What’s my favorite cookie? White chocolate macadamia nut cookies! And I’m not alone, it’s like a grown up cookie because of the white instead of brown chocolate. The macadamia nut has a rich buttery taste that takes these cookies over the top.
So, what to do if you have a plateful of white chocolate macadamia nut cookies staring you down and you’re trying to watch your weight? You can hope your kids and their friends scarf the cookies down before you can grab another cookie. OR you can make bite size white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. OR you can freeze either the dough or the baked cookies so that you have the cookies on hand and ready when you want them. I do a combination of both methods.
Portion Control, 55 Calorie Bite Size White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Yes, you can enjoy these cookies when watching your weight! I usually make one tray of portion control bite size cookies (1 teaspoon of cookie dough) and then make the remainder of the dough in regular size (1 heaping Tablespoon of cookie dough) for the rest of my family.
The bite size white chocolate macadamia nut cookies take some patience when scooping the dough, but you are rewarded later with a nice 55 calorie treat whenever you want it.
I’ll never eat all of the bite size cookies before they get stale. The remedy? Freeze the baked cookies on a baking tray for an hour, then place in a resealable freezer baggie or freezer safe container for up to 3 months. Pull a cookie from the baggie and eat either frozen or warm in the microwave for about 10 seconds. MMMM, MMMM.
I don’t freeze the cookie dough for bite size white chocolate macadamia nut cookies because it’s not worth turning on the oven to bake one little ole bite size cookie, just freeze the already baked cookies.
Recipe Inspiration From Ghiradelli Chocolate
I love Ghiradelli chocolate so started with Ghiradelli’s recipe on the back of the bag of white chocolate chips switching the recipe up a bit.
I flip flopped the sugar ratios because more brown sugar makes the cookies moister. Increased the vanilla extract because the more the vanilla the better. Also upped the amount of macadamia nuts and kept them in very course chunks so that you really get a nice bite of the buttery macadamia nut. I also call for roasted nuts. If you can’t find the nuts already roasted then see below for a quick way to toast the nuts in the microwave.
How To Chop and Roast Macadamia Nuts In The Microwave
The microwave is a great way to roast nuts, especially for baking. If you need the really golden color from roasting nuts in an oven then obviously the oven method is best. But for white chocolate macadamia nut cookies and other baked goods where you won’t see the color of the nuts, then the microwave will give the macadamia nuts a big boost in flavor The microwave method for roasting nuts is much easier and faster than pan or oven roasting too.
Spread the macadamia nuts on a paper plate, microwave on high for a minute, stir. Keep this rotation going for about 5 minutes or until you like the flavor of the nut, be careful when taste testing as the macadamia nuts will be hot.
Kenji from Serious Eats actually tosses the nuts (1 cup nuts to ½ teaspoon neutral oil) with oil thinking that gives the outside of the nuts a jump start to cook more evenly with the inside of the nut. I’ve never tried this step but thought it was worth noting.
Roughly chop the macadamia nuts, leaving some larger chunks so you get a nice chunk in each bite.
How To Freeze Cookie Dough
Cookies are easy to make. But how often do you really crave a delicious homemade cookie and pull out the mixer and bake the cookies? Not often, same with me. It’s a good intention, but in reality you don’t have the time and/or energy.
BUT, when making your batch of white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, freeze some of the dough and/or baked cookies, then you can have freshly baked warm cookies anytime you want!
Scoop the dough out onto parchment paper lined baking tray, then gently roll into balls. They don’t have to be perfect.
To freeze the cookie dough, scoop out portions and gently roll into a ball. Place cookie dough on a parchment lined baking tray and freeze for at least an hour. No worry about how close the dough balls since they won’t spread in the freezer like the cookies do in an oven.
If making bite size white chocolate macadamia nut cookies then I will usually bake the cookies first and freeze them that way. Mainly because if you are looking for a portion controlled cookie you probably won’t pull one cookie ball from the freezer and bake just that. Freezing cookie dough is more appropriate when you want to bake several cookies at one time.
You want to flash freeze (the pre-step of freezing the dough balls on the baking tray) so that when you pull the frozen cookie dough from the freezer the dough balls won’t stick together. Now you can bake a few cookies or a whole bunch of them, it’s up to you. Add 5 minutes to baking time if baking directly from the freezer.
How To Freeze Baked Cookies
Make sure your white chocolate macadamia nut cookies are completely cooled before freezing. Place cookies in a resealable freezer baggie (or other freezer proof container). Lay in an orderly stacked manner so that the baggie will stack nicely in the freezer. Obviously keep the cookie bag on top of everything else so that your cookies won’t crumble.
Pull cookies directly from the freezer and either eat frozen or heat in the microwave on a paper towel for about 20 seconds. Be careful as the chocolate may be very hot.
Should You Use White Chocolate Chips or Chocolate Chunks?
Completely up to you. Some people think the chocolate chunks look more like a bakery cookie. You’ll need to add the extra step of chopping the chocolate which takes another 5-10 minutes as opposed to just ripping open the bag of white chocolate chips and dumping them in the cookie dough. When I make white chocolate macadamia nut cookies it depends on how much time and effort I want to put into the recipe.
How To Make Different Size Cookies With Different Calorie Counts
I mentioned earlier that I like the bite size white chocolate macadamia nut cookies for portion control, while my boys and husband like full size cookies. See below for suggested scoop sizes and how many cookies to put on a tray so that they don’t melt into each other.
