Miso White Chocolate-Macadamia Cookies

This extra-chewy and nutty chocolate chip cookie is really an ode to a favorite store-bought treat: the Pepperidge Farm Sausalito, featuring milk chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. (As a kid I devoured them while watching ABC’s TGIF lineup.) My slightly more adult spin stays true to its core essence, while scaling back the sugar to a not-too-sweet level. I’ve also added brown butter and a dollop of miso to provide depth and balance. Don’t forget to toast your macadamia nuts to bring out all their buttery flavor.

Ingredients

Makes 10–12

Preparation

1. Step 1

   Whisk 1¼ cups (156 g) all-purpose flour and ½ tsp. baking soda in a small bowl to combine; set aside.

   Step 2

   Toast ¾ cup macadamia nuts in a dry small skillet over medium-low heat, stirring often, until golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board; let cool. Very coarsely chop (you want to keep the pieces large).

   Step 3

   Heat ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter in same skillet, swirling and scraping bottom of pan often with a heatproof rubber spatula, until it foams, then browns, about 4 minutes. Scrape into a large heatproof bowl; let cool 1 minute.

   Step 4

   Add ½ cup (100 g) dark brown sugar, ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar, 2 Tbsp. white miso, and 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt to brown butter and whisk, breaking up any clumps, until sugars are dissolved. Whisk in 1 large egg, room temperature, and 1 tsp. vanilla extract. Working in 2 or 3 batches, sift reserved dry ingredients into bowl, folding after each addition until no dry spots remain. Add nuts, ½ cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips, and ½ cup white chocolate chips and fold until just combined. Cover and chill dough at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day.

   Step 5

   Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat oven to 350°. Using a #20 cookie scoop (or about 3 Tbsp.), portion out dough, placing 5–6 cookies each on 2 parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets, spacing about 2″ apart, and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.

   Step 6

   Bake cookies, rotating baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through, until golden around edges, 14–16 minutes. Remove from oven and, using a spatula, lightly press down on cookies. Let cookies cool on baking sheets 5–10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks and let cool completely.