Homemade Sausalito Cookies

Now You Can Make Pepperidge Farm Sausalito Cookies At Home!

Sausalito Cookies have always been a storebought treat that I just can’t seem to resist. But after years of indulging anytime I passed them in a store it’s time to mix the goodness of homemade into them and create a Sausalito Cookies Copycat Recipe.

So, after lots of testing and re-testing in my kitchen, we have finally arrived at THE BEST copycat recipe for Sausalito Cookies! And this is one you can trust me on since I’ve had a lot of years taste-testing the original 😉

To match the classic Pepperidge Farm cookie, we use malted milk powder and cornstarch to elevate the flavor and achieve that iconic chewy center. High-quality chocolate chunks and salted macadamia nuts, finish off the cookie dough before being chilled in the fridge, baked to crisp perfection, and then swirled into those delicious little circular cookies.

Dare I say… these may even be better than the storebought version of these chocolate chip cookies?!

Ingredients For Sausalito Cookies

You won’t find any fancy ingredients here to make this copycat recipe! Instead, you’ll find most of them right inside your pantry, making this one of the easiest copycat recipes out there.

This Macadamia Nut Cookie Recipe calls for dry ingredients such as all-purpose flour, malted milk powder, corn starch, baking soda, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, and flaky sea salt as an optional garnish. Malted milk powder may stand out as an unusual ingredient, but I add it to almost all of my cookie recipes since it creates such a delicious flavor profile.

Since malted milk powder doesn’t impact the structure of the cookies it can be left out. Alternatively, you can replace it with powdered coffee creamer or milk powder.

To finish the base of the cookie dough you’ll also need salted butter, large eggs, and vanilla extract. From there a milk chocolate bar and salted dry roasted macadamia nuts are chopped up and folded into the dough to bring these Sausalito Copycat Cookies to life!

How To Make Milk Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

1. Whisk all-purpose flour, malted milk powder, corn starch, and baking soda together in a medium-sized bowl.
2. Cream light brown sugar with salted butter, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer until the mixture becomes smooth.
3. Beat in the large egg and additional large egg yolk until the mixture becomes light and creamy.
4. Add the bowl of dry ingredients into the wet ingredients a little a time, mixing between each addition.
5. Chop up the milk chocolate bar and add half of it to the cookie dough.
6. Roughly chop up the salted dry roasted macadamia nuts and then mix the chopped nuts into the cookie dough.
7. Fold a portion of the chopped-up milk chocolate bar into the cookie dough.
8. Portion the cookie dough out onto a baking sheet and press additional macadamia nuts into their tops.
9. Chill the sheet of cookie dough balls in the fridge.
10. Preheat the oven and transfer the chilled cookie dough balls onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
11. Bake the cookies until their edges turn golden brown with their centers still looking soft yet not glossy.
12. Swirl each hot cookie on the baking pan using a large circular cookie cutter. Afterward, immediately press the remaining chocolate chunks into the hot cookies and then let them cool on the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
13. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with flaky sea salt once the added chocolate on top of the cookies warms up.

• To achieve the best overall flavor in these cookies, I recommend using salted macadamia nuts as opposed to unsalted.
• It’s best to use chocolate chunks over chocolate chips. This is because chips tend to have additional ingredients added that can impact the flavor and texture of the cookies. For this recipe I prefer using a Tony’s brand chocolate bar and chopping it up myself.
• Though sea salt is not part of the Pepperidge Farm recipe I do find that sprinkling it on top of the cookie takes these up a notch.
• Portion the dough out into 1/4 cup-sized ball or if you have a kitchen scale, measure the dough out into about 3 ounces each. You can also use a #16 cookie scoop if you have one on hand.
• Do not skip out on chilling the cookie dough as stated in the recipe instructions as this is what causes the cookies to turn out thick and chewy! It’s preferable to chill the dough for 24 hours but you can get away with 2 hours if you’re short on time.
• As soon as the cookies come out of the oven use a large, (4-inch-ish) cookie cutter or bowl to swirl each cookie around on the hot baking sheet. This method will give these cookies their perfect circle shape!

How To Serve Macadamia Nut Cookies

We really enjoy these cookies slightly warm with a glass of milk. A quick 15-second zap in the microwave makes the chocolate gooey and perfect!

Storage Instructions For Sausalito Cookies

Store Homemade Sausalito Cookies in an airtight container at room temperature to enjoy for 3 to 4 days.

How To Freeze Cookie Dough

To freeze this Sausalito Cookie dough, follow all of the instructions on the recipe card through step 9. Yes, this includes chilling the dough before freezing it!

Once the cookie dough is finished, portion the dough out onto a baking sheet. Afterward, transfer the baking sheet of dough into the freezer to flash freeze the dough balls.

After the cookie dough balls are frozen transfer them into a freezer Ziploc bag or freezer-safe container. The cookie dough can then be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.

When you’re ready to bake just transfer the frozen dough balls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and into the preheated oven.

More Copycat Cookie Recipes

• Mom’s Recipe (Crumbl Copycat) – The best copycat recipe to hit the internet!
• Copycat Levain Bakery Cookies – World famous cookies that you can now make right at home!
• Crumbl Copycat Dirt Cake Cookies – Complete with gummy worms!
• Gideon’s Bakehouse Peanut Butter Cold Brew Cookies – An overindulgent treat that is out-of-this-world!
• Milk Bar Copycat Compost Cookies – Loaded with potato chips, pretzels, oats, coffee grounds, and chocolate!