Subway-style macadamia cookies are a classic in our kitchen for long Sunday afternoons, when we can think of nothing better than hovering over the baking tray and sneaking the first warm cookies straight off the paper. The combination of white chocolate and macadamia is the reason this recipe has been in our baking folder for years and shows no sign of leaving.
The trick with these cookies is not a secret ingredient but a moment that most people skip. We take the cookies out of the oven when they still look almost raw. The centre is glossy, the edge is just lightly golden, and everyone in the kitchen wonders whether we miscounted. That moment is exactly right. On the hot tray the cookies carry on baking for the next ten minutes, the edges turn crisp and the centre stays soft. Anyone who waits until the cookies look done before taking them out ends up with firm biscuits instead of the soft Subway-style ones.
Subway-Style Macadamia Cookies with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 10 ✓
- 130 g macadamia nuts
- 1 vanilla pod
- 130 g butter softened
- 130 g coconut oil
- 260 g sugar
- 2 eggs
- 400 g plain flour (type 405)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 170 g white chocolate chips
Instructions 0 / 9
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1
Chop the nuts.
Add the macadamia nuts to the mixing bowl and chop for 3 seconds / speed 5, then set aside.
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2
Grind the vanilla pod.
Add the vanilla pod to the mixing bowl and grind for 20 seconds / speed 10.
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3
Cream the butter.
Cut the butter into pieces, add with the coconut oil and sugar, and cream for 2 minutes / speed 3.
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4
Mix the dough.
Add the eggs, flour, baking powder and salt and stir for 1 minute / speed 4.
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5
Fold in the nuts.
Add the macadamia nuts and fold in for 8 seconds / reverse direction / speed 3.
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6
Shape and chill the dough.
Briefly knead the dough by hand, shape it into a roll about 5 cm thick, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
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7
Preheat the oven.
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan and line two baking trays with baking paper.
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8
Shape the cookies.
Cut the roll into 30 pieces, roll each into a ball, press flat and place on the baking trays. Leave enough space between the cookies as they spread during baking. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and press them in gently.
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9
Bake and leave to cool.
Bake on the middle shelf for about 15 minutes. Slide the baking paper with the cookies off the tray and leave to cool.
Tip: You can use salted macadamia nuts, but leave out the extra pinch of salt if you do.
Video
Nutrition per serving
What makes these cookies taste like Subway
White chocolate and macadamia belong together. This is not a random combination but the signature of this cookie style. The white chocolate brings sweetness and caramel notes, and the macadamia brings butteriness and a lightly salty undertone. Together they create the aroma you recognise from two metres away at Subway. We use 170 g white chocolate chips to 130 g macadamia, which is slightly more chocolate than nuts. Equal quantities makes the result too nutty, and less macadamia loses the character.
Brown sugar makes a cookie chewy, white sugar makes it crisp. We deliberately stick with 260 g white sugar in this recipe because the Subway original has exactly that slightly crisp outer edge. If you want an even chewier cookie, replace half the sugar with brown sugar. The molasses in brown sugar binds more moisture and the cookies stay soft for days. That is a question of style, not a mistake. At Subway it tends to be the crispier version made with white sugar.
Macadamia nuts are chopped coarsely, not finely. In the Thermomix® 3 seconds at speed 5 is all you need. That leaves the nuts in rough pieces, not crumbs. Anyone who blends longer or goes faster ends up with macadamia flour and loses the bite. We want every second mouthful to hit a whole macadamia half. That is the second thing that sets these cookies apart from homemade bakery cookies, where the nuts are usually ground to a powder.
Why the Thermomix® really helps here
Cookies are a recipe where several steps can easily go wrong. The vanilla needs to be finely ground, otherwise you get hard pod fragments in the dough. The butter needs to be properly creamed, otherwise the cookies turn out dense rather than light. And the macadamia nuts need to stay uniformly large, otherwise they bake unevenly.
In the Thermomix® we handle all three steps in the same bowl without reaching for a board or grater in between. First we chop the 130 g macadamia for 3 seconds at speed 5 and set them aside. Then we grind the vanilla pod for 20 seconds at speed 10 into real vanilla powder. Next, 130 g softened butter, 130 g coconut oil and 260 g sugar go in and are creamed for 2 minutes at speed 3. Eggs, flour, baking powder and salt join for 1 minute at speed 4, and right at the end we fold in the macadamia nuts for 8 seconds at reverse direction speed 3. Reverse direction is where many people go wrong. Anyone who switches to normal direction at this point will grind the nuts they just kept in rough pieces back down to flour.
