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Milk Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Coconut Cookies
Thick soft and chewy bakery-style milk chocolate chip macadamia nut coconut cookies are an Island favorite!
When I flew to Hawaii for a mother-daughter girls trip in January with my daughter, Sierra, we ate our weight in macadamia nuts. We were literally driving in our convertible to see a waterfall when we were overcome by the most delicious smell in the air. It was coming from a bakery that specialized in macadamia nuts. We pulled our car to the side of the road, followed the smell to this cookie bakery that specialized in buttery macadamia nut cookies. We bought a huge bag and finished it by the time we made it to the waterfall.
We weren’t done consuming macadamia nuts! We ate macadamia crusted chicken for lunch and then for dessert, we had guava and passionfruit shave ice with homemade macadamia nut ice cream. We won’t divulge how many milk chocolate caramel macadamia nuts we ate while watching a BYU basketball game in our hotel room. Basically, we couldn’t get enough of them! Anyone else a fan?
We tried a milk chocolate macadamia coconut cookie in Hawaii and I vowed to create a copycat recipe to make at home. This has the perfect balance of salty and sweet. The creamy milk chocolate pairs perfectly with the salty, buttery macadamia nuts and the coconut brings the tropical flavors. So if I can’t be on a beach in Hawaii, then I am going to eat like I am!
If you have tried my LEVAIN BAKERY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE, you know it is possible to have a thick yet chewy cookie recipe. I recently sent out an email to my subscribers asking them what their biggest baking challenge is with cookies. An overwhelming amount of you said your biggest challenge is flat cookies. Well, I am here to tell you that you won’t have that problem with these cookies!
Let’s get into the baking science. The classic Nestle Tollhouse recipe calls for 1 cup of butter to 2 1/4 cups of flour. This lends itself to a soft, chewy, relatively flat cookie with a slight puff in the center. This recipe calls for 1 cup of butter to 3 cups of flour plus two leavening agents. This gives the cookie the loft and thickness, without making it cakey. I also suggest using 1/2 cake flour for a more tender cookie, if you have it on hand. Cake flour has less gluten which helps to create a more delicate, tender texture.
If you don’t have macadamia nuts at home or just have kids who can’t stand nuts in cookies, then you are welcome to leave them out. You will end up with a decadent milk chocolate chip coconut cookie and it will be wonderful. The cookie will remain thick even without the macadamia nuts.
Here are some of my favorite baking tools:
Light Colored Baking Sheets
KitchenAid Mixer
Parchment Paper Sheets
My favorite milk chocolate chips are Guittard.
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Milk Chocolate Macadamia Nut Coconut Cookies
Equipment
- 1 turner
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter (cut into small cubes)
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 large Eggs
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 3 cups Flour (may use 1 1/2 cups of cake flour and 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour)
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
- 3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 3/4 teaspoon Salt
- 2 cups Milk Chocolate Chips
- 1 cup Sweetened Flaked Coconut
- 1 cup Macadamia Nuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream together cold cubed butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes or until creamy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one. Add vanilla.
- Stir in flours, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined to avoid overmixing. Stir in chocolate chips, coconut, and macadamia nuts.
- Separate dough into medium-sized balls and place on a light-colored cookie sheet. Bake for 9-12 minutes or until golden brown on the top. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes to set.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made these and added a pineapple glaze drizzle while cookies were still warm! Sooo good!
Love these!
Made them gluten free using King Arthur’s gf 1:1 flour.
I used a combo of milk, dark & semi sweet chocolate chips.
I added vanilla paste & almond extract.
Used a small cookie scooper and at 8 mins….gooey perfection.
Thank you!!
So good! My mom, brother and I loved these. I had a little trouble figuring out when to take them out since I made the cookies’ size extra large (for a bakery style look and fewer batches to bake lol). I wanna say the size was about 1/4 -1/3 of a cup for each cookie and I baked them about 14 min per batch. Will definitely be making these again, thanks for the recipe!
Has anyone tried toasting the coconut or nuts prior to adding them into the cookies? Thanks!
I love looking at all your recipes
Looking forward to start cooking.
My husband loves cookies, cakes
I love cooking dinner every night I just get stuck on what to cook sometimes
Love this recipe! I will include it in my Christmas baking!
This recipe is easy to follow and delicious! My son has issues with foods made with all-purpose flour, so I followed your suggestion and used 1/2 cake flour. He can’t stop raving about them! Today I made my third batch in less than a week! Kudos to you, Melissa! Thank you for sharing your expertise!
Can’t wait to try this! It’s a combo of like all of my favorite things!
Do you have a recommendation for how much/what type of sugar should be added to the recipe if using unsweetened shredded coconut? It’s the only type I can currently get and this recipe looks so promising. Thank you in advance if you have any feedback!
The pictures and recipe looked amazing so I thought I would give it a try. Wow……am I glad I did!! Unbelievable cookie, really easy to make for a rookie in the kitchen as well. Well done Modern Honey, well done!
This recipe deserves 100 stars!! It is heavenly, I love the added crunch of the macadamia nuts. So amazing!!!