Honolulu Cookie Company Copycat Recipe

Make Hawaii’s favorite macadamia nut shortbread cookies with this easy recipe. Read through the blog post below for ingredient substitutions and ways to modify the recipe. Or if you’re already a shortbread cookie expert, click the jump button to head straight to the recipe card.

Recipe Update 2025

I first wrote this recipe in 2021. I wanted to get my husband some Honolulu Cookie Company cookies for Valentines Day, but at the time, there was no way to get it on the mainland without paying crazy shipping prices. So I looked up the nutrition facts online and built my own recipe using their listed ingredients as a guide. To my surprise, my recipe got really popular! A huge thank you to all my blog readers from the past four years for supporting me by making this recipe. Nowadays there’s a few Honolulu Cookie stores on the mainland (I went to the Vegas one myself) AND I’ve even seen them sold at my local Costco. It is a seasonal offering, however, and they frequently sell out, so I think it’s still worthwhile to have this recipe in your back pocket.

Since 2021, though, I have to admit… I think my tastes have changed. I still like my shortbread cookies VERY buttery and a tad on the salty side. But whereas I used to be anti-crispy cookie, now I suddenly am not? I’m not sure what happened to me. I am having an identity crisis.

Luckily, tweaking these cookies to be more crispy doesn’t require actually changing much. I’ve only changed out ONE ingredient, which is very easy to switch back, and increased the bake time.

The only other change I’ve made is that I replaced the crisco with coconut oil to be healthier, but both of those are actually optional anyway. So for those of you who are diehard fans of my original recipe, take a look at my recipe notes below so you’ll know how to make it exactly the same way as before. For those of you who like a crispier cookie, like the new me, enjoy!

Honolulu Cookie Co. vs. Big Island Cookies

Did you know that there’s actually TWO big cookie companies from Hawaii? I assume you already know Honolulu Cookie Co. if you’ve found your way to this blog post. But there’s another macadamia nut shortbread cookie famous in Hawaii from the company Big Island Cookies. As the name implies, this cookie company is from the Big Island! Their cookies are rectangular shaped, like more traditional shortbread, but also chocolate dipped. Many of my friends from Hawaii actually prefer Big Island Cookies to the Honolulu ones.

If you ask me… I’m really not sure I’d be able to tell the difference in a blind taste test. Each company does have different flavors. For example, Big Island Candies has taro, which I haven’t seen with Honolulu. But for the basic macadamia nut and the chocolate flavors, I think it’s a toss up. However, it is MUCH easier to find Honolulu cookies on the mainland than Big Island Candies.

If you’re a fan of Big Island Candies and you don’t live in Hawaii, I highly recommend using this recipe to satisfy your cravings. It actually is even EASIER to make than the Honolulu ones because you don’t need to roll out the dough and use a pineapple cookie cutter. Instead, roll your dough into a rectangular log. Slice them and bake. So much faster.

Pro tip: I use my spam musubi mold to form the rectangle! I know, I’m clearly putting my masters degree to good use.

The real question: does it actually taste like Honolulu Cookie Co.?

Both Jeremy and I think the flavor of the macadamia shortbread cookies from this recipe taste just like the ones from the stores. HOWEVER, you may get a difference in texture depending on what sugar you use, what flour you use, the addition of eggs, how you slice the cookies, and how long you bake them. Let’s discuss.

Granulated Sugar vs. Powdered Sugar

Honolulu Co. cookies are fairly crispy and crunchy. In my original recipe, though, I wanted a softer crumb. That recipe made cookies that were buttery and velvety smooth and crumbled so finely in your mouth they practically melted. A big factor in that was using powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar.

Powdered sugar dissolves faster into the dough, for that smooth, tender texture. Granulated sugar is more likely to caramelize, giving a browner and crisper texture. Now that I’m team crispy cookie, I replaced the powdered sugar with granulated in my recipe below, but you can always sub it back if you like that softer crumb.

Eggs or No Eggs in Shortbread?

A traditional shortbread recipe, uses only flour, sugar, and butter. That kind of very crumbly dough is best for slice and bake cookies. So if you have an egg allergy or you’re not going to cut out pineapple shapes, feel free to omit the egg yolks. You should still be able to roll the dough into logs and slice into circles or rectangles, and you can get a crispier snap to your cookies. The addition of eggs makes the cookie dough much easier to roll out for cookie cutters. The ingredients list for both Honolulu cookies and Big Island Candies shortbread does include eggs as well, so I highly recommend following the recipe as written.

Bread Flour vs. All Purpose Flour in Shortbread

You’ll see in this recipe that I recommend using bread flour for your cookie dough. Bread flour has a higher protein content. It can handle more liquid than all-purpose flour, and it helps the cookie to not spread during baking. If you are using a pineapple cookie cutter, I highly recommend using bread flour since the little leaves in the pineapple can easily lose its shape.

If you are just doing slice and bake rectangles or circles, it doesn’t matter quite as much. But I do think bread flour is the best for shortbread.

How Thick to Slice Shortbread

For a crispier cookie, slice thinner. I recommend about 1/4 inch thick. I found it pretty difficult to slice cookies that thin, actually, so I tend to go for 1/3 inch thick. Yes, I do bust out my ruler to measure.

If you start slicing closer to 1/2 inch thick, you’re probably going to get a softer cookie.

How Long to Bake Shortbread Cookies

The longer the bake = the crispier the cookie. My original recipe stated 10-12 minutes. If you take your cookies out at that time, they will be baked, but they may not be super crispy. For extra snap, bake for 15-18 minutes but watch carefully! You want brown, not burnt.

Related to the note above, a thicker cookie will also take longer to bake. If you’re not measuring the thickness of your cookie, make sure you check after about 12 minutes for a brown color along the edges. You may need to adjust bake time depending on how big your cookies are or the shape they’re in. I found that the pineapple leaves tended to brown faster than the round sections.

One last note about the ingredients and equipment needed before you get started.

At the time I went grocery shopping, the only macadamia nuts available were already salted. If that’s the case for you, make sure you taste a macadamia nut before cooking to see how salty they are. You can adjust the amount of extra salt in your dough as needed. If you manage to find unsalted nuts, you’ll probably want to increase the amount of salt in the recipe to 3/4 tsp.

Oh, and you’ll need a food process or blender or something that can grind those nuts into a coarse flour. Grind too much and you’ll end up with macadamia butter. Grind too little and your cookies will still taste great, but they’ll have larger chunks of macadamia nut that aren’t present in the Honolulu Cookie Co version.

For the chocolate dipping sauce, you’ll see I have coconut oil listed as an ingredient. The oil helps thin out the melted chocolate so you don’t get a thick, clumpy crust over your cookie. Alternatively, you can use a shortening like Crisco. It’s not the healthiest, which is why I decided to use coconut oil instead, but feel free to use whatever works for you. Or omit it altogether. One half cup of chocolate chips plus two teaspoons of oil was enough to dip about 8-10 cookies for me. If you’re only using one type of chocolate, you can double that amount.

Lastly, my cookies are a little larger than the Honolulu Cookie Co. version. Do you know how hard it is to find a pineapple cookie cutter that’s exactly the right size? I ended up with this set of fruit cookie cutters from Amazon. The pineapple is 2 by 3 inches, but I actually wound up really liking this larger size. Who doesn’t like a bigger cookie?

More Hawaii Recipes

Looking for more recipes that will remind you of Hawaii? Check these out:

• Classic Hawaii Butter Mochi
• Chocolate Haupia Pie
• Okinawan Sweet Potato Haupia Pie
• Zippy’s Chili Copycat Recipe