Chocolate Dipped Macadamia Nut Shortbread Cookies

Rich, buttery macadamia nut shortbread cookies dipped in both passionfruit couverture and dark chocolate. A homemade version of the tasty pineapple shaped cookies from Honolulu Cookie Co.

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I love the cookies from the Honolulu Cookie Co, and always get a box or two when we visit Hawaii. I wanted to come up with a version of my own to make at home. And have an excuse to use my newest pineapple cookie cutter. I love their two bite sized treats, but I wanted to make mine just a little bigger. Who doesn't love a big cookie?

These macadamia shortbread cookies are so easy to make and the base cookie recipe is great for roll out cut out cookies such as these or even for linzer cookies. You can roll them out thin or thick, leave as is or dip in chocolate like I have.

Ingredients for these macadamia shortbread cookies:

• Flour - all purpose
• Sugar - granulated white and brown sugar ( I use light brown)
• Butter - unsalted
• Macadamia nuts - toasted unsalted
• Kosher salt
• Egg yolks - just two
• Vanilla extract
• Dark chocolate feves or chunks and Passionfruit Inspiration from Valrhona (yes a splurge but you can get it for a deal from Caputo's Market & Deli online or Surfas.)

Shortbread cookies often have either granulated sugar or powdered sugar in them. I find powdered sugar only cookies to be a bit more crumbly and I wanted something to hold up better with rolling out.

How to make these macadamia nut shortbread cookies:

• There is no need to chop the macadamia nuts first since they are pulsed with some of the flour in a food processor first. This way they are chopped really fine and the flour helps keep it from turning into macadamia nut butter.
• The dough is made with the flour and dry ingredients first, sugars and butter mixed together separately.
• Only egg yolks used to add richness to the dough and a little vanilla extract for flavor.
• The dough is mixed well together then divided into two portions. Shape each portion into a disc then wrap in plastic wrap and chill well overnight.
• The dough is rolled out while soft but cool one disc at a time.
• Reshape the dough, chill and roll back out until you only have a few scraps of dough left. You can bake the scraps as test pieces.

How to roll out shortbread cookies (and any roll out cookie):

• Roll out cookie dough between two pieces of wax paper. Do not use flour. When you roll out cookies using flour the dough will soak up way too much excess flour and become very dry and tasteless.
• After rolling out between two pieces of wax paper, slide onto a baking sheet and chill for a but. 10 minutes is good. This rest and chill the dough to be able to cut out and transfer the cut outs to a different baking sheet more easily.
• This is especially important when you have cookie cutters with smaller, more delicate areas like these pineapples here. It keeps them from breaking off.

Cutting out and chilling cut out cookies:

I dip cookie cutters in flour before cutting out the cookies to make sure they don't stick to the cutter. I will then pop the tray of cut out cookies back in the refrigerator or freezer to set up again so I can brush off the excess flour.

Baking cookies such as shortbread cookies or any cut out cookies - my trick is to chill before baking. This is an extra step to ensure they will hold shape once baked.

Since these cookies don't have any leavening in them, they will puff only slightly.

This is also a great trick to use for any cutout cookie that will be sandwiched together so each half is matching.

Pro Tip:

When rolling out cookies you want to reroll the dough as little as possible. This way your cookies stay firm and not extra crumbly when the dough has only been rolled out 2-3 times max.

The more you fold the dough back together the more crumbly and flaky the cookies will be.

I always have leftover dough that I will bake random pieces so I don't waste any dough. And those end up being the taste tests or extras for family to eat before they can wait for the final product.

Dipping the cookies in chocolate:

I always melt the chocolate with a little coconut oil so the chocolate is super smooth when melted and gets a nice shine on it when its firm.

Dip then place on a wax paper lined tray, work quickly and then place in the freezer to firm up fast.

You can always freeze the baked cookies on the tray then dip and place back on the cold tray.

This helps the chocolate firm up faster so it doesn't spread around the tray once the cookies are dipped.

I did a half dip on the bottom of these macadamia nut shortbread cookies to match the style of the Honolulu Cookie Co style. But you can dip however you like.

You can also use any kind of chocolate you like - I used dark to go with the passionfruit since the bitter notes of dark go really well with the tart notes from the passionfruit.

You can use milk, semi-sweet, white or any of the other flavors of Inspiration from Valrhona. These melt the same as chocolate since they are a cocoa butter base. I melt in a double boiler over my stove ( there is no need to temper here unless you really want to) and pour the chocolate into a glass that is perfect for dipping.

