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Just when I was starting to think I could no longer be WOWed by a cookie (other than all those crazy novelty cookies with Oreos/Snickers/etc. hidden inside), I discovered this recipe.  I’ve eaten white chocolate macadamia cookies before, but believe it or not, I don’t think I’ve ever even had a macadamia nut in my own kitchen – ever.  I needed a new cookie to send to the guys this month and since this one is new to me, it was getting its turn. 

I allllmost made this recipe as is – just one minor tweak.  I’m still not sold on coconut so I omitted the coconut extract and subbed in more vanilla.  Do what you like though.  I’ll tell ya, I could have stood there with a spoon and eaten this dough straight out of the bowl, and that’s not usually my M.O.  I can take a bite or two of chocolate chip cookie dough, but then it gets to be too much.  I had to get these baked ASAP (not to mention take a guilt trip down to the gym for a 45 minute run while the dough was chilling) in order to avert diet disaster.  Why do these ingredients work so well together?  I guess it’s the creaminess of both, if a nut can be creamy (no comments please), not to mention the couple sticks of butter in the dough.  Whatever it is, it makes these freakin’ awesome.  Definitely give them a try, and good luck actually getting them into the oven – though I promise, they have two sweet spots: 1) dough form, and 2) approximately 6-7 minutes post oven-removal, trust me.

Recipe adapted from Annie’s Eats (www.annies-eats.com)

Ingredients

3 cups AP Flour

1 tsp coarse salt

1 ¼ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into chunks

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp coconut extract (optional)

12 oz white chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 ½ cups macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Instructions

Whisk together the first four ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. 

Combine the butter and sugars and beat in stand mixer or by hand until smooth and just combined - couple minutes (I have a hand mixer and I found that mixing these with a pastry blender first, then beating, helped tremendously).  Beat in the eggs one at a time just until incorporated.  Blend in the vanilla and coconut, if using.

With mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients slowly, just until combined.  Fold in the white chocolate and macadamia nuts with a spatula.  This dough is chock full of chocolate and nuts, I promise, it’s not too much!

Cover and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350º.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Roll a scant ½ cup of dough into a ball.  Holding dough in fingertips of both hands, pull apart and rotate 90 degrees then place jagged side up on the baking sheet.  **This is supposed to improve the appearance of the cookies when baked, but I just used my large cookie scoop and scooped dough directly onto the sheets – as you can see in the picture, they turned out fine.**

Bake the cookies, rotating halfway through, until golden and just set – about 14-16 minutes.  Let cool on the cookie sheets for about 2-3 minutes then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.