These Chewy Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies are slightly crispy on the outside and chewy soft on the inside. The flavors of coconut and chocolate makes them irresistible.
Chewy Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
One of the simple pleasures of everyday life can be wrapped up in a single word: cookies.
More specifically, perfect chocolate chip cookies. After all, who [100% willingly] says no to buttery chocolate chip cookies that are golden at the edges and chewy within? It’s hard to top homemade, fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies strewn with melty chocolate morsels.
Possibly the only time one would want to deviate from tried-and-true chocolate chip cookies is when the tantalizing aroma of nutty coconut is involved. Even self-proclaimed non-coconut eaters will likely polish off their share of these chewy coconut chocolate chip cookies.
Buying and Storing Shredded Coconut Flakes
Shredded coconut flakes are perfect in everything from Fluffy Toasted Coconut Pancakes to these no-bake Coconut Oatmeal Cookie Balls.
For today’s coconut chocolate chip cookies, finely shredded coconut adds an irresistibly nutty flavor. Though these cookies are designed to be on the soft/chewy side already, adding some shredded coconut to the mixture further boosts the chewy bite of every cookie.
Many grocery stores offer various types of shredded coconut, including healthy options such as organic, unsweetened shredded coconut. You can choose between larger flakes of shredded coconut vs. very finely shredded coconut.
For a more finesse coconut cookie experience, look for finely shredded coconut flakes. They’re less prominent in the finished recipe, yet still provide plenty of aroma and depth of flavor. Opt for unsweetened coconut flakes if you don’t want the added sugar (unsweetened coconut is also fabulous for savory recipes: Chicken, Sweet Potato, and Coconut Stew.)
Store your shredded coconut flakes in an airtight container or in its original sealed package. Keep it in a cool, dry space such as a basement pantry or even the fridge for longest-lasting freshness. It’s important to keep moisture/humidity out of the shredded coconut.
This dough’s a keeper
Coconut chocolate chip cookie dough keeps superbly well. We’ve made this dough and kept it in the fridge for days prior to baking; this allows for things like freshly baked cookies on the regular. Very convenient when on family cabin trips.
Additionally, this coconut chocolate chip cookie dough keeps wonderfully well in the freezer, too. Just be sure it’s wrapped up airtight; defrost what you need when you need it, and bake away.
Tip: you can shape dough into 1 TB balls and freeze them for super-fast freshly baked cookies. Be sure the dough balls aren’t initially frozen for about 30 minutes without touching, to prevent them from sticking to each other in the freezer. They can be placed together in a sealed container after initial freezing.
Essentially, you’re minutes away from fresh coconut chocolate chip cookies anytime you want. This can be good or bad, but it’s mostly good 🙂
Try These White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies, Too:
Chewy Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 8 mins
- Total Time: 23 mins
- Yield: 24 1x
- Category: dessert, cookies
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
These are like chocolate chip cookies, taken up a notch with the nutty aroma and chewy texture of shredded coconut flakes. Be sure to chill the dough prior to baking.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour*
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp table salt
- 1/4 cup butter, just softened to room temp (not at all melty)
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups finely shredded/flaked coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
- 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together the butter and both sugars until fluffy and light, scraping down sides and continuing to mix, for about 4 minutes – do not skimp on this step, as it’s super important for achieving correct texture. You can use an electric hand whisk if you don’t own a stand mixer.
- Add egg and vanilla extract, mixing until incorporated and smooth; scrape down sides as needed.
- On low speed, gently mix in the dry flour mixture just until incorporated, scraping down the sides as needed; do not over-mix here. Add coconut and chocolate chips and slowly mix just until combined; again, do not over-mix.
- Use rubber spatula to scrape down sides of bowl and form a large dough ball. Transfer entire dough ball onto a sheet of cling wrap and wrap it up airtight; chill for a couple of hours in fridge.*
- When ready to bake, heat oven to 350F, with rack on lower middle position. Line baking sheets with parchment or silicone mat. Let chilled dough sit at room temp 5-10 min. while oven preheats. Use cookie scoop to form 1 TB rounded dough balls, 2 inches apart on lined baking sheets. Bake about 8 minutes or just until edges are golden; cookies will seem slightly under-baked, but will set upon cooling.
Notes
When measuring flour, use the scoop & scrape method to ensure accurate measurement. You’ll want a dry-ingredient measurement scoop that does not have extra top margin and no lip. A metal, 1-cup scoop is perfect for scooping up the flour; use flat end of a butter knife to gently scrape across the top to remove excess flour.
Dough can be chilled overnight or up to several days. It’s important for cookie dough to be adequately chilled in order for it to bake up chewy and thick (not flat.) Chilling cookie dough allows the butter fat to firm up throughout, which helps retain thickness while baking. Chilling also gives flour time to fully hydrate, which helps with