Peanut Butter Cookies with White Chocolate & Macadamia Nuts
As you’ve probably noticed I think about food a lot. When I’m not cooking or baking, I am often plotting what I am going to make next or brainstorming how to tweak a recipe. This means that I often end up chatting about food at work also. My coworkers don’t usually mind since they are often my guinea pigs. My Chocolate Orange Layer Cake was sampled by many at work. 🙂 Well, awhile ago we were talking about cookies. One of my coworkers said that she really liked peanut butter cookies and the other one said her favorite flavor was white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. I asked, I wonder what would happen if you combined those two? Everyone agreed it was worth trying and here we are!
These cookies are the perfect texture- chewy in the center and crispy around the edges. The peanut butter and macadamia nuts add a nice richness and the white chocolate brings a sweet bite. These three elements really work well together!
Let’s get to the cookies!
You’ll start by creaming together both sugars and the butter until light and fluffy in a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer) with a paddle attachment.
Now you’ll mix in the peanut butter. I had a hard time finding unsalted macadamia nuts, so I used salted. If you’re using salted also, make sure you don’t use a natural peanut butter. I know it seems strange, but I would recommend something like Skippy or Jiff because it will have more sugar than a natural peanut butter like Adam’s. You’ll want that extra sweetness to counteract the salt on the nuts. If you are using unsalted nuts you can use natural if you’d like. Once the peanut butter is completely mixed in, add the eggs and vanilla. You’ll mix that until the eggs are totally blended in.
Now mix together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Add that to the rest of the dough and mix until the flour is just mixed in.
Now add the macadamia nuts and white chocolate pieces and mix them in by hand.
Next you’ll cover the bowl and chill the dough in the fridge for an hour. This will make it so the cookies don’t spread too much and have that nice balance of chewy and crisp texture.
Once the dough is chilled, preheat your oven and cover your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
You’ll roll the dough into balls about 2″in diameter. Place no more than 12 on a sheet, since they will still spread some. If you can, I recommend baking one sheet at a time to help with even baking.
The cookies should take between 13 and 16 minutes, depending on their size. They are done when the edges are golden and the center is set.
This recipe makes between 24 and 30 cookies.
Enjoy!
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Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
- 10-ounce bag white chocolate chips, or 2 large white chocolate bars chopped
Instructions
- Cream together both sugars and the butter until light and fluffy. Mix in the peanut butter and then add the eggs and vanilla, mix until combined.
- Stir together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Add that to the rest of the dough and blend until the flour is just mixed in. Mix in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate pieces by hand.
- Cover the bowl and chill for an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 375° and cover cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll the dough into 2" balls and bake 13-16 minutes. They are done when the edges are golden and the center is set.