I am an absolute sucker for fast food – sure I love a home cooked meal made with love or a beautifully crafted dish from a restaurant. But…. Sometimes the mood strikes to absolutely destroy a cold cut combo. And what is the perfect acoutrement to said cold cut combo? The softest, chewiest, almost certainly underbaked white chocolate macadamia nut cookie. I truly crave those Subway cookies constantly – but I’m not one to make a copycat recipe. I love that there are people out there who do that! But I like to have my own little spin.

For this recipe I’m sure you noticed from the title that that spin was the lime, which I hope you will like as much as I do. Lime and white chocolate is one of those magical flavour combos for me. The lime is sweet yet refreshing and plays with the milky vanilla notes of the white chocolate. We’ve also browned the butter for some toasty caramel notes!

Browning the Butter is My Love Language

Brown butter is a magical ingredient. You take something already delicious, and with gentle heat and stirring you are able to make it even more stunning. Those milk solids get sweet and toasty and take on flavour almost like toffee – take it too far and you will end up with a bitter mess but shes worth the risk. Play it safe and keep that heat at medium and use a careful eye to watch and a quick hand to stir.

The butter simmers as you are browning it, and because of the heat that is required for this there will be some moisture loss. Moisture is a major player when it comes to baking recipes, so if in the future you are baking and decide to swap out the regular butter for this liquid gold you will need keep in mind to replace that water.

Prep?

This dough is perfect for the baker that wants to plan ahead, it can be made and refrigerated up to three days in advance.

I completely understand the desire for cookie recipe that has you chowing down within the hour, but this isn’t it. This is quite a wet dough, and it needs time to chill out in the fridge. This will help with the flavour but it will especially help with handling the dough. So tuck it in the fridge for a little sleep and bake these treats off the next day.

Grocery List

Butter
Limes
Baking Powder
White Chocolate

White Sugar
Eggs
Baking Soda
Macadamia Nuts

Brown Sugar
Flour
Salt
Flaky Salt

Equipment

Cutting Board
Chefs Knife
Microplane
Small Pot
Kitchen Scale
Measuring Spoons
Baking Sheet
Parchment Paper

Ingredients

128 g Unsalted Butter
150 g White Sugar
2 Limes
50 g Brown Sugar
2 Large Eggs, Plus One Yolk
240 g All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
45 g Macadamia Nuts
170 g White Chocolate
Flaky Salt Optional

Instructions

Melt the butter in a small pot over medium heat. Continue to cook stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula. The milk solids will separate and you will see little flecks, these are the milk solids. Continue to stir until those milk solids turn a deep golden brown then remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
In a medium mixing bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt then set aside.
Roughly chop the macadamia nuts and white chocolate and set aside.
Add both sugars to the bowl of your stand mixer then use your microplane to zest the limes directly into the sugars.
Turn the mixer on low and allow to mix for 1 minute, this will express the oils of the zest to blossom into the sugar.
Pour the brown butter into the sugars and mix on medium-high until fully combined and the mixture has lightened in colour, 1-2 minutes.
Stop the mixer and use your spatula to scrape the edges of the bowl then increase the speed to medium. Add the eggs and yolk one at a time, ensuring each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next. You may need to stop the mixer to scrape the edges of the bowl
Once the eggs are incorporated increase the speed to medium-high and mix until the batter has lightened significantly in colour and is thick and creamy. This will take 2-3 minutes and you may need to stop the mixer to scrape the bowl.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix with your rubber spatula until just barely combined before folding in the white chocolate and macadamia nuts.
Cover and transfer to the fridge overnight. This is super important, this dough is very soft and it needs this time to firm up as well as develop flavour.
When you are ready to bake the cookies preheat your oven to 350F and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
Divide the dough into 12 equal portions, each approximately 70g, and place six on each tray. Sprinkle with flaky salt.
Bake at 350F for 14-16 minutes, rotating the pans half-way, until the cookies have golden edges and are fully set on top. Allow to cool on the tray for at least 20 minutes. Enjoy!