Large 4” cookies use a heaping Tablespoon full, you will fit about 6 cookies on a tray. These cookies are about 200 calories each.
Typical 3” cookies use a flat Tablespoon full, you will fit about 12 cookies on a tray. These size white chocolate macadamia nut cookies are about 170 calories each.
Bite Size cookies use a heaping teaspoon of cookie dough, you will fit about 20 cookies on a tray. These bite size white chocolate macadamia nut cookies are about 55 calories each.
How To Keep Cookies From Spreading When Baking
Spreading cookies have to do with the temperature of the cookie dough. If you took a long time to make the cookies, say your sister called and the dough sat for awhile. Or it’s just plain hot in your kitchen. Then you’ll want to chill your cookie dough for at least 30 minutes, better for 2 hours and even over night. Chilling the cookie dough will help keep the cookies from spreading into each other.
These are googly eye cookies that spread into ONE large cookie. Using the circle cookie cutter gave me perfect round cookies. Otherwise use a table knife and make into square cookies.
Let’s say you didn’t realize how warm the dough had gotten and you end up with one big cookie instead of the carefully placed 12 you scooped onto the baking tray. No alarm needed. Pull out a round cookie cutter, let the baked cookie rest on the tray for a few minutes. Then cut the huge cookie into perfectly round ones with the cookie cutter.
Don’t have a round cookie cutter? Then use a table knife and cut into squares or rectangles.
Frustrated by the whole thing? Let the huge cookie cool, then crumble and store in an airtight container for up to a week. Cookie crumbs on top of yogurt or ice cream is delicious. Or make your morning oatmeal extra special with a few white chocolate macadamia nut cookie crumbles on top. If you still have cookie crumbs left over after a week put in a resealable freezer baggie, label and freeze for up to 3 months.
Decadent!
What Is Room Temperature Butter?
If you don’t have the time to get the butter to room temperature, then dice into 1/4″ cubes. Just slice 2 long lines along the entire stick of butter, then roll the stick onto it’s side and make 2 more long lines. Finally slice across into cubes.
Many cookie recipes call for room temperature butter. That’s a hard definition since it depends on how cold your refrigerator is and how hot your kitchen is. A good rule of thumb is to leave the butter out on your counter for about 10-20 minutes, you should be able to press a finger on the stick of butter and put an easy indent in it without slicing your finger all the way through the butter.
I’ve started just pulling the stick of butter right from the refrigerator and dicing it into about 1/4″ squares, then I don’t have to worry about leaving the butter out too long which will result in one massive cookie because the dough will spread too much.
Tips & Techniques For White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- Use roasted macadamia nuts. If you can’t find them already roasted then follow the easy microwave directions in the post.
- Roughly chop the Macadamia nuts leaving some large pieces.
- Use either white chocolate chips or buy chocolate bars and roughly chop them.
- To prevent spreading cookies, chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 2 hours before baking. You can even make the cookie dough the night before baking, make sure to cover the cookie dough in the refrigerator.
- Use room temperature eggs.
- Butter should be softened (sitting on the counter for 10-20 minutes, no more) or if taking straight from the refrigerator, then cut butter into 1/4″ cubes, see earlier in post.
- Don’t go by the “golden” rule. Remove cookies from the oven at 10 minutes when the cookies are more white than golden. They will still be very soft and you’ll think they aren’t done. Remove from oven and they will crisp up as the cookies cool.
Other Recipes You Might Like:
Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Christmas Cookies With Crushed Candy Canes
Mom’s Christmas Cookies With Icing
White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies
Make bite size or huge cookies, it's up to you. Freezing instructions included too for either the cookie dough or the baked cookies.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Unsalted butter (2 sticks) softend or cut into small 1/4" cubes
- 1 1/2 Cups Brown sugar packed
- 1 Cup Granulated sugar
- 2 Large Eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
- 3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Table salt
- 2 Cups White chocolate chips or 3 (4 ounce) bars roughly chopped
- 2 Cups Roasted macadamia nuts roughly chopped
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees
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Using an electric mixer, cream butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and vanilla extract, beat about 30 seconds to a minute.
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In separate bowl, blend the flour, baking soda and salt.
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Add dry ingredients to the mixer on slow or stir speed. Add chocolate and nuts.
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Line baking trays with parchment paper and drop a Tablespoon of dough for each cookie, a couple of inches apart. You should get about 12 cookies on a tray.
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While the other cookies are baking, you can scoop the remaining cookie dough onto parchment paper torn a little bigger than the size of the baking tray. Then when the baked cookies come out of the oven, pull the parchment paper from the hot tray onto your counter to cool.
Pull the parchment paper filled with the cookie dough onto a cool baking tray and bake. If you put the dough on a hot tray then your cookies will spread more than you probably want.
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Bake cookies for 10 minutes. Don't go by the "golden" rule like you do for other cookies. I think these cookies taste better when only a little color has been added and the cookies are still very soft. The cookies will crisp up as they cool.
Recipe Notes
Store cookies on in a container on your countertop for up to 5 days. Otherwise freeze the cookies, see post for directions.
If you find you run out of time when baking, you can always freeze the cookie dough for another time. See post for directions.
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