These coconut chocolate chip cookies are packed with coconut flavor and will fill your kitchen with the wonderful aroma of chocolate and coconut. A delicious twist on the chocolate chip cookie!
What you’ll need
The ingredients for these coconut chocolate chip cookies is pretty straight forward. Chances are, you will have most of the ingredients in your pantry already. The most important component you will need to find is the coconut. Let’s review some of the key ingredients. You can find the full ingredient list in the recipe card below.
- Shredded Coconut – We use toasted shredded coconut to flavor the cookies. By toasting the coconut, we help it release its oils which will infuse into the butter and sugar when we mix it in. You should use unsweetened coconut as it will give the best coconut flavor.
- Butter – In about all forms of baking, you want to use unsalted butter, and they is especially true here. It should be at room temperature. If you forget to leave your butter out, you can easily soften butter quickly with a few of my favorite tips.
- Sugar – To get the perfect balance of sweetness and chewiness, we use a mix of both granulated and brown sugar. I recommend light brown sugar over dark as the darker variety can overpower the coconut flavor. If you run out of brown sugar, you can make homemade brown sugar easily.
- Extracts – To enhance the flavors of the cookies, I like to use extracts. Pure vanilla extract is a staple in cookie recipes and I love it here. If you are using sweetened shredded coconut or really want to emphasize the coconut flavor, you can also add coconut extract.
How to make
These cookies are very similar to my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, but with the delicious addition of coconut. So, if you’ve made drop cookies before, you will easily master these beauties.
- Toast the coconut. You can use any method you like to toast the coconut, but personally, using a skillet is my prefered method. Allow to cool.
- Mix the dry ingredients. Everything except the coconut and chocolate should be stirred together in a separate medium-sized bowl
- Beat the butter, sugar, and coconut together. To best infuse the coconut, we beat it along with the sugar and butter until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add in the eggs and extracts. Incorporate the eggs and extracts into your butter mixture and continue to beat for a few more minutes.
- Stir in the dry ingredients. Mix just until there are no streaks of flour left to be seen.
- Fold in the chocolate. Use a spatula to hand-mix in the chocolate.
- Chill the dough. You want to chill for about an hour, or preferably overnight.
- Bake. Portion out the dough and bake until slightly golden brown.
Essential tips
It is really important to use unsweetened shredded coconut as you will get a more pronounced coconut flavor this way. Beating the toasted coconut into the butter and sugar helps intensify that coconut flavor throughout the cookies. It is what makes these coconut chocolate chip cookies amazing.
If you only have sweetened shredded coconut, I would recommend adding just half a teaspoon of coconut extract to help intensify the coconut flavor – although using coconut extract with the unsweetened coconut won’t hurt you at all.
In my original recipe, I used regular chocolate chips, but I’ve recently fallen in love with using chopped dark chocolate in these cookies. The chopped chocolate gives you flecks of chocolate in every bite as well as pockets of warm, pools of chocolate. It’s really something incredible!
Recipe FAQs
You can store the baked at room temperature in an airtight container for up to two weeks. You can also store them in an airtight container in the freezer for up to a month. If you wan to store unbaked dough, you can do so in the refrigerator for up to three days. You can portion out the dough on a baking sheet, freeze them, then transfer to a freezer-safe container for up to a month.
You can omit the shredded coconut and use only coconut extract. I do not recommend any other forms of coconut such as fresh or freeze-dried coconut for this recipe.
Want more cookies?
I always recommend everyone try my s’mores stuffed cookies, but my brownie-stuffed chocolate chip cookies are also amazing. I have a healthy coconut chocolate chip cookie and healthy chocolate chip cookie if that’s your thing. If not, you might want to try my salted caramel stuffed cookies, cinnamon roll cookies, or even my German chocolate cookies. If you are baking for the holidays, you will love my cookie wreath. Go to my archive for all my cookie recipes!
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