157. White chocolate macadamia nut cookies inspired by childhood trips to the mall

These sinful cookies have the best of everything, a soft cookie base, dreamy, rich creamy macadamia nuts, and milky-sweet, melty white chocolate. There is a play on flavour and texture, each bite a comforting delight.

Macadamia nuts are certainly a splurge, and it is best if you can find them featured or on special. They are very much worth the occasional indulgence. In North America, they have really only been available since the 1980’s. I fondly remember going to the mall with my family, and stopping by the cookie kiosk, each time I ordered one of these cookies, I ate it slowly. Macadamia nuts are now more readily available in most grocers.

Some nuts benefit from toasting prior to baking but, macadamia nuts can be used as is. For baking, you will need to chop them slightly, as they are just a bit too big to use whole.

Macadamia trees take longer to mature than other nut trees, about 8-10 years. Harvests are limited as the trees only grow in certain regions (mostly Australia and Hawaii), hence the expensive prices.

The white chocolate used in this recipe is in bar form that I chop roughly. There are white chocolate chips but, I prefer the bar and irregular chunks. Both will work, and it is really just your preference.

Ingredients

8 oz white chocolate - I like to purchase a good quality bar and cut roughly into chunks

1/2 cup salted butter room temperature - if you use unsalted butter, add 1/4 tsp salt to the recipe

3/4 cup extra fine granulated sugar

1 egg at room temperature

1 tsp pure vanilla extract - choose the best quality vanilla you can find

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp corn starch

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup macadamia nuts roughly chopped

Method

1. In a large bowl, use a mixer (handheld or stand), cream together the butter, and sugar until fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, corn starch and salt (if using). Slowly add the ‘dry’ flour mixture to the ‘wet’ butter mixture - mix gently on a low speed until ‘just’ mixed. You are done with the mixer at this point.

3. Add the chopped macadamia nuts, and white chocolate chunks, mix by hand to combine. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour prior to baking.

4. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, space each cookie (about 1 heaping Tbsp of dough) 2 inches apart. Feel free to add more white chocolate or macadamia nuts to the cookies by pressing the chunks into the cookie dough.

5. Bake at 350° until lightly browned round the edges, approximately 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven, and let cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes prior to transferring to a cooling rack, and let cool completely and tuck in!

Serve and enjoy!