Where Subway-style cookies go flat or crumble
Cookies turn firm instead of chewy
By far the most common mistake, and it almost always comes down to the same reason: the cookies spent too long in the oven. Our solution: Set a timer for 12 minutes and check the cookies. If the edge is golden and the centre still looks glossy and soft, take them out, even if your instinct is telling you they are not done yet. The baking tray is hot and will carry on cooking the cookies for the next ten minutes. At 15 minutes in the oven they are already one step too far.
Cookies spread into flat discs
If the cookies spread so much during baking that they run into each other, the dough was too warm. Butter and coconut oil melt quickly, and the warmth of your hands while shaping is often enough. Our solution: The hour of chilling in the fridge is not optional. The dough must be cold when it goes into the oven. If you are in a hurry, shape the balls, place them on the baking tray and put the whole tray back in the fridge for 15 minutes before it goes in the oven. It is the same trick we use with our Chocolate Chip Cookies in the Thermomix®, where cold dough is even more important.
Macadamia nuts turn too fine
Anyone who chops the nuts for longer than 3 seconds or goes higher than speed 5 ends up with macadamia flour instead of macadamia pieces. Our solution: It is better to blend for less time and take a look inside the bowl. If there are still a few halves in there, that is perfect. They will break down a little more during folding in anyway.
Chocolate chips melt away
If the white chocolate pieces look as though they have disappeared after baking or have turned into caramel, they were too close to the heat source or stayed in the oven too long. White chocolate is more sensitive to heat than dark chocolate because it contains more milk solids. Our solution: We press some of the chips into the top of the cookies after shaping rather than folding them all into the dough. That way they sit as visible crowns on the surface and only melt slightly instead of burning inside.
Variations we have tried ourselves
With brown sugar for extra chewiness. We replace 130 g of the white sugar with brown sugar or muscovado. The cookies turn darker, lightly caramel-flavoured and stay soft for three days longer. More American-style than Subway-style, but very good.
With salted macadamia. Salted macadamia nuts bring a salted-caramel effect that makes the white chocolate stand out even more. In that case, leave out the pinch of salt from the recipe, otherwise it quickly becomes too salty.
With dark chocolate as a contrast. We mix 100 g white and 70 g dark chocolate chips. The dark chocolate adds bitter notes and makes the cookie less sweet. If you find the classic Subway cookies too sweet, give this a try.
As an XL version. We shape only 15 large balls from the dough instead of 30 small ones and bake them for 17 minutes rather than 15. The result comes closest to the Subway original in appearance, because their cookies are roughly the size of a palm.
What to serve with them
Cookies like these go for us with a strong filter coffee or a cold glass of milk. Both cut through the sweetness and round out the macadamia flavour. If you want to serve cookies as a dessert, place a warm cookie on a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle over a tablespoon of melted white chocolate. That is the easy version of an American cookie sundae and works especially well when the cookies come straight off the tray while still warm.
If you are looking for more cookie recipes with the Thermomix®, we also have classic Chocolate Chip Cookies with cold dough as a must-try, and Chocolate Peanut Cookies with salted peanuts instead of macadamia.
Prep the dough 24 hours ahead, cookies keep for 5 days
Finished cookies keep in an airtight tin for up to seven days. We tuck in a piece of bread crust, which gradually releases moisture and keeps the cookies soft for longer. After three days they noticeably firm up. A quick 10 seconds in the microwave just before serving brings back that soft Subway texture.
The dough is easy to prepare ahead of time. The finished roll wrapped in cling film keeps in the fridge for three days. If you are planning further ahead, cut the cookies into slices in advance and freeze them individually on a board. Once firm, transfer to a bag and freeze for up to three months. Straight from the freezer, the cookies go into the oven at 180°C fan and need 2 to 3 minutes longer than fresh ones.
Goes well with: Milk, vanilla ice cream and coffee.
Also worth a try: Macarons with the Thermomix®.
With 950 g of shortcrust pastry you can fill more than one baking tray: shortcrust pastry in the Thermomix® shows everything you can make with it.
