White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

I was attempting my yearly freezer cleanup when I happened upon a bag of macadamia nuts I had purchased at Trader Joe's this summer. I love macadamia nuts, and how I let these slip to the back of the freezer I'll never know. Resting comfortably next to the nuts was a big block of ghirardelli white chocolate. I HATE cleaning out my freezer. I LOVE baking. I'll just say the freezer is a little less cluttered now that the nuts and white chocolate are gone.


17 ounces all-purpose flour (3 3/4 cups)
1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, or 1 teaspoon table salt
1 ¼ cups unsalted butter (2 ½ sticks)
1 ¼ cups light brown sugar
8 ounces granulated sugar (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 ounces Ghirardelli white baking chocolate, cut into chunks (the size you want to eat in a cookie – not too big, not too small)
macadamia nuts, as many as you can afford, cut into chunks (o.k. about 1 cup I think)

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Using a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until nice and light. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate and nuts. Using a size 20 ice cream scoop (approximately ¼ cup) form dough into balls, and freeze for at least an hour, or up to about 6 weeks. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°, place desired number of cookie blobs on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake about 18 to 20 minutes, or until very light brown but still soft. Let cookies rest on cookie sheet for only 1 or 2 minutes, then gently remove from tray and place directly on counter top until set enough to eat.
p.s. This is the same basic dough as the Strobel Cookie posted earlier. Just make sure to use light brown sugar as dark brown sugar is too strong for the white chocolate.