White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies – a copycat recipe of the popular Byron Bay cookies found in cafes all across Australia! The combination of white chocolate with the soft creamy crunch of macadamia nuts in a big, thick, buttery cookie is a match made in heaven.
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Byron Bay cookies changed the Aussie cookie market forever when they first came out. They were known for their size (big!), the buttery crisp-but-melt-in-your-mouth texture and most importantly, the generous amounts of “stuff” inside. Big chunks of chocolate, nuts, M&M’s.
Nobody eats a Byron Bay cookie and is left feeling dissatisfied!!
They’re now found in cafes all across Australia, and as popular as ever. They also come with a fairly hefty price tag of $4.00 each.
So it was inevitable that I’d pursue a copy-cat version with a vengeance!
This recipe is a copycat of Australia’s most popular cafe cookie – Byron Bay cookies!
Byron Bay Cookie recipe – what you need
This recipe was developed using Shortbread Cookies as a base which has a similar texture and flavour, then tweaked by referencing the ingredients listed on the Byron Bay Cookie jars in cafes (I cheekily took photos of the labels to reference back at home!).
Just a note on a few ingredients:
- Rice flour – this makes the cookie crumb a bit “silkier” than when made with just flour, to mimic the texture of Byron Bay Cookies (it’s listed in the Byron Bay ingredients). Can sub with normal flour;
- Brown and white sugar – both used to achieve the balance of texture, flavour and colour. White sugar makes cookies crisper, brown sugar makes cookies chewier, browner and a touch more flavour; and
- Macadamia nuts and white chocolate – the base cookie is the same for all white Byron Bay Cookies so feel free to sub this with other “stuff” of choice – choc chunks, M&M’s (the Dotty Cookies!), other nuts, dried fruit, caramel bits etc.
How to make it
This recipe is one of those recipes where you form a log which is refrigerated to firm up, then sliced. In the spirit of Byron Bay Cookies, I make these BIG and THICK!!
I use a hand held beater here but it can be done with a stand mixer or even with a wooden spoon and a bit of an arm work out.
It cost about $12 for all the ingredients, and this recipe makes 13 cookies (because it would be asking too much for any recipe I invent to make a nice even number like 12 cookies). So at $4 a pop, this makes $52 worth of cookies.
So I’m feeling very smug right now. I know I know, I’m soooo immature!!! 😂 – Nagi x
PS These cookies keep very well, staying the same texture rather than going soft like some cookies do. The record so far is 4 days. I’m holding onto 1 cookie to see how long much longer it will last.
More cookie / cracker copycats
Other recipes I’ve created in the past for the same reason as these Byron Bay cookie copycat recipe (ie because I love ’em but they’re expensive!)
- Gourmet Fruit & Nut Crackers for Cheese – homemade version of the rather expensive fruit and nut crackers to serve with cheese! Homemade is incredible – the flavour is so much better than the store bought. Plus it’s way WAY cheaper!
- Muesli Cookies (Breakfast Cookies / Granola Cookies) – copycat of the thick, chunky, chewy muesli cookies sold in cafes across Australia. A healthy breakfast option because it’s like a bowl of oatmeal in cookie form – refined sugar free, low fat, gluten free, keeps you full for ages but it tastes like a sweet cookie!
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Watch how to make it
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White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Ingredients
- 175g / 5.5 oz butter, unsalted, softened (11 US tbsp)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup white sugar , caster/superfine best
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tsp vanilla extract/essence
- 1 1/2 cups flour , plain/all purpose
- 1/2 cup rice flour (sub with plain) (Note 1)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 100g / 3.5 oz macadamias , roughly chopped (Note 2)
- 125g / 4 oz white eating chocolate , chopped into pretty small pieces (not baking chocolate, Note 3)
Instructions
- Beat butter, sugar and salt on medium (speed 5) using a hand held mixer for 1 minute until smooth.
- Add egg yolks and vanilla, beat for 1 minute or until smooth.
- Add baking powder, rice flour and half the plain flour. Beat with mixer on medium speed until flour is incorporated.
- Add remaining flour and beat with mixer until flour is incorporated. Add macadamia nuts and chocolate, then mix through with a wooden spoon (dough gets a bit too hard to use mixer).
- Scrape mixture onto a work surface, press together and shape into a 22cm/9" log.
- Roll up in baking paper or cling wrap, twist ends then refrigerate for 2 hours.
Slice and bake:
- Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan).
- Line 2 trays with baking paper.
- Remove log from fridge, unwrap and slice into 1.75cm / 3/4" thick slices (12 - 13 cookies).
- Place 6 on each tray, bake for 10 minutes.
- Turn oven down to 170°C/340°F (150°C fan), switch the trays between shelves.
