If you’re a huge coconut fan then you’ll love this Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. This chewy cookie perfectly blends wonderful coconut flavor with dark bittersweet chocolate. These are the perfect cookies when you want something a little sweet or a dessert to impress your guests.
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Two of my favorite treats, when I was growing up, were Almond Joy and Mounds candy bars - the perfect combination of chocolate and coconut. It didn’t occur to me to combine these flavors into a cookie until I tried it at a local bakery. The cookie is so good with soft chewy centers and crisp edges.
If you love the look of this cookie and you’re looking for more delicious cookie recipes then try my Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies and Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Ingredients for Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Here is what you’ll need for these chewy delicious cookies:
- Unbleached All-Purpose Flour: The flour provides the structure for the cookie.
- Unsweetened Shredded Coconut: Because of the sweetness of the cookie dough and chocolate unsweetened coconut works best for the recipe. Sweetened coconut will make this cookie too sweet. Unsweetened shredded coconut is also known as desiccated coconut.
- Bittersweet Chocolate: 60-62% bittersweet chocolate is perfect for this recipe. Use either chocolate chunks (whole chocolate bars chopped into chunks) or chocolate chips. You can also use semi-sweet chocolate
- Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar (aka white sugar) provides sweetness to the cookie and helps the cookies spread as they bake.
- Light Brown Sugar: Like granulated sugar, brown sugar provides sweetness and helps the cookie to spread as it bakes. The molasses in the brown sugar adds a chewy texture to the cookie.
- Unsalted Butter: Butter ensures a moist, tender, and buttery cookie. Use room temperature butter so it mixes well with the other ingredients.
- Large Eggs: Eggs add flavor, texture
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract elevates all the other flavors in the cookie.
- Baking Powder: The baking powder causes the cookie to rise and puff up in the oven.
- Baking Soda: The baking soda reacts with the brown sugar in the cookie to help it rise, but also interacts with the proteins in the eggs and flour to slow the spread of the cookie.
- Kosher Salt: Kosher salt makes the other ingredients taste more like themselves. If you’re using table salt instead of kosher salt use half the amount called for in the recipe.
Full ingredients, measurements, and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
How to Make Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
These delicious tropical cookies are easy to make and perfect for you who want a little sweet treat. The cookie dough can be baked the same day it's mixed or refrigerated for up to three days.
Start by measuring all the ingredients. I know it may seem like it extra step, but it will make sure that you don't forget to add an ingredient or accidentally add the wrong amount to the cookie dough.
Step 1: Place the all-purpose flour, unsweetened shredded coconut, kosher salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Set the dry ingredients aside
Step 2: Combine the brown sugar, white sugar, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream the butter and sugar with the paddle attachment on medium until lighter in color. This step is necessary to introduce air bubbles into the dough.
Step 3: Add the whole egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed until the eggs are well incorporated. The cookie dough will be creamy and slightly runny.
Step 4: Add all of the dry ingredients at one time and mix on low speed until all the flour is incorporated. If there is any flour left on the sides of the bowl mix that in by hand after adding the chocolate to avoid over-mixing the dough.
Step 5: Add the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips and mix on low speed until the chocolate is distributed throughout the dough.
Step 6: For the best results chill the cookie dough for 24 hours. Chilling the dough will allow the flavors to meld together and ensure the cookies don't spread too much. The cookies can be baked the same day, but chill the dough for at least an hour.
Line a half baking sheet with parchment paper. If you have two baking sheets use both for this recipe as that will allow you to bake the cookies faster.
Step 7: Drop 2 tablespoons (about 30 grams) of cookie dough on the prepared baking sheet. A #40 cookie scoop will work well for this and give you even-sized cookies. Dot the top of the cookie dough with more chocolate
Step 8: Bake the cookies until they are light golden brown around the edges and look slightly underbaked in the center. The cookies will continue to bake once removed from the oven due to residual heat within the cookie and from the pan. The baking time may vary depending on your oven.
Tip: If you want perfectly round cookies take a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter slightly larger than the cookies, place it around the cookie, and rotate it around the cookie to create a perfectly round shape.
Step 9: Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
- Use a scale to weigh the flour and the unsalted butter. Too much flour and the cookies will be a little dry. Too little flour and the cookies will spread too much.
