White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
My favorite cookie when I was able to eat wheat were the White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies from Mrs. Field’s. I loved the buttery flavor of the dough. The texture was (and probably still is) perfectly soft and chewy, while dotted with just the right amount of crunchy macadamia nuts and sweet white chocolate chips. My goal was, of course, to create the closest gluten free version to this cookie possible. It has been a long time since I’ve had one, but boy do these really tick the boxes and fill the void. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
Nothing Complicated
Pretty standard cookie making here! Begin by creaming the butter and brown sugar together. I use brown sugar instead of granulated for added chew, moisture and flavor.
Then add in the whole egg and egg yolk. The additional egg yolk, but not the white, is what adds chewiness without extra lift. Additional egg white also has a “drying” effect on baked goods and can help to create a more cake-like cookie. When I want less “cake” and more “chew,” I eliminate the extra egg white and keep the yolk for the fat, moisture and flavor it provides. Finally mix in the vanilla to complete the wet batter.
Dry Ingredients
Just gluten free flour with xanthan gum in the flour blend and salt. No baking soda or baking powder is needed for these cookies. Once again, when I used these during my recipe development, the cookies had too much lift and were too “cake-like.” As for the flour, after testing several different gluten free flour blends, I found that Cup4Cup provided the best texture. There wasn’t the grittiness that resulted from other blends. Even the types I used regularly in my other recipes.
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
They wouldn’t be White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies without the chocolate and nuts, now would they? I use Ghiradelli white chocolate chips because I like the flavor and texture and they are readily available at most grocery stores. Feel free to use any kind of chip or chunk you like. Even if it is dark chocolate instead of white. I do find that using roasted and salted macadamia nuts taste best. Just a rough chop is all they need, keeping them a bit larger retains the crunch I really like. But again, feel free to chop them as small as you like. This isn’t a “make or break” decision in the results of the cookie;-)
And Bake!
I use a small cookie scoop to keep the cookies evenly sized, but you can use a spoon if you prefer. A small cookie scoop is a heaping tablespoon of dough and it makes 24 cookies. Of course, you can make them larger if you want. Bigger can definitely be better when it comes to cookies;-) Leave about 2 inches between the cookies, because the dough will spread. And make sure to let them cool for at least 10 minutes before taking them off the cookie sheet. Otherwise, they will fall apart when you try to move them.
More Gluten Free Cookies
- Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Browned Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- College Dorm Cookies
- Dirty Snowball
- Naked Cut Out Cookies
- Chocolate Filled Macaroons
- Almond Cut Out Cookies
- Oatmeal Browned Butter Cream Pies
- Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup butter (softened)
- 1 whole egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup Cup4Cup Brand Gluten Free Multipurpose Flour
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- ½ cup roasted & salted macadamia nuts (roughly chopped)
- ½ cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment for easy cookie removal.
- In a medium mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer. Add the egg and egg yolk, mixing well to combine then add the vanilla and mix well.
- With the hand mixer on a low speed, add in the flour and salt. Combine completely then mix the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts by hand with a spatula.
- Drop spoonfuls or scoops of dough onto parchment lined baking sheets. Leave about 2 inches between cookies to allow for spread while baking.
- Bake for 12 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet before removing them. It is okay if they still look a little wet or shiny on top, go ahead and remove them from the oven.
- The cookies will crumble and fall apart if you try to move the cookies before they cool. This is very common with gluten free cookies especially. Once they have cooled, they will be beautifully crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle. Enjoy!