Weighing ingredients Vs using cups:

I use my food scale and weigh out ingredients in grams because this is the most accurate way to get the best quality baked goods. Cups aren't accurate because not only are all cups not the same the sizes vary from brand to brand as well as from different countries. I have done tests with different brands of measuring cups and they all came out with different weights after I did the spoon and level as well as scoop method and then weighed in grams.

Baking is a science and science needs accuracy. Weighing is accurate and precise. Not to mention a lot easier. Another issue with cups is that I have no control over how people use measuring cups to measure dry ingredients especially flour. You could pack in way too much which would result in a sub-par baked good. Too much flour could throw everything off. Same with not enough. Not to mention also some ingredients are difficult to measure in cups such as nuts, dried fruit, chocolate etc. This is why weighing in grams is the most accurate.

I also use grams for most liquid measure since 100 grams equals 100 ml of water. Smaller amounts of items measured in teaspoons I usually leave as teaspoons, tablespoons are sometimes listed in grams as well but for the most part the different tablespoons I have used have all resulted in the same amount. Aside from cute, decorative ceramic tablespoons and teaspoons are never accurate. Those are better as decoration than for being used for baking.

Storing the cookies:

Once all the cookies are dipped and chilled - you can transfer to an airtight container. I keep the cookies chilled ( in my freezer since there is more space there) so the chocolate doesn't soften back up or melt.

Chocolate dipped macadamia nut shortbread cookies recipe:

Chocolate Dipped Macadamia Nut Shortbread Cookies

Shanna

Buttery macadamia nut shortbread cookies dipped in dark and passionfruit chocolates. A homemade version of the tasty shortbread from the Honolulu Cookie Company. (Prep time includes hands off chilling time).

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 12 hours hrs

Cook Time 8 minutes mins

Additional Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 13 hours hrs 8 minutes mins

Equipment

• 1 Baking sheets preferably aluminum
• 1 parchment paper for baking, can use wax paper for rolling out dough
• 1 Rolling Pin
• 1 glass cup for dipping cookies in chocolate

Ingredients

  

• Ingredients:

For the cookies:

• 375 g all purpose flour, divided
• 125 g toasted macadamia nuts
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 75 g granulated sugar
• 50 g light brown sugar
• 250 g unsalted butter, cool
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the chocolate:

• 100 g dark chocolate, or any chocolate you like
• 100 g Valrhona Passionfruit inspiration
• 4 teaspoons coconut oil

Instructions

 

• Prep time is including all of the chilling, bake time is per batch.
• Pulse 75 grams of the flour with the macadamia nuts in a food processor until the macadamia nuts are finely ground. Make sure to pulse so you don’t end up with macadamia nut butter.
• Pour this mixture in a bowl then whisk I the remaining 300 grams of flour and the salt. 
• In a separate bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the sugars and butter. Add in the yolks one at a time then the vanilla extract.
• Add in the flour mixture and mix until well combined.
• Divide the dough into two pieces and shape into discs. Wrap each in plastic wrap then in a resealable bag and chill overnight - at least 12 hours. Can be up to 36 hours. 
• When ready to roll, cut and bake, heat oven to 350 Deg F (177 Deg C). Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper. 
• Working with one dough disc at a time, let it soften enough to roll out but still cool. Roll out between two pieces of wax paper to between ⅛th and ¼th inch thick (3-6mm).  Chill for ten minutes ( refrigerator or freezer is fine). 
• Dip your cookie cutter in flour then into the dough as close together as possible to get max amount of cookies, carefully transfer to a prepared baking sheet. If your cutter has small areas like the pineapple cutters do, chill the dough with the cutouts before lifting them from the excess dough and transferring to the baking sheet. This will help the shapes stay together and no small pieces fall off since that tends to happen with softer dough.
• Repeat until you have all your cookies cut out. Baking each tray full as you go. I bake one tray at a time as I roll out another batch. 
• Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes until firm and dry looking you don’t want them to get brown at all. These are a more pale cookie when baked. 
• Cool the cookies completely before dipping in chocolate. 
• To dip in chocolate: Melt 100 grams of chocolate with two teaspoons of coconut oil and stir well until smooth. This can be done in the microwave, in a saucepan on a stove or with a double boiler over a stove. 
• Pour the melted chocolate into a glass and working with one cookie at a time dip the bottom half, let the excess drip off then place on a wax paper lined baking sheet.
•  Freeze to set up the chocolate on the cookies.  This works really well when the cookies are on a baking sheet lined with wax paper set in the freezer for a few minutes before dipping so the chocolate sets up fast. 
• Store the cookies in an airtight container either in refrigerator or freezer so the chocolate doesn’t melt.