- A cookie scoop is a helpful tool to ensure all your cookie balls are the same size and bake evenly.
- Let the baking sheets cool in between batches of cookies. Placing the cookie dough on a warm baking sheet will cause the cookies to spread too much when baked.
- The cookie dough can be baked the same day, but chilling the dough for at least 24 hours will improve the flavor.
- To maximize chocolate flavor, top the unbaked cookies with chunks of chocolate right before placing them in the oven.
- Under baking the cookies will ensure a chewy center after the cookie has cooled.
Recipe - Frequently Asked Questions
No, it's unsafe to consume raw dough and batters that contain eggs.
The second and third batches will spread more if you are placing the cookie dough on warm baking sheets.
Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to five days. The cookies are best enjoyed within three days, if they last that long.
Yes, you can freeze this cookie dough. Scoop the dough into the 2-tablespoon dough balls. Place them directly on a cookie sheet close together. Freeze the dough for 24 hours, then place the cookie dough balls in a freezer bag. Freeze the dough for up to 1 month. Bake the cookies directly from the freezer, but add 1-2 minutes to the baking time.
If you make these amazing cookies please leave a rating and a comment below.
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If You Like This Recipe, Try These Recipes
Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2-1/4 cups (281 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (90 grams) unsweetened shredded coconut
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) packed light brown sugar
- 16 tablespoons (227 grams) unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 large (50 grams) egg room temperature
- 1 large (20 grams) egg yolk room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 10 ounces 60-62% bittersweet chocolate use either bar chocolate chopped into 1/4-inch chunks or chocolate chips.
Instructions
- Place the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and shredded coconut in a medium-sized bowl and whisk together for about 30 seconds to combine the ingredients.
- Place the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- With the paddle attachment, mix on low speed for 30 seconds and then increase to medium speed and beat for 3 minutes until the dough is creamy and lighter in color. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. Scrape the dough off the paddle attachment.
- Add the whole egg and the egg yolk and mix on medium speed for about 30 seconds until it is well incorporated and the dough looks creamy. Add the vanilla extract and mix on medium speed until it's incorporated, about 15 seconds. Scrape the bottom and the sides of the bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the dough all at once and mix on low speed until the flour is fully incorporated. Stop the mixer, add 8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate mix on low until the chocolate is distributed throughout the dough. Reserve the remaining chocolate to top the cookies right before they go in the oven.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and the paddle attachment to ensure the dough is fully mixed and to mix in any flour that is on the sides of the bowl.
- Scrape the dough into a smaller bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour and ideally for 24 hours. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two half baking sheets with parchment paper. If you only have one baking sheet, always wait until the baking sheet has completely cooled before placing raw cookie dough on the baking sheet.
- Scoop 2 tablespoons (30 grams) of the cookie dough and place them in a 3-2-3-2 pattern on the cookie sheet about 2-inches apart. An easy way to scoop the cookies is to use a #40 cookie scoop, which holds about 2 tablespoons. Place 2 or 3 pieces of the reserved 2 ounces of chocolate on top of the unbaked cookie.
- Bake the cookies for 10-11 minutes until the edges are light golden brown. Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes before moving the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- If you want perfectly round cookies as soon as the cookies come out of the oven place a round cookie cutter around one of the cookies on the baking sheet. (It should be bigger than the cookie, and therefore not cut off any of the edges.) Then, use the cookie cutter to mold the edges of the cookie from uneven to perfectly round, using a swirling motion.
Storage
- Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Karen says
In the ingredients section, in the baking soda paragraph, you mention lemon juice interacting with the baking soda, but you don’t list lemon juice in the recipe ingredients. Do I need to add it?
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Karen
Good eye! That was a typo and I corrected it. There is not lemon juice in this recipe. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Karen says
Ingredients list calls for 6 tablespoons of coconut (90 grams). Either the tablespoons measurement or the weight is wrong since 6 tablespoons of my Wegmans Organic unsweetened flake coconut weighs 24 grams. Do I go with 6 tablespoons or 90 grams (which is about 1 3/4 cups)?
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Karen
Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. The correct weight is 90 grams, but that is about 1 cup, not 6 tablespoons as the recipe originally stated. I have corrected this error.