Brown Butter Macadamia Snowball Cookies

These beloved Snowball Cookies get an upgrade with brown butter and macadamia nuts. Take a bite and travel to a tropical island this holiday season! Thank you to MacFarms® for sponsoring this post. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

As you may already know, I’m obsessed with all things Hawaiian which include macadamia nuts! My favorite pastime activity is to tinker with classic recipes and turn them tropical, like these macadamia coconut guava rugelach or these mango oatmeal cookies with coconut and macadamias and these coconut macadamia banana cookies!

My latest experiment was to transform a classic holiday snowball cookie recipe into these out-of-this-world Brown Butter Macadamia Nut Snowball Cookies. The brown butter takes these cookies to the next level, the macadamia nuts and coffee bring the flavors of paradise home.

Helpful tools

I recommend using a food processor to chop up the macadamia nuts finely to incorporate them into the cookie dough. However, if you don’t have a food processor, a high speed blender should work, or you could chop them up by hand with really sharp knife.

I also use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment to make the cookie dough, though an electric hand mixer will work. But the mixing is not very intensive for this recipe so you can make the dough by hand as well.

I like to use a small cookie scoop to divide the dough evenly.

Ingredients and substitutions

As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips:

1. Brown butter – quite easy to make and will take any of your baked goods to the next level. If you haven’t made brown butter before, check out my step by step tutorial.

2. Cornstarch – added alongside flour, this will give your cookies a melt-in-your-mouth texture.

3. Flour – all-purpose flour will work just fine for this recipe. You can also use cake flour to enhance that “melt-in-your-mouth” texture since cake flour has some added cornstarch as well.

4. Coconut milk – a small amount is used mainly to help bind the dough together because cookie dough made with brown butter tends to be a bit crumbly since the water from the butter has been evaporated. You can substitute regular milk, cream, yogurt, sour cream.

5. Honey – just a little bit of honey is used as a sweetener. These snowball cookies will be rolled in powdered sugar once baked which will sweeten them further.

6. Macadamia nuts – the star ingredient for these snowball cookies. You can use raw macadamias or roasted unsalted macadamias. If you’re using raw macadamias, make sure to roast them prior to using to bring out their natural buttery sweet flavor. Don’t substitute roasted salted macadamias since they will make these cookies too salty. Use any leftovers to make Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts!

7. Instant espresso – when I think of Hawaii, I think macadamia nuts and Kona coffee. So, infusing coffee flavor in these cookies seems natural. If you don’t have instant espresso, use very finely ground coffee. You will feel the granule in the cookies but it will do the trick. 

8. Salt – a very small amount of salt is used to enhance the flavor and add complexity.

9. Vanilla – pure vanilla extract always enhances the flavor of the cookie dough, adds warmth and complexity.

10. Powdered sugar – classic snowball cookies are rolled in loads of powdered sugar to make them look like a “snowball”.

How to make macadamia snowball cookies

The following instructions, step-by-step photos, and tips are here to help you visualize how to make the recipe. You can always skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.

First you’ll need to brown the butter and let it cool completely. You will use everything including the brown milk solid, so no need to strain the brown butter for this recipe.

Second, you’ll need to chop up the macadamia nuts. We want them in very very small pieces. You can chop by hand, or use a food processor as I do. Just make sure you don’t turn it into macadamia butter.

Now, you’re ready to make the cookie dough.

1. Beat together the brown butter, coconut milk, vanilla extract and instant espresso.
2. Prepare the dry ingredients in a separate mixing bowl and add the mixture to the wet ingredients.
3. Mix until just combined. The dough will need to chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
4. Portion the dough using a small cookie scoop and roll into 1” balls. This recipe will yield about 25 snowball cookies.

Once the cookies are baked and cooled slightly, you can roll them in powdered sugar and then let them cool completely. I only roll them in powdered sugar once, but if you want them a little sweeter or more “snowy” looking, roll them the second time once they have cooled completely. 

More baker’s tips

• When to them in powdered sugar – Many snowball cookie recipes call for rolling these in powdered sugar when they’re still warm and a second time when cooled. I find them too sweet this way, so I like to roll them just once, when they’re already slightly cooled. This way the powdered sugar won’t melt into the cookies and will remain snowy.
• Cookie size – You could make these larger if you wish but I think these bite-size snowball cookies are perfect because they’re so fragile, it’s better to eat them in one to two bites.
• Flavor variations – Before I settle on using coffee for flavoring, I also tested these with ground ginger and orange zest. The flavor is bright and just as delicious. Feel free to experiment with different spices and flavoring.

Storage

These snowball cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 3 – 4 days or up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

If you’re planning to make these ahead of the busy holiday season, I recommend making a larger batch, freezing the dough, and then baking them from frozen. Just add 1 – 2 minutes to your bake time. 

I would avoid freezing them after they are baked just because they are quite fragile.

5 from 1 vote

Brown Butter Macadamia Snowball Cookies

By Trang

These beloved Snowball Cookies get an upgrade with brown butter and macadamia nuts. Take a bite and travel to a tropical island this holiday season!

Servings: 25 snowballs

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 11 minutes mins

Total Time: 26 minutes mins

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Equipment

• Stand Mixer
• Food Processor
• Small Cookie Scoop
• Baking Sheet

Ingredients 

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• ▢ 4 oz unsalted butter, yields ~90 g brown butter
• ▢ 2 tablespoon coconut milk, 25 g
• ▢ 2 tablespoon honey, 42 g
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ▢ ½ teaspoon instant espresso, 1 g
• ▢ ¾ cup all-purpose flour, 97 g
• ▢ ¼ cup cornstarch, 33 g
• ▢ ¾ cup roasted macadamia nuts, 96 g
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ ½ cup powdered sugar, for rolling, sifted, 50 g

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Instructions 

• Brown the butter in a small saucepan on medium low heat, about 4-6 minutes. Transfer the brown butter to the stand mixer bowl and allow to cool completely.
• In the meantime, finely chop the roasted macadamia nuts either by hand or in a food processor.
• Sift the flour and cornstarch into a small mixing bowl. Stir in the kosher salt and finely chopped macadamia nuts. Set aside.
• Once the brown butter has cooled completely, add the coconut milk, honey, vanilla extract and instant espresso powder. Beat with the paddle attachment until combined.
• Add the flour mixture and stir until incorporated. Use a spatula to scrape the side and bottom of the bowl to ensure thorough mixing. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour.
• Divide the cookie dough with a small cookie scoop and roll into 1” balls, about 15 g each. This recipe will yield about 25 cookies.
• Keep the cookie dough balls refrigerated while the oven is preheated to 350°F.
• Place the dough balls on a cookie sheet about 1” apart and bake for 10 – 11 mins until the bottom edges are golden brown.
• Remove the baking sheet from the oven and set it on a wire rack to cool for at least 10 – 15 minutes. When the cookies are cool enough to handle with your bare hand, roll them in powdered sugar and set them on another wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

• If using raw macadamia nuts, toast them in a skillet until slightly brown and fragrant, and let cool before using.
• You can substitute the instant espresso powder with very finely ground coffee. You can substitute coconut milk with regular milk.
• Flavor variation: use ½ teaspoon ground ginger and ½ teaspoon orange zest (from ½ an orange) in place of the instant espresso powder.

Nutrition

Serving: 19g, Calories: 96kcal

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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