i would have been sitting on that bench with you devouring them. Screw Jurassic Park. I wonder where that cute Sbarro guy is now…I’ll trade you a SNAP bracelet for a cookie…
*slap bracelet* tee!
These are one of my favorites from Mrs Fields, hoping to try my hand at these this weekend. Thanks for the walk down memory lane. What is the brand of white chocolate to you most like to use?
I used to LOVE White Chocolate Macadamia when I was working my first job in NYC and one of the perks was the awesome cookies in the cafeteria.
But at the mall? Forget cookies — Cinnabon. Which is why I try to stay out of malls.
Also Orange Julius.
Oh my!!What yummy looking cookies! I thought I was anti white chocolate too, but I think I would love to change my mind after seeing this. Though, as Shauna mentioned, I might prefer to call them vanilla chips
I will see your one-strap-buckled-overalls and raise you a one-strap-buckled-shorts-overalls! (Yeah, I was stylin’)
We didn’t have Mrs. Fields in Canada but sometimes, when my friends and I went into “the city”, (an hour and a half trip on the bus from our suburb) I could talk them into stopping at the George’s Famous Cookies. That they were bought by weight only made them more gourmet.
Thank you for your blog. It makes me happy.
My daughter comes home from college for the weekend–I’m so going to make these!
And never wear overalls to a water park. Modesty (no wet t-shirt on me, thank you) is not a good enough reason – I ended up walking around all day in very heavy drenched denim overall-shorts.
WOW. Simply wow. I will be making these for the birthday party we will be having for my sister, uncle & fiance (three people not one my family is crazy but not like that). I don’t know if any of them like white chip macadamia nut cookies….but I do
oh these are seriously awesome. And I’m sure waaaay better than the Costco version. My fav store bought brand…Otis spunkmeyer premade cookie dough cooked and eaten hot and gooey out of the oven! YUUUUMMMM!
These cookies remind me of being little, too, except I would be going along with my mom, who was shopping, and she’d occasionally treat me to a Mrs. Fields white chocolate macadamia cookie! For some strange reason, I’ve never made them myself.
cookies little calorie but i love it!
I have a big jar of macadamia nut..I am open to all directions 
Holy cow these look awesome. bookmarked =)
And oh god the overalls! I’m very happy that went out of style
Sheesh — I’m 10 years older than you and I had the same thoughts! I took one look at the photo, and there I am, eating Mrs. Field’s cookies at the mall on my way to see “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” or “Sixteen Candles” wishing I looked more like Molly Ringwald and less like Ally Sheedy!
Total yum. Beautiful cookies.
Oooh I really need to make these!! I’m planning on making your pumpkin pie bars later today… Maybe I’ll just make everything on your site
Your photos are all so beautiful.
Sues
Today is my best friend’s birthday and it just so happens that white chocolate macadamia cookies are her favorite. Score!
I just finished mixing up the dough and although it’s somewhat sticky, it tastes like heaven. Browning the butter gives it an amazing toffee flavor. Gah, I hope I can part with these this evening…
Thanks Joy!
Those look delicious, and are my BF’s favorite cookie!
I’ve been looking for a good recipe for these, thanks for reading my mind
I’m so glad to be past the days of Sbarro and Mrs. Fields! Good times, but homemade is way better.
Joy! You are SOOO funny! Your blog is one of my favorites! My husband says thank you for this recipe
o my god! These cookies are THE one for me!!! I just love this mix! Thank you so much for this recipe.
By the way, thank you soooo much for all your recipes and pictures: they seem so good and are so beautiful!
I am totally with you on the overalls with only one strap buckled. I’m not ashamed to admit that I rocked that look up until college…ok, maybe just a little.
My Mrs. Fields cookie of choice in high school would have to be the snickerdoodle. Its always been snickerdoodle, but this recipe is making consder tryng something new.
You have made my down. These are my all-time favorite cookies, and I have never been able to find a recipe that tastes as good as the ones from a bakery. Now I can make my own as I know your recipe will be absolutely scrumptious.
These look gorgeous Joy! I find it hard to resist even the crappy FSA white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, so a homeade version with browned butter? Simply irresistable!
Oh delish-NESS! I am on a cookie making/baking kick as of late & I will have to try these and add the toffee. Nummy Nummy! I totally understand awkwardness of the pre-teen/ teen years sometimes I think I am still living there. I still have some overalls, they may be a fashion don’t but I don’t care!
Yes please. That is all.
These are my favorite cookies, and for the life of me I don’t know why I’ve never tried to make them, but maybe it is because I have not found a recipe that I liked. I’m going to have to try this!
Success! Saw this post in the morning, and as fate would have it I needed to go to the market. White chocolate macadamia nuts are also my personal fave! I haven’t made them in way too long…
Now, Cookies are made, and currently waiting for dinner to be made….but Bill and I sneaked a cookie before dinner
Thus, your post causes naughty actions
I’m wondering if you were like me in that under the overalls (yes, one strap buckled), you wore a black, long-sleeved ballet leotard. Best thing to have on when those tricky side buttons opened on their own…
I love white chocolate mac nut! There was a bakery back home when I was little that made them fresh daily and undercooked them on purpose, just how I loved. Thanks for this recipe they look amazing!