Soft and chewy with a satisfying macadamia crunch, these easy chocolate macadamia nut clusters are the perfect decadent Holiday treat!
Still more holiday baking…. As an added bonus, today is also National Cookie Day!
It’s not often that I bake with coconut. Quinn is vehemently opposed to it. However, with all the holiday baking I’ve been doing, it’s much easier to justify baking with it. There are plenty of people out there who share my love of coconut.
Over at My Recipes, there are all kinds of holiday food guides, including one just for cookies. This recipe for chocolate macadamia nut clusters comes from that cookie guide. I made sure to wait to bake them until I had plenty of other cookies around that didn’t have coconut.
I didn’t chop the macadamias at all, and I really liked having them whole inside the cookies. It seemed to give them more of a candy-like quality. That also adds a big crunch to the chewy cookie. To me, the coconut is not a predominant flavor. Even with that argument, Quinn still wouldn’t touch them. I gave the vast majority of these macadamia nut clusters away, but I saved a few just for me.
The recipe describes these cookies as tasting like “chocolate-covered macadamia nut candies,” and I have to agree. They are very rich and even more delicious. As rich as they are, I can really only eat one at a time. That’s okay, though, because I’ll just have them around longer.
Chewy Chocolate Macadamia Nut Clusters
Soft and chewy with a satisfying macadamia crunch, these easy chocolate macadamia nut clusters are the perfect decadent Holiday treat!
Ingredients
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 & 1/2 cups unsalted roasted macadamia nuts
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking pans with silicone liners or parchment paper.
- Place bittersweet chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat at half-power in microwave in 30-second increments until butter has melted and chocolate melts when stirred.
- Set aside to cool.
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Add chocolate mixture, and continue mixing until well-blened.
- Reduce mixer speed to low and add flour and baking powder. Mix just until combined. Stir in macadamias, chocolate chips, and coconut.
- Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto prepared pans, leaving about 2 inches of space between each cookie.
- Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges are firm but middles are still soft. Do not overbake.
- Cool on pans for 5 minutes. Then, transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
Notes
Recipe slightly adapted from Sunset and MyRecipes.
11 Comments on “Chewy Chocolate Macadamia Nut Clusters”
Chocolate and macadamia nuts must have tasted so good together. I wish I could have some of these cookies! (*hint hint*)
Big coconut fan here! I always appreciate the related recipes, too.
Jen, these look really delicious!
Fantastic! Thanks for showing us your yummy results.
Thanks for the compliments, everyone!
Mandy, your subtlety is impressive! You’re only about 6 hours away, so you could have easily dropped by for some of these! 😉
wow… did i seriously miss national cookie day??? those look delicious!
Sorry you missed it, sugarlaws. Although, I’m all for making every day Cookie Day!
I was doing a search for certain ingredients and one I found was this one on your blog. I made them today, and also blogged about them, and you 🙂 Check it out! I wish I could say how they tasted, but my senses are out of whack, being sick and all. Ugh.
Rachelle, I hope you like the cookies when your taste returns. Feel better soon!
I’m confused. How can 3 tablespoons of flour make 42 cookies? Is that a misprint?
No, that’s correct. These are a bit of a cookie-candy hybrid.