Gluten-Free White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Gluten-Free White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies! Crisp, buttery edges with a chewy soft-baked center, packed with salted macadamia nuts and loads of white chocolate chips.

Why You'll Love Gluten-Free White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

These gluten-free white chocolate macadamia nut cookies have the most delicious salty-sweet flavor, packed with chunks of roasted salted macadamia nuts and sweet white chocolate chips. To add even more depth in flavor, we use brown butter in the recipe, which is made by slowly cooking butter on the stovetop until the milk solids in the butter caramelize. This yields a bold, nutty, caramel-like flavored butter, that not only enhances the flavor of the cookie dough but gives these cookies their crisp edges and soft chewy texture. When removing the warm melty cookies from the oven, we quickly sprinkle the tops with a pinch of flaky sea salt (the chef's kiss). This recipe does require a two-hour chill time but trust me, these cookies are worth it. Chilling the dough helps prevent the cookies from spreading while baking, and gives the dough time to absorb the gluten-free flour and flavors. Here are more reasons why you will love this gluten-free white chocolate macadamia nut cookie recipe:

• Delicious flavor: The crisp salty-sweet perfection of roasted macadamia nuts, toasted brown butter, and creamy vanilla white chocolate chunks, is bound to satisfy any sweet tooth craving. Even if you're not a lover of white chocolate, you are going to love this recipe.
• The perfect texture. Melting the butter creates soft-baked style cookies with chewy centers and buttery crispy edges.
• Easy to make. This recipe is easy to make with simple ingredients. Perfect for holidays, cookie exchanges, or special events. 

For more details on browning butter, check our How to Brown Butter post. And if you like this recipe, you are going to love our Gluten-Free Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, Gluten-Free Oatmeal Scotchies, and Gluten-Free Rice Krispies Treats.

Gluten-Free White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie Ingredients

These are the ingredients you’ll need to make the best gluten-free white chocolate macadamia nut cookie recipe.

• Butter: Browning the unsalted butter gives more depth of flavor.
• Dark Brown Sugar + Cane Sugar: A combination of dark brown sugar and regular white cane sugar gives these cookies the perfect texture and flavor. The dark brown sugar adds moisture, while the white sugar helps crisp the edges.
• Egg + Egg Yolk: The extra egg yolk adds richness. Using room-temperature eggs is recommended. 
• Vanilla Extract + Almond Extract: A high-quality vanilla extract and almond extract highlight the flavors. 
• Gluten-Free Flour + Almond Flour: We use Bob's Red Mill, 1 to 1 Gluten Free Baking Flour, and almond flour. This gluten-free flour blend creates the perfect texture. 
• Baking Soda: Helps the cookies to rise.
• Salt: Fine sea salt helps bring out all of the flavors and balance the sweetness.
• White Chocolate Chips: One of the key ingredients in this recipe, is the white chocolate chips. My favorite brand is Guittard's White Chocolate Chips.
• Macadamia Nuts: Roasted, salted crunchy macadamia nuts work best for these cookies. The saltiness is the perfect balance to the extra-sweet white chocolate chips, and roasting brings out the best flavor. Mauna Loa is a great brand.
• Flaky Sea Salt: Optional but highly recommended.

How To Make Gluten-Free White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

1. Whisk the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour, almond flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. Brown the butter. Melt the butter in a light-colored skillet or saucepan over medium-low heat. Using a rubber spatula, stir continuously as the butter begins to foam. Once the butter under the foam changes to a toasty brown-golden color, and smells sweet with a nutty aroma, remove the pan from the heat. Quickly pour the butter into the bowl of your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl. Make sure to scrape out all of the toasty brown bits from the bottom of the pan and into the bowl. Let the brown butter cool in the bowl for 10 minutes, or until it’s no longer hot to the touch.
3. Chop the macadamia nuts. While the butter is cooling, chop the roasted macadamia nuts into small chunks and set aside.
4. Combine the wet ingredients. When the butter has cooled, add the sugar and dark brown sugar. Mix with the whisk attachment on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the large egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Whisk until just combined, do not over-mix. Turn off the mixer.

5. Add the dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Be careful to not overwork the cookie dough.
6. Add the white chocolate chips and nuts. Fold in the white chocolate chips and chopped macadamia nuts. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
7. Scoop and roll cookie dough balls. (If chilling for longer than 2 hours, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 20-30 minutes before rolling and baking). Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop and roll the cookie dough into 40-gram balls. Roll each ball of dough in between your palms until smooth, and then place 6 balls onto a prepared baking sheet. 
8. Bake and cool. Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until the edges are a golden brown color and the centers look just underdone. Top with flaky sea salt, and let them cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling. (To achieve perfectly round cookies, place a large cookie cutter or glass cup over the top of each cookie and gently swirl in a circular motion until they form a perfect circle.)

Substitutions & Variations

Dairy-Free:  Browning butter causes a decrease in butter weight due to the loss of water, which evaporates during the browning process. When making this recipe dairy-free, browning the butter is not advised, as the compounds that make up the dairy-free/vegan butter do not carmelize like the milk solids in regular butter. Because there will not be a weight shift, you'll need only 8 tablespoons of melted dairy-free butter, instead of 10 tablespoons of browned butter. In addition to the butter, you'll also want to replace the white chocolate with dairy-free/vegan white chocolate chips, such as Enjoy Life Foods Mini White Baking Chips.

Use Semi-Sweet or Dark Chocolate: If white chocolate is not your thing, you can use semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips in these gluten-free macadamia nut cookies.

Add Double Chocolate: Use a combination of dark chocolate and white chocolate chips.

Add Dried Fruit: Dried cranberries, dried raspberries, dried blueberries, or shredded coconut would be a great addition or substitute for the macadamia nuts. 

Expert Tips & Tricks

• Chill the dough! This is an imperative step to help the gluten-free flour to properly hydrate in the dough, for the flavors to develop, and to prevent the dough from spreading.
• Use a food scale: Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best, and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale not a measuring cup. I recommend weighing all of the ingredients to ensure accuracy.
• Weigh the butter: As mentioned above, you'll want to measure all of the ingredients on a food scale, including the weight of the butter before and after browning. The 141 grams of butter should weigh around 115 grams after browning. If the browned butter comes up short in weight, add some water until you reach the desired 115 grams.
• Do not over-bake: Make sure you don’t over-bake these cookies! They will look underbaked in the center when you remove them from the oven but will continue to bake on the baking sheet as they cool down. For us, 9 minutes is the perfect amount of time.
• Use salted dry roasted macadamia nuts: A lot of macadamia nuts are unsalted, which leaves a flat-tasting cooking. For best results, look for roasted salted macadamia nuts.
• Use flaky sea salt: This ingredient is a game changer for salt-sweet foods. Our favorite brand is Maldon Sea Salt Flakes.
• Choose premium white chocolate chips: Guittard's Gourmet White Chocolate Baking Chips have a delicious creamy vanilla flavor.

Storage

To store: Once prepared, these gluten-free white chocolate macadamia cookies will be kept at room temperature for about 3 days. Be sure to let them cool completely, then transfer to an air-tight container.

To freeze: Allow the cookies to cool completely. Wrap each cookie individually in plastic wrap for extra protection. Then store them in a zip-top bag or air-tight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. When ready to eat, allow them to thaw at room temperature.

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