- Bake 15 minutes, remove from oven and cool cookies on tray.
- Cool fully before serving.
Recipe Notes:
- Initial high temp “sets” the cookie so it doesn’t spread everywhere, then we lower it to finish cooking through without the cookie going brown
- Bake time time is longer than usual recipes because these are BIG thick cookies!
- Cookies do not spread or rise very much
- For smaller cookies, reduce the cook time of the lower temp
- Different measures in different countries - recipe has been written to cater for different cup sizes in different countries. Only exception is Japan - please use weights.
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Executive Producer Dozer, reporting for duty!
Great recipe! I used dark chocolate and they came out amazing!
I’m so glad you loved them Walter! N x
hello, any substitute for eggs
I haven’t tried with an egg substitute sorry – this one really needs the yolks. N x
Nagi, when I printed the White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie, a HUG Happy Face printed out in the middle of the instructions? Not sure if that as intended or? Either way, These look and sound delicious…..this week they will happen :-). Stay safe down under Nagi and Dozer. We are doing our best up here in Canada…far far too many lost to this pandemic and various human tragedies in Nova Scotia. Thanks for all you and Dozer do to brighten our day(s). g
haha! Not sure why that happened to you Gail! N x
Hi Nagi! Thanks for sharing this recipe. I can’t wait to try this recipe tomorrow. However, I don’t have brown sugar. Will it be alright to just use all caster sugar? Thanks!
Hi Claire, its the mix of sugars here that gives these cookies the right texture and flavour. You can use all caster sugar but they will be more short and crunchy – N x
After being in quarantine and missing my best friend I made these to drop off to her and the kids, these were an absolute hit. Did the drive by and boy have I earnt brownie points them. Love all your recipes as that is what I have been cooking in quarantine. Keep up the amazing work, my friends and family have been loving it..
Food is the BEST gift Charly!! N x
To die for! Omg 🤤
WOOT! Thanks Carly! N x
Hi Nagi!
I’d love to make these, even have all the ingredients! But I don’t own electric beaters (newbie baker). Is it worth doing by hand??
PS when I make your Irish soda bread I fool people into thinking I can bake, thanks for that! 😁
Hi Bek – you really need a beater to cream the butter here unfortunately! N x
Hi Nagi,
I often don’t comment on things like these, but I had to take the time to say thank you for sharing your recipes! The cookies turned out fantastic! I have made a countless number of your recipes and I have to say all of them have been met with nothing other than kind words. Keep up the great work! 🙂
Wahoo! That’s so great!!! N x
Hi Nagi. I followed your recipe and I failed! My biscuits were brown, (burnt) and crumbled, not hard like in the cafe shops. Help!
Hi Deli, sorry you had issues – that doesn’t sound right at all! And you followed the ingredients exactly? What type of oven were you using?
One of the best biscuit recipes I have ever made! EVERYONE loves them.
Thank you Nagi for the amazing biscuit recipe, They were a huge hit. I really should have doubled the mix because they didn’t last long.
YES! These cookies always require a double batch 😂
Do you think these would freeze? If yes, would it be better to freeze the dough raw, or cooked?
Hi Tamsin, I’d freeze the dough raw 🙂
Hi Nagi, I cooked these tonight and as always I’ve found your recipe perfect. One question though regarding my technique – I found that the cookes expanded on the baking tray in the oven, which I’d expect, but they kind of expanded more at the top than the bottom if you know what I mean. So rather than having straight sides they were sloping. To get perfectly straight sides is there any technique I should use? Maybe the issue is that I refrigerated the rolled up dough for closer to 4 hours than 2? Thank you in advance for any tips (because I guarantee I will be asked to make this recipe again and again and again!!) PS: it’s a running joke now in my household that everything I cook comes from your site!! xx Katherine
Hi Nagi I made these again today and they worked better and had straighter sides. I think the issue was that I had not cooked them long enough and the cookies expand a little at the base before expanding at the top. Hence if not cooked long enough the sides won’t be straight 😊😊
Hi Katherine, mine are always slightly sloped – I gobble them up too quickly to be too concerned 😂
Hi Nagi. Thank you so much for sharing your cookie recipe! My husband loves the Byron Bay cookies so we’re really looking forward to giving your recipe a try.
My young kids like to get involved as well so I’m wondering if we’d still get good results if we rolled the dough into balls and flatten them before baking rather than slicing them as I think this would be more fun for them.
Also, how difficult do you think it will be if we beat the dough by hand and would we be using a whisk?
Hi Elle, you need the dough to be cold here – hence slicing it. You could probably roll them into balls, flatten then refrigerate for a similar outcome. I’ve never attempted beating softened butter with a whisk, you really need an electric beater to get it light and fluffy.