Masterpiece White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies are from a recipe I've used for over a decade. Their name was inspired by their appearance right out of the oven. I'd expected them to be quite flat, but they were thick, bumpy and what I considered to be a masterpiece.
Or at least relatively speaking. My usual favorite macadamia cookies in terms of taste and texture almost always have shortening incorporated. These are made with 100% butter along with some slightly unusual ingredients that probably contribute to the texture.
Surprise Ingredients
Masterpiece White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies include both Bailey's Irish Cream and and cornstarch -- two things you don't usually find in macadamia nut cookies. This came about by accident, really. I didn't have cake flour (which also works) and had to use the cake flour substitute. It's not a great substitute in cakes in my opinion, but in this instance it worked perfectly. For the original 1 ½ cups cake flour, I used 1 ½ cup all-purpose minus 3 tablespoons and 3 tablespoons of cornstarch. And I really think the cornstarch improved the texture in that it made them a little crumblier. Since then I've made these with cake flour, and while they are good, they're not quite the same.
Recipe
Masterpiece White Chocolate Macadamia
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened (114 grams)
- ½ cup packed brown sugar (100 grams)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- 1 large egg room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon Bailey's Irish Cream or non-dairy creamer
- 1 ½ cups MINUS 3 T. AP flour (160 grams)
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch (20 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt ¾ teaspoon if using unsalted macadamia nuts
- 1 cup chopped macadamia nuts lightly toasted before chopping
- 1 cup white chips (or chopped white chocolate)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a mixing bowl, cream butter and both sugars. Beat in egg, vanilla and Baileys.
- Stir together flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in nuts and white chocolate (or chips).
- Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto a parchment or nonstick foil lined baking sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes.
Sue says
I made these again using Softasilk cake flour because I had it on hand. The side of the box says 1/4 c = 32 g so I used 384 g for this recipe. The cookies turned out great. There was no time for chilling the dough. They puff up a little and flatten out a bit but spreading wasn’t an issue. Everyone seemed to enjoy them very much and I received several compliments.
Anna says
Sue, I haven't made them in a while but from what I remember the best version was the one where I used the cake flour sub instead of actual cake flour.
Sue says
I need to make these again. I remember we loved them. I also made them for a party at a neighbor’s house and got several requests for the recipe and an invitation to bring them to another get together!
Jennifer says
Anna,
Okay, I'm glad that it wasn't just me! I still have half a bag of macadamia nuts, so unless some other recipe catches my eye, I think I'll make these again and add either less heavy cream or more flour, because I did think they had a really good flavor.
Jennifer
Anna says
Hi Jennifer,
I just made a batch of these and mine came out flat too! I didn't have any Bailey's either, so I used 5 teaspoons cream and 1 teaspoon Kahlua. For the flour, I used the cake flour sub formula. I can't believe they came out flat because the haven't in the past, but now I'm wondering if it had something to do with the heavy cream/booze sub. Maybe we should stick with Bailey's! I'm going to check with Sue and see if she's ever used a substitute.
Anna says
Hi Jennifer,
A flour chart is not dorky at all! That's smart. I always use 114 grams for 1 cup of cake flour which would mean a total of 342 grams, so volume-wise, your full batch would have been about 2 tablespoons less than mine if you used 330 grams. I'm not sure that little bit of cake flour would have caused the thinness, though.
I'm going to re-test this with weights. When I first made these, I didn't use gram measurements so who knows how much cake flour I really scooped? Also, I know I've made these with the cake flour sub (all purpose plus cornstarch) many times as well. I will do some re-testing.
Jennifer says
Anna,
I made these last night and I used 5 tsp of heavy cream and 1 tsp of brandy for the Baily's and it worked well. They tasted great, but came out pretty thin. The dough did seem soft so I put it in the fridge for an hour to chill.
I'm wondering if my flour measurement was off? I used cake flour and weighed it in grams, figuring 110 grams per cup (330 total for this recipe). Do you use a different weight for cake flour? (I looked up a bunch of weights, made a chart and laminated it to put on my fridge, super dorky, but convenient!).
Jennifer
Jennifer says
Anna,
Oh, yes, I meant the Baily's! I really wasn't already imbibing when I wrote that comment! 1/2 and 1/2 or cream would be excellent, as I have both in the fridge right now.
Thanks!
Jennifer
Anna says
Hi Jennifer,
I think you mean the Baily's, and yes! You can use half & half or cream.
Jennifer says
Hi, is there anything that I could sub in for the Kahlua? It sounds good, I just don't have any around the house. (I have some rum and some brandy, but that's about all for liquor.. oh, and beer, but I can't image that that would be good!). I have the white chocolate chips and the macadamia nuts, and these sound so good!
Anna says
Hi Jenny,
I wasn't able to post your comment, but to answer your question, 2 sticks of butter = 8 oz of butter or 16 tablespoons.
Jenny says
Dear Anna,
these cookies look great. However, I'm a little confused with one of the ingredient. What measurement do you mean by a '2 sticks' of butter?
Debbi says
I have made these several times, a couple of batches WITH the Bailys and a couple of batches with just milk. I can tell the difference with the Bailys and I would recommend using the Bailys. They are delicious either way but with the Bailys, they are more decadent! Amazing what 2 Tbsp can do!
Lindsay says
Made these yesterday and they are delish...the toasted Macadamias are excellent. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't taste the Bailey's though...I could definitely taste it in the raw dough (which just happened to fall into my mouth by accident)
Anna says
Val, the Top 10 list is a work in progress. It's going to be tough choosing only 10 and I've been hesitant on doing a top 10 -- especially since I change my mind so often.
I liked these because of the crunchy edges and overall texture. They could use a bit more vanilla, though. These days I'd take them over the other ones (link below) mainly because they are all butter and don't have any shortening.
Also, I made another version yesterday and will post it today.
https://www.cookiemadness.net/2006/01/giant_white_chunk_macadamia_co.html
valchemist says
hi anna,
I was surprised to see this made your top 10 and your giant white chocolate macadamia cookies aren't there. could these possibly be better than your recipe?? I love your recipe and can't imagine a better one! what makes these different and/or better? also, can you tell me about the texture? I am curious what the cake flour's effect is.
val
dge says
Thanks for pointing that out to me Anna. I have tried the Triple Play Cookies and the Pecan Pie Cookies from that list. Both are fabulous. What to try next???
Anna says
Hi dge,
If you look to the left and kind of scroll down, there's a category that says "Top Ten". It's hard to pick just 10, but those cookie recipes are ones I count among my most reliable and best.
dge says
Anna - these look wonderful. I've probably made 10 of your cookie recipes and they are great. I'm just wondering which of your other recipes are also in your "Top Cookie" category. Are they posted somewhere? Thanks
Anna says
Thanks for trying them, T.
I sent these to work with Todd and he said everyone really, really loved them. I'm going to try making them again with milk instead of Bailey's, a bit more vanilla extract and chocolate chips.
ThereseB says
Anna!
I made these cookies and they were fab!!
This was the first time using cake flour in place of flour for cookies. The dough was softer and I did put it in the fridge. They looked the same as yours!! YUM!
p.s. Have you tried the mint flavored Bailey's??? Oh boy mamma's got a new fav!
Anna says
Tori, I hope that tooth comes out soon. Fuzz has another loose one.
Longhorn Kristin, Pop & Fresh loves champagne at Christmas. He prefers dry over Brut.
Drew, cake flour should be pretty easy to find. There's really only one brand and it is called "Swan's Down". It comes in a red box.
Drew says
Anna, those look great!!! I know you said we could make a substitute for the cake flour, but where can I buy real cake flour in Austin? I haven't seen it at the regular groceries (HEB, Randalls, etc.)
LonghornGal says
I love that the doughboy felt the need to drink a glass of champagne during the present opening. 🙂 (see photo!)
tori says
Those cookies look amazing! I can't wait to try them!
My daughter had a really loose tooth and we were joking about the tooth fairy and santa having coffee together if the tooth fell out. It is still hanging in there though.
Todd says
http://www.destinationkohler.com/hotel/tac/tac_index.html
Wow. What a great place.
I thought this was funny, under Room Amenities:
"Signature bath products from Kohler Waters Spa(tm)"
Anna says
Therese, I had a feeling you would know what "The American Club" was ;).