You're going to love this easy to make recipe for chocolate chip cookies with macadamia nuts! This recipe produces a cookie with crisp, golden brown edges, chewy middles and can be made quickly in one bowl with melted butter. The macadamia nuts add a nice balance of crunchy saltiness to that sweet dark chocolate in this delicious cookie recipe.
This recipe was inspired by the yummy macadamia nut cookies that we have enjoyed on our trips to Hawaii. If you're looking for more macadamia nut recipes, be sure to check out our Brown Butter Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies and our Macadamia Nut Banana Bread with Chocolate and Coconut.
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Ingredients
- butter, melted and cooled
- brown sugar - I like to use a little more brown sugar and a little less granulated sugar in many of my chocolate chip cookie recipes - I find it helps with that chewy texture in the middle
- granulated sugar
- eggs, at room temperature
- vanilla extract - to help establish that perfect vanilla flavor in the base of your cookies
- flour - I used all-purpose flour for this recipe but you can easily swap out for your favorite gluten free flour blend if you want to make this recipe gluten free
- chocolate chips - I prefer a semi sweet or dark chocolate chip. If you're more of a white chocolate macadamia nut person, go for it and swap the chocolate chips for white chocolate chips!
- macadamia nuts - you'll want roasted, salted macadamia nuts
See below to print the recipe card and read the full recipe and detailed instructions.
How to Make the Cookie Dough
- In a large glass measuring cup, melt the butter until it is just completely melted. Mix well with a whisk. You want it to be melted, but not so hot that it cooks the eggs. Once the butter is melted and cooled, add the butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl and whisk until well combined.
2. Add the eggs and vanilla to the batter and mix until well incorporated.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar combination. Fold until the flour is just mixed in.
4. Gently fold in the chocolate chips and chopped macadamia nuts.
5. Cover and move the dough to the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
6. Remove chilled dough from the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 350°. Scoop dough using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop. Arrange dough balls 2-3 inches apart on a parchment lined half sheet pan. Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the middles are just beginning to brown.
7. Allow cookies to cool on the sheet pan for 5-10 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Store baked cookies in an airtight container for 2-3 days at room temperature.
Cookie Baking Expert Tip: Don't like scooping cold cookie dough? I like to scoop the dough after 30 minutes and place it on a quarter sheet pan right away. Then move this to the refrigerator for chilling.
Substitutions
- Flour - if you are looking for gluten free cookies, swap the all-purpose flour out for 2 ¼ cups of your favorite gluten free flour blend - I've had good luck with Bob's Redmill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour and King Arthur Measure for Measure. Both work well as a direct replacement for the flour in this recipe.
Variations
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies - swap out white chocolate chips for the dark chocolate chips or use half of each for a fun spin on the recipe.
- Macadamia nuts - if you're not a Mac nut fan or don't have them around, you can certainly swap them out for 1 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts - I like to toast the nuts at 300° for 4-6 minutes before adding them to the cookie dough - allow the toasted nuts to cool before you add them to the cookie dough.
Equipment
- large glass measuring cup
- large mixing bowl
- cookie dough scoop
- half sheet pan
Storage
You can store cookie dough in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. See below for tips and tricks for freezing cookie dough and baking cookies with frozen dough. For the baked cookies, they will keep fresh in an airtight container for 2-3 days.
Top Tips and Tricks:
Freezing the Dough
It's really nice to have some cookie dough stored in the freezer. If you scoop your cookie dough right away, you can place it on a parchment lined quarter sheet pan and move it to the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, move the balls to a large, freezer safe ziplock bag. Mark the bag with the recipe name, date you made the dough and the baking temperature and time. Pull this bag from the freezer and bake fresh cookies anytime you are in the mood for them.
Baking Frozen Cookie Dough
When baking frozen cookie dough, you will need to add an additional 1-2 minutes to the baking time. When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350° and line a half sheet pan with parchment paper. Place the frozen balls of dough onto your pan about 2-3 inches apart.
Bake frozen cookie dough for 10-12 minutes. I like to start checking cookies at the minimum time suggested. If they are not ready, I add a minute and check again. Follow this process until you have those golden brown edges and lightly browned middles.
Use a Cookie Dough Scoop
This will literally be one of your best kitchen investments. I use a cookie dough scoop when I'm making cookies, but I also use it to add batter to a Madeleine pan, to scoop pancake batter in to the hot frying pan and even for making meatballs. There are just so many uses. I find this scoop from Solula to be the best cookie dough scoop that I have found.
Frequently Asked Questions About Cookies with Macadamia Nuts
Roughly chop your macadamia nuts on a cutting board with your favorite chefs knife. You want to have some nice half and quarter sized pieces and it's okay to even leave a few nuts whole. When you chop the nuts you will be left with some small flakes of Mac nut and some salt on your cutting board. I like to add this right into the cookie dough too!!!
This depends. If you have purchased roasted and salted macadamia nuts, there is no need to roast before adding to your cookies. If you have purchased raw macadamia nuts, you will want to roast and salt them before adding them to your cookies. Roasting the nuts increased the crunchiness and brings out a toasted, nutty flavor from the Mac nuts.
Roast Mac nuts on a parchment lined sheet pan at 290° for 8-10 minutes. Sprinkle the warm nuts with sea salt and allow to cool completely before chopping and adding them to your cookie dough.
Yes! Melted butter in a chocolate chip cookie recipe creates a more chewy, less cake like finished product. There is no overall difference in flavor when you use melted butter rather than softened butter. You will need to chill your cookie dough for 1-2 hours if you bake with melted butter. If you don't you may end up with cookies that are more flattened but still delicious.
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Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies
Equipment
- large glass measuring cup
- large mixing bowl
- cookie dough scoop
- sheet pan
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter slightly melted and then cooled I melt for 30 seconds in microwave, some lumps will remain
- ¾ cup (150g) packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 ¼ cups (280g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups semi sweet chocolate chips
- ¾ cup dry roasted and salted macadamia nuts roughly chopped
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Mix the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add the two eggs and vanilla. Stir to combine.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Mix until just combined. I like to add the dry ingredients in two parts.
- Add the chocolate chips and macadamia nuts to the batter and mix until they are well distributed throughout the dough.
- Cover and chill your cookie dough for at least 1 hour or for up to 3 days.
- Preheat the oven to 375°. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper. Use your cookie scoop or two teaspoons to drop the cookie dough onto the baking sheet. Each scoop should be about 1 tablespoon of cookie dough. Leave about 2 inches between balls of dough.
- Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned but the centers are still soft.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to sit on the baking pans for 5-7 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 2-3 days.
206Danica says
I stumbled across your blog searching for a macadamia nut cookie recipe, and you didn't disappoint. The cookie is delicious and not overly sweet like most cookies. Thank you!
Maple and Thyme says
Yay!! I love reading these messages!! I’m so glad that you found us and that you enjoyed the recipe!!! I love anything with macadamia nuts!!! ❤️