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.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 9

Chill Time 2

Total Time 2 29

Servings cookies

Calories 202kcal

Author Rebecca Taig

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, browned (141 grams weighed before browning and 115 grams in weight after browning.)
¾ cup dark brown sugar (150 grams)
¼ cup sugar (50 grams)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract

Dry Ingredients

1¼ cup + 2 tablespoons gluten-free flour (187 grams) Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour
¼ cup almond flour (25 grams)
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ cup white chocolate chips (130 grams)
½ cup roasted salted macadamia nuts, chopped (60 grams)

Instructions

Whisk the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
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.
Chop the macadamia nuts. While the butter is cooling, chop the roasted macadamia nuts into small chunks and set aside.
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.
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.
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.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
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). 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.
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 cooling 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.)

Notes

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.

Nutrition