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From the Oven
From the Oven · No. V · Every Season

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

Toasted macadamias, chopped white chocolate, and the same patient overnight rest.

Makes18–20 large cookies
Oven375°F
Time12 minutes, after the chill
White chocolate macadamia cookies on a floral-rimmed plate, seen from above
The pale ones, before they disappear

I toast the macadamias first, and I'd argue that's the whole recipe. Eight minutes in a low oven and they go from waxy to warm and almost buttery — the kind of smell that makes someone wander into the kitchen asking what's going on. White chocolate gets dismissed as too sweet, and from a bag of chips, it usually is. Chopped from a good bar, it melts into soft pockets that hold their own against the salt and the toasted nuts.

The rest is the same discipline as always: bread flour for chew, a dough that rests overnight if you can bear it, and centers pulled from the oven a minute before they look ready.

Ingredients

The dry

The wet

The mix-ins

Chop the white chocolate from a bar rather than using chips — the uneven pieces melt into pockets, and a good bar is far less sweet than the bagged kind.

Method
  1. Toast the macadamias at 325°F for 8–10 minutes, until fragrant and just golden. Let them cool completely.
  2. Whisk together the bread flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt.
  3. Cream the softened butter with both sugars for a full 3–4 minutes, until light and fluffy.
  4. Beat in the egg, the yolk, the vanilla, and the almond extract, if using.
  5. Mix in the dry ingredients just until combined.
  6. Fold in the white chocolate and the toasted macadamias.
  7. Cover and chill the dough at least 2 hours. Overnight is best.
  8. Heat the oven to 375°F. Scoop the dough in 3-tablespoon portions onto parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving room between them.
  9. Bake 11–13 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden and the centers still look slightly underdone. Finish with a pinch of flaky salt while warm, if you like, and let them cool on the pan a full 10 minutes before moving them.
A close plate of white chocolate macadamia cookies with a linen napkin
Closer, so you can see the pockets

The almond extract is a whisper, not a flavor — you won't name it in the finished cookie, but you'd miss it if it were gone.

"Toasting the nuts takes eight minutes and no skill at all. It's the cheapest upgrade in this whole chapter."