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We absolutely love these bite-size buttery, snappy, airy, and crunchy macadamia nut chocolate chip cookies. It’s hard to stop munching on this!
I love soft and chewy cookies, but I also love those bite-size crunchy and snappy cookies. This mini crunchy macadamia nut chocolate chip cookies are exactly that! The texture is so airy, snaps easily when you break it and is so crunchy and not overly sweet! They stay crunchy too. It’s perfect to fill up that cookie jar. Well, it’s hardly filled up because we can’t stop eating them and they were gone in less than a day LOL!
Ingredients
1. Butter
I always used unsalted butter. If you choose to use salted butter, you can omit the salt in the recipe
2. Granulated sugar and light brown sugar
This recipe calls for both types of sugar. The granulated sugar promotes crisp/crunchy texture and the light brown sugar gives a nice flavor. You must be wondering why not use more granulated sugar then and omit the light brown sugar if we want a crunchy texture.? Well, the thing is the cookies don’t have the flavor we are looking for with just granulated sugar. Besides, the crunchy texture can also be achieved with other approach and techniques as mentioned below
4. Egg
I usually use large egg, which is about 50 grams if you weigh it without the shell
5. Vanilla extract
It adds nice flavor to the cookies. It also help to mask the aroma from baking powder and baking soda
6. All-purpose flour
Any wheat flour with medium-gluten content can be used here.
7. Baking powder and baking soda
They are both needed in this recipe and hence, do not omit one or the other or your cookies won’t turn out right. They are there to ensure the cookies rice properly and to give the texture we are aiming for, airy, crunchy, and snappy
8. Macadamia nuts
The macadamia nuts I used is salted and so I cut down a bit on the salt. If yours aren’t salted, you can add the amount stated in the recipe
9. Chocolate chips
You can use white chocolate chips or semi-sweet, dark, or milk chocolate chips too.
Mini Crunchy Macadamia Nut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 125 g unsalted butter softened
- 40 g sugar
- 80 g brown sugar
- 50 g egg room temperature, from one large egg
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 200 g all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp sea salt 1/4 tsp if use salted macadamia nuts
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- 100 g white chocolate chips chopped, or semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
- 100 g macadamia nuts finely chopped
Instructions
Prepare the dough:
- Whisk flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda in a bowl to combine. Set aside
- Place the softened (but not melting) butter both types of sugar in a mixing bowl. If use a stand mixer, use a flat beater. Beat the butter and sugar until creamy on a medium speed (speed 6-8 on KA), about 3 minutes. Add the room-temperature egg and vanilla extract, and beat for another minute until combined. If the egg is cold, the butter will curdle and separate
- Add the flour mixture. Turn to the lowest speed and beat until almost combine. Add the chopped macadamia nuts and chocolate chips and beat briefly until just combined and you no longer see streaks of flour
Chill the dough:
- The dough is sticky and that's normal. Scoop the dough onto a large piece of cling wrap and wrap around it and flatten into a disc shape. Put this in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour. It's easier to work with when it's cold
Shaping:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) conventional oven, 320 F (160 C) for convection oven
- Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment. If you don't have that many baking sheets, just shape about 20-22 cookie dough. Pinch off about 1 teaspoonful, about 10 grams of dough and roll it round and put on baking sheet, about 2 inches apart as they will spread a bit. Keep the rest of the dough in the fridge if you only working with 1 to 2 pans. Put the baking sheet in the freezer while preheating the oven. This also prevent the cookies from spreading too much
Baking:
- When the oven is ready, bake one tray at a time. It's for a better result. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown and crunchy
Cooling:
- Let the cookies cool down on the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to let them cool down completely
- Let the pan cool down and then proceed with shaping the next batch if you are working with only one pan. Remember to chill the shaped cookie dough in the freezer for at least 10 minutes before baking
Serve:
- When the cookies have cooled down completely, they should be crunchy and airy. They snap easily too when you break it into pieces. If the cookies aren't crunchy, most likely they need a longer baking time. You may shape the cookies larger than what I suggested and hence they need longer baking time. Every oven can be different too, your oven may be hotter or not as hot, so that may affect your baking temperature and time setting
Storage:
- Once they have cooled down completely, store them in an air-tight container. They can last for weeks. But they won't last that long! not in our house anyway!
RECOMMEDED TOOLS
*Nutrition facts are just estimates and calculated using online tools*
How to bake crunchy macadamia nut chocolate chip cookies
1. Whisk flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda in a bowl to combine. Set aside
2. Place the softened (but not melting) butter both types of sugar in a mixing bowl. If use a stand mixer, use a flat beater. Beat the butter and sugar until creamy on a medium speed (speed 6-8 on KA), about 3 minutes. 
3. Add the room-temperature egg and vanilla extract, and beat for another minute until combined. If the egg is cold, the butter will curdle and separate
4. Add the flour mixture. Turn to the lowest speed and beat until almost combine. Add the chopped macadamia nuts and chocolate chips and beat briefly until just combined and you no longer see streaks of flour
5. The dough is sticky and that’s normal. Scoop the dough onto a large piece of cling wrap and wrap around it and flatten into a disc shape. Put this in the fridge for 30 minutes. It’s easier to work with when it’s cold. 
6. Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) conventional oven, 320 F (160 C) for convection oven. Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment. If you don’t have that many baking sheets, just shape about 20-22 cookie dough. Pinch off about 1 teaspoonful, about 10 grams of dough and roll it round and put on baking sheet, about 2 inches apart as they will spread a bit. Keep the rest of the dough in the fridge if you only working with 1 to 2 pans. Put the baking sheet in the freezer while preheating the oven
7. When the oven is ready, bake one tray at a time. It’s for a better result. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown and crunchy. Let the cookies cool down on the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to let them cool down completely. Let the pan cool down and then proceed with shaping the next batch if you are working with only one pan. Remember to chill the shaped cookie dough in the freezer for at least 10 minutes before baking
Tips for crunchy macadamia nut chocolate chip cookies
Besides the ingredients used that contribute to the crunchy texture, there are few tips to keep in mind for crunchy texture on cookies:
1. Smaller cookie size
Each dough is shape into about 10 gram each. You want to make sure they are about the same size so all cookies baked evenly in the oven.
2. Longer baking time
Needless to say, smaller size and longer baking time will make the cookies crispier/crunchier
3. Thinner or thicker crunchy cookies
This cookie is NOT meant to be thin and crunchy type. It’s about 1/2 an inch thick approximately, and still crunchy. If you don’t chill the dough and bake straight away, the cookies spread a lot more and the result will be thinner crunchy cookies, which is fine if that’s what you want
Did you make this mini crunchy macadamia nut cookies recipe?
I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag it to show me what you’ve made. Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!
