White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies with Browned Butter

Chewy cookies made with toasty browned butter and packed with white chocolate chips and chopped macadamia nuts.

You may or may not know that I am not a white chocolate fan. I developed this recipe purely out of love for my husband who loves a white chocolate macadamia cookie. He said they’re “dang good” and ate at least three as I was testing. And I took a bite or two during the shoot – ya know, to get the bite shot – and I must say, that even though I’ll always choose dark chocolate over white, Mike was right. They’re dang good.

I can’t stop browning butter in my cookie recipes and these are no exception. I just think it takes them to the next level and gives them a wow factor that people won’t be able to put their finger on. They also have a perfectly crisp crinkly edge, chewy center, and require ZERO chill time. Meaning you can have these cookies in less that 25 minutes. Let’s get to it.

How to Make Browned Butter White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

Brown the Butter

First, brown the butter. Place two sticks of butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan or deep skillet. I have found that stainless steel pots or enamel coated cast iron are best for browning butter. A regular non stick pan will work, but it’s much easier to burn the butter.

The butter will melt, and then it will start to pop and crackle. Just let it do it’s thing and swirl the pan around occasionally. You will know the butter is ready when it quiets down and starts to foam up. Give it a swirl and you will be able to see the golden brown bits at the bottom. Remove the butter from the heat and let it come to room temperature. You can do this ahead of time, or to speed up the process, just pop it into the freezer and give it a stir every couple minutes. It’s ready ones it’s starting to solidify, but is still soft and spreadable.

Make the Dough & Bake

Preheat the oven to 350 and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the room temperature browned butter and sugars. Cream for 5 minutes on medium high speed. This seems like a long time, but is necessary in getting the perfect texture in these cookies. After five minutes, add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix until combined. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to make sure that everything gets incorporated.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer 1/2 at a time, mixing until just incorporated with a few streaks of flour remaining. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a rubber spatula to fold in the white chocolate and macadamia nuts. *Save a few white chocolate chips and nuts back to place on top of the cookies just before baking.

Use a large cookie scoop (3TBSP) to scoop the dough onto the prepared pans. This recipe makes 18 large cookies, so place 9 per sheet, leaving space in between as they will spread a little bit. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, then let the cookies sit on the hot cookie sheets for 2-3 minutes to finish baking. Then, transfer to a wire cooling rack. *For perfectly round cookies, use a round cookie cutter slightly larger than your cookies and swirl it around each cookie right when they come out of the oven and are still warm.

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If you loved this recipe, be sure to check out my Salted Caramel Cookie Butter Cookies and my Easy Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies.