Coconut Cookies Recipe

There's nothing better than a warm, soft, and sweet cookie, especially when there are goodies baked inside. Of all the things that you could bake into a cookie, coconut often goes overlooked — but this recipe is here to fix that! Recipe developer Catherine Brookes has crafted these wonderful coconut cookies, and though it's a simple recipe, it doesn't skimp on flavor.

"I love the flavor, texture, and natural sweetness that coconut adds to cookies," Brookes explains. "These ones are perfectly soft and chewy and super easy to make, too." Who doesn't love an easy cookie recipe? Believe it or not, you don't have to rely on store-bought cookie mixes to be able to make delicious cookies right in your own kitchen. With just a few basic baking ingredients and some desiccated coconut, you can enjoy soft, perfectly sweet cookies that only require 10 minutes of baking time. So, let's jump right into this wonderful coconut cookies recipe!

Nearly any cookie recipe is going to require some basic baking ingredients, and this recipe is no exception. Luckily, many of these ingredients are likely already sitting in your pantry, so it won't be too hard to throw this ingredient list together. You'll need butter, light brown sugar, white sugar, a large egg, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking soda, and desiccated coconut. You may not have desiccated coconut on hand — or, you may have shredded coconut instead — but Brookes recommends sticking with desiccated, or grated coconut for optimal cookie texture. "I would recommend sticking to desiccated only because I can't be sure how they'd turn out with shredded," she explains.

With your ingredients ready to go, you can hop right into this recipe. Start by adding the butter and both sugars into the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat these ingredients together on a medium speed until they're light and fluffy — this should take about 4 minutes. Now, add in the egg and vanilla extract, then beat again until everything is evenly combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and desiccated coconut together. Now, pour the dry mix into the bowl with the wet ingredients, mixing on low speed until everything comes together to form a cookie dough. Put the dough in the fridge to chill for an hour, or put it in the freezer to chill for 25 minutes.

Once your cookie dough has had time to chill, preheat your oven to 350 F. Additionally, line two baking sheets with parchment paper, which will keep the cookies from sticking to the pan. Now, using your hands, roll chunks of cookie dough into balls, then place each one on the baking sheet. Be sure to leave space in between each cookie as they will spread when they bake. The size of your cookies doesn't need to be exact, but Brookes aimed for each cookie ball to weigh 1.8 ounces, so you can follow suit to ensure uniform cookies.

After you've lined up each cookie dough ball on the baking sheets, pop them in the oven to bake for 10-12 minutes. You'll want to pull them out of the oven just when they start to brown around the edges — any longer than that and the cookies will be more on the crunchy side. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 15 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. Once they've cooled, you're ready to dive in and enjoy!

"They're great dunked in milk or with a cup of tea or coffee," Brookes says of pairing options. "You could even drizzle some dark chocolate over the top of the cookies." And, as for leftovers, Brookes notes that you can keep these cookies in an airtight container, at room temperature, for up to 5 days. We hope you love these simple but sweet coconut cookies!