There are probably quite a number of recipes for white chocolate and macadamia cookies around, but I really felt a need to add mine to the mix.
Originally I was making the recipe by Natalie from Beatrix (Melbourne), who shared her recipe on the TV show Everyday Gourmet. The recipe is online, and I’ve made it a couple of times. It is of course very good, but I have to say it is a more cakey kind of cookie which isn’t my top pick when eating a cookie. The cookie dough is very soft and almost wet, even after chilling in the fridge for 24 hours, it is still quite a messy dough to work with.
I personally prefer a chewier crunchier cookie, and one that isn’t as messy to roll into balls before baking too. I also found due to the texture of the dough it was hard to make smaller sized cookies, which is usually my preference. Natalies recipe is meant to make really jumbo sized cookies, and even when trying to make them smaller the wetness of the dough prevented me getting them the size I really wanted.
So inspired by the Beatrix recipe, I have created my own, using my trusty cookie base recipe that I have used again and again as I am yet to find something I like as much, and something that is so easy to make.
I have taken the idea from Natalie’s recipe to toast the macadamias first as it makes such a difference to the flavour. I have also used a combination of light and dark brown sugars as the addition of dark brown sugar adds a nice deeper flavour, without overdoing the sweetness. And this cookie can definitely go overboard with sweetness if you let it, there is something about the combination of white chocolate and macadamias that is inherently sweet so the addition of dark brown sugar tempers that a bit, along with the addition of salt.
You can also sprinkle a little flakey sea salt over the biscuits before they are baked. I just don’t as I find the salt in the dough enough (I’m not one for adding salt to things on the whole, so it really comes down to personal preference), and I also inevitably forget to do it and realise only once the cookies have been baking for a few minutes and decide its too late now anyway…
I have tried making this recipe with lightly salted butter (the Lurpak brand) and it worked well with that - no need for additional salt sprinkling in this case.
White Chocolate and Macadamia Cookies
Ingredients:
170g macadamias
125g unsalted butter, melted
125g caster sugar
50g light brown sugar
50g dark brown sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
1 egg
290g self raising flour
1/4 tsp kosher salt
100g white chocolate chips
Method:
Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius and line three large baking trays with baking paper.
Toasted the macadamias in the preheated oven for a few minutes (5-8 mins), or until they are nicely golden brown - keep an eye on them as you don’t want over toasted macadamias at this stage as they will go in the oven again later. Once the macadamias have cooled a bit, roughly chop so they are in varying sizes and shapes.
In a large bowl whisk together the melted butter, sugars, golden syrup, vanilla and egg.
Then add the flour, the chocolate chips and chopped macadamias, and mix to combine with a wooden spoon.
Place the dough in the fridge for at least 20 mins, to allow it to firm up a bit.
Increase your oven temp to 170 degrees Celsius.
Once chilled, roll heaped teaspoonfuls of the dough into balls and place on the trays. The cookies will spread as they bake so leave enough room in between.
If you can’t fit all the dough on your prepared trays (or oven), place the dough back into the fridge until you can bake it.
Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the cookies have spread a bit and are golden brown. Rotate the trays in the oven about halfway through to ensure the cookies cook evenly.
Allow to cool on their trays, then store in an airtight container.
Makes about 33 cookies.
