These bakery-style white chocolate macadamia cookies are absolutely gigantic with golden edges and gooey centers. They’re filled with chunks of white chocolate and macadamia nuts and rival any famous bakery or coffee shop. 
Why You Need to Make these Bakery-Style White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies
If you’re looking for a white chocolate macadamia cookie recipe that’s worthy of Instagram fame – then this is the recipe for you. These cookies are big, buttery and filled with pools of melted white chocolate and macadamia nuts. What you’ll love about this recipe is that the cookies have a delicious crispiness around the edges but stay gooey and soft in the middle. And because we’re using chocolate chunks, you get so much sweet white chocolate.
Key Tips with This Recipe
I’ve made white chocolate chip macadamia cookies before. My other recipe makes cookies that are soft, chewy and more reminiscent of what your mom would make after school. But this recipe makes bakery-style cookies that are inspired by the famous Levain Bakery in NY or even the white chocolate chunk cookies at Starbucks. They’re big, thick, over the top, and definitely a more grown up version.
So what’s key to making bakery-style cookies?
- Cold Butter. Often, cookies are made with softened butter. Softened butter helps everything mix together evenly and creates a softer, chewier texture. However, if you want crispier edges – cold butter works wonders. When the cookies are baked, cold butter releases steam. The steam creates crispy edges.
- Cornstarch. You’ve probably seen cornstarch (AKA cornflour) used in shortbread cookies before. Cornstarch makes things more tender. So adding just 1 tablespoon helps the centers of these cookies to be extra tender and delicious, to pair with the crispy, golden edges.
- ½ Teaspoon of Salt and a Good Dose of Vanilla. It might seem like a lot, but because white chocolate is very sweet, the salt and vanilla are really necessary to balance out the flavor.
- Big Cookies. This recipe makes just 8 big, bakery-style white chocolate macadamia cookies. You’ll form the dough into balls with about ⅓ cup of dough each. I used a scale to to weight each cookie. Each was about 3.2 ounces.
A Note about Chilling the Dough: For this recipe, whether you chill the dough or not is really up to you. The cookies will turn out either way, as long as the dough feels cool to the touch before baking.
- If you want extra thick, pudgy cookies reminiscent of Levain bakery and like the ones pictured – you should form the dough into balls and chill in the fridge for about 15-30 minutes prior to baking.
- For slightly thinner (but still thick) cookies that are more reminiscent of Starbucks, form the dough into balls and bake immediately. Remember, the dough should still feel cool due to the cold butter.
On the left is the cookie that was chilled for 30 minutes, and on the right is the cookie that wasn’t. Both used the exact same amount of batter, but you can see how the cookie where the dough wasn’t chilled spread much more.
Pro Tip: If you want to harness your inner professional baker, then I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to measure out your ingredients. This is the most accurate way to measure, which is especially important when measuring the flour. Over measuring the flour can lead to dry, crumbly cookies.
And if you need even more bakery-style cookies, then be sure to try these big, bakery-style chocolate chip cookies and these bakery-style double chocolate cookies.
Bakery-Style White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies
Equipment
- Cookie Sheets
Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour (208 grams)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch AKA cornflour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter (112 grams) cold from the fridge & cut into cubes
- ½ cup brown sugar (100 grams) light or dark
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg cold, from the fridge
- ⅔ cup white chocolate chunks
- ⅔ cup chopped macadamia nuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- In a separate large bowl, beat together the cold butter (cut into cubes), brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla extract.
- With the mixer on a low speed, beat the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until combined.
- Stir in the chopped macadamia nuts and chocolate chunks.
- Form the dough into 8 equal-sized balls. Each will use about ⅓ cup of batter. Mine weighed around 3.2 ounces/90 grams each.
- Place the dough balls 3 inches apart on the lined cookie sheets. The dough should still feel cool to the touch. For extra thick cookies, or if your dough feels warm, chill in the fridge for 15-30 minutes.
- Bake 1 sheet at a time in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the tops look set. Optionally, place a few extra chocolate chunks on top of each oven. Cool fully on the cookie sheets.
Notes
- Flour: Measure the flour carefully. If you aren't using a scale, whisk the flour first. Then spoon into dry measuring cups and level off the top. Too much flour will lead to dry, crumbly cookies.
- Cold butter: Cold butter behaves differently in baking the softened or melted butter. Because this recipe was developed with cold butter, it's important that the butter you use is cold, from the fridge.
- Cold egg: Using a cold egg helps to ensure that the cookie dough stays cold.
- Make Ahead Tips: Cookie dough can be covered and stored in the fridge for up to 48 hours. Cookie dough balls can be placed in a freezer bag and frozen for up to 2 months. Bake from frozen, as directed in the recipe. The cookies will likely take 1-2 minutes longer.
- Storage: Cookies are best warm from the oven. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Nutrition: Details provided are an estimate only and based on 1 cookie, assuming the recipe yields 8 equal-sized cookies.
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