If you love coconut, these chewy, toasted coconutty cookies are for you! The coconut flavor is enhanced by toasting the coconut flakes, which also adds a delicate, crisp texture and golden hue.
Besides these cookies, toasted coconut elevates nearly every sweet to a new level of yum- as a topping on an ice cream sundae, pressed into the frosted sides of a coconut layer cake, sprinkled on top of a yogurt parfait… I’ll stop there because I’m starting to drool. The point is, the delicate crunch and subtle coconut flavor of toasted coconut will take you to a happy place, no matter where you are.
Toasting the Coconut
You can choose to pour the sweetened, flaked coconut directly onto a cookie sheet or on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Either way, the coconut shouldn’t stick. However, the parchment makes gathering and pouring the toasted coconut into the cookie dough even simpler. Also, the parchment sheet can be left on the cookie sheet after toasting the coconut for stick-free cookie baking.
Once the coconut flakes are on the cookie sheet, bake at 350°F for about 5-8 minutes. Check the coconut flakes at least every two minutes. When you start to see a few golden flakes of coconut on the edges of the cookie sheet, remove the cookie sheet from the oven, stir well, and return to the oven. The edges always brown first, so stir often for evenly toasted coconut. Beware though – the delicate flakes burn quickly! Setting a two minute timer to check them regularly can be a lifesaver.
Once toasted and cooled, stir these golden flecks of yum into the cookie dough batter and roll into Chewy Toasted Coconut cookie dough balls!
On Point Coconut Flavor
Toasting the coconut is a fantastic way to bring out great coconut flavor. But I wanted just a little more coconut pizzazz to these island delights, so I opted for a hint of coconut extract. I’ve tested various coconut extracts and prefer to use McCormick. Some coconut extracts create more of an island sunscreen flavor rather than the pure coconut one this cookie deserves. Extracts are so strong they can make a hung impact on your final creation!
Making the Dough
Nobody has time for endless dishes! So stir up these Chewy Toasted Coconut Cookies in one pot!
- Start by melting the butter in a pot large enough to hold all of the ingredients.
- Let the melted butter cool for about 10 minutes and then stir in the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and extracts with a fork or a spoon. You can use and electric mixer if you’d like, but I just keep it simple.
- Add the egg and egg yolk and stir vigorously until the egg and yolk are fully incorporated. The roughness of the recently added sugar will help break down the eggs as well.
- Finally, stir in the dry ingredients and toasted coconut. Stir until just fully incorporated. Overmixing could cause the gluten in the flour to activate. Then, your cookies could turn out flat or dense – not what we’re going for!
- Now, roll your cookies into approximately two tablespoon balls, place in a sealed container, and refrigerate for at least an hour, but up to a couple of days.
Baking
Bake the cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet at 350°F for 10-12 minutes or until the first sign a light browning. Overbaking can lead to a hard cookie rather than a chewy one. Leave them on the cookie sheet for 5 more minutes though so they can continue to set up. Then, transfer to the flat location of your choice to cool completely. And enjoy! They won’t last long!!!
Chewy Toasted Coconut Cookie
Ingredients
- 1½ cups sweetened, flaked coconut
- 10 tablespoons butter
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon coconut extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Spread coconut over a large cookie sheet and bake at 350°F for about 5-8 minutes. Check coconut every 1-2 minutes and stir well whenever the coconut on the edges of the sheet begins to turn golden. The coconut should be mostly golden throughout when done. Set aside to cool.
- In a medium sized pot (large enough to easily hold all cookie ingredients), melt butter over low heat. Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes.
- Stir sugars and extracts into cooled butter (in the same pot, if you'd like) with a sturdy spoon or other utensil.
- Add eggs to sugar and butter mixture. Use a fork to "scramble" the eggs into the mixture until smooth and all egg is fully incorporated.
- Measure flour and stir baking soda, and salt into the measured flour.
- Add both flour mixture and toasted coconut to butter mixture. Stir gently with a spoon just until fully incorporated.
- Roll into 2 tablespoon sized cookie dough balls. Place cookie dough balls in a sealed container and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Arrange cookies on a cookie sheet prepared with parchment paper. Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes, removing from the oven at the first sign of light browning. Leave on cookie sheet to cool for about 5 minutes before transferring cookies to the flat location of your choice to cool completely.
