Chewy Sourdough White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

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These cookies are inspired by my childhood, when I’d tag along with my mom to go shopping at the “big mall”, which was about a half hour away. We’d hit our favorite stores and then get Chinese food from the food court. But the best part was dessert, from the knick knack shop that oddly had an Otis Spunkmeyer cookie display with warm cookies waiting for you at all times. My absolute favorite was the White Chocolate Macadamia Nut, with bits of sweet white chocolate and nutty, buttery, macadamia nuts that left me savoring every last bite. The flavors seemed exotic for the early 90’s, and I loved them so much. We’d each get one, sliding them into craft paper bags, to eat warm on the car ride home.

Why You’ll Love These Cookies

My tastebuds still crave that marriage of flavors, but with more depth and balance of salty sweet (rather than cloyingly sweet), which is how these Sourdough White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies came to life. Gosh, they’re GOOD, and made with one of the best ingredients: BROWN BUTTER. And you don’t even need a mixer to make them. They’re adapted from my top rated Chewy Gooey Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies; every bit as easy and delicious.

Each bite of these chunky cookies have an equal amount of white chocolate, roasted macadamia nuts, and brown butter vanilla dough. They have buttery edges, with a soft and chewy center, and are absolutely divine just out of the oven (but they stay soft for several days). The creamy chips provide a smooth contrast to the cookie’s texture, and I love how buttery, salty, and rich the macadamia nuts are.

Key Ingredients to My Sourdough White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies:

• Brown Butter
  • To enhance the chew and give these cookies the most amazing toasty flavor, you’ll brown unsalted butter. This is a simple process that means melting regular butter on the stovetop and simmering for a few minutes, which cooks some of the water out and the milk solids fall to the bottom and turn into brown toasty bits. That’s where all the flavor is! I have included a video in the recipe card so you can see just how easy it is to do.
• Sourdough Discard
  • Use room temperature discard so that it easily incorporates into the wet ingredients. It provides moisture and a developed flavor to the cookies.
• Good White Chocolate
  • I use Guittard White Chocolate Chips or Ghiradelli White Chocolate Bar (that I chop), which don’t have all the filler ingredients of cheap kinds, so they caramelize while baking and taste excellent.
• Roasted, Salted Macadamia Nuts
  • It’s important that they are roasted because that adds more flavor, and the salt is needed to balance the sweetness. Macadamia nuts add a rich, buttery, and slightly sweet flavor with a creamy texture. When baked, they retain a satisfying crunch while becoming a bit softer, complementing the chewiness of the cookie.
• Just a little cinnamon and nutmeg!
  • When I was testing this recipe, I was in love with the texture but they were just a little too one dimensional flavor-wise. All it needed was 1/8 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg, which add warmth and depth. You don’t bite into the cookies and taste them, rather they round out the macadamia and white chocolate flavors.
• Pure Vanilla Extract: the base for the cookie dough
• Both Granulated and Brown Sugars: add chewiness
• Both Baking Soda and Baking Powder: leavening

What is Sourdough Discard?

In order to keep an active sourdough starter for making favorites like Rye Sourdough Bread and Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls, you have to feed your starter to keep it alive. 

As a sourdough starter rises and falls it expresses acids and alcohol, that if not used or left in the jar, can negatively affect the balance of your starter. So, before feeding your starter, you remove and “discard” a portion of it each time to refresh the acidity levels. “Discard is not bad”, it just can’t make a loaf of bread rise anymore because it doesn’t have any energy left to produce CO2.

Sourdough discard is an amazing ingredient that can be used in many delicious recipes like my sourdough discard flaky biscuits, pancakes, or banana bread!

How Long Does Sourdough Discard Last in the Fridge?

You can keep sourdough discard in your refrigerator for about 10 days. The discard will become more sour the longer it stays in the fridge.  For that reason, when I’m making something sweet like these cookies, pumpkin scones or sourdough discard rhubarb cake, where I don’t want the sourness to come through, I use discard that is less than 5 days old.

Does Sourdough Discard Make Cookies Sour?

Nope! Sourdough discard provides moisture and adds a developed flavor to the cookies. Since it is fermented, the gluten structure is weakened so baking soda and baking powder are used here as leaveners.

More Sourdough Discard Recipes:

• Flaky 5-Ingredient Sourdough Discard Biscuits
• Big Cluster Sourdough Discard Granola
• Lemon Blueberry Sourdough Discard Muffins

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Chewy Sourdough White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

These superbly delicious and chewy white chocolate macadamia nut cookies are made with sourdough discard and brown butter. Easy to make with a bowl and a whisk, no stand mixer needed! The salty, buttery macadamia nuts are such a perfect pair with creamy white chocolate. These cookies have the best texture, with a gooey center and crisp edges.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time :20 minutes minutes

Cook Time :13 minutes minutes

Refrigeration Time :45 minutes minutes

Yield: 16 cookies

Author: Amanda Paa

Ingredients

• 115 grams (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 160 grams brown sugar
• 140 grams granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 80 grams sourdough discard room temperature (discard less than 5 days is old is preferred)
• 235 grams all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 1/2 ounces good quality white chocolate chips or white chocolate bar* (if using bar, coarsely chop it)
• 110 grams (3 1/2 ounces) salted roasted macadamia nuts, finely chopped

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Equipment

• Half Sheet Pan

Instructions 

• Brown the Butter: In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Cook for several minutes to brown the butter. It will go from simmering to bubbling to foaming, and you will begin to see brown flecks on the edges of the pan and the bottom. It will smell nutty and delicious. Once you can see a good amount of brown specks, remove from heat and pour butter and scrape all the bits into your mixing bowl that you will use for the cookies.
• Add sugars and whisk. Then add sourdough discard and stir to incorporate a bit. Then add egg and vanilla, whisking well until mixture is cohesive.
• In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Add half the flour mixture to the wet mixture, and stir with a spatula, about 15 times. Then add remaining flour and stir gently to incorporate, until most of the flour is absorbed, but not quite. We want to avoid overworking the dough. Now add white chocolate and nuts, and combine just until no flour streaks remain.
• Cover and refrigerate for 45 minutes*. When 45 minutes is up, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper, and scoop 55 gram dough balls. I usually bake 7 cookies at a time.
• Bake for 12 to 13 minutes, until edges are a little bit brown and middles are just set. Do not overbake. Remove from oven and tap the pan on the counter firmly two times. Set pan on wire rack. Press middle of each cookie down just a bit with the back of the spoon; this deflates the cookie a bit and gives you the gooeyness. Let cookies cool on pan for 5 minutes. They will finish baking here. Then move cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Notes

*I really urge you to use good white chocolate for these – they taste so much better and caramelize better. I use Guittard White Chocolate Chips or Ghiradelli White Chocolate Bar (that I chop), which don’t have all the filler ingredients and are delicious. 

*You can refrigerate the dough for up to 36 hours. The longer they are in the fridge (even overnight), the more you will be REWARDED with a more intensified the flavor and goodness. Same goes for these delicious Chewy Gooey Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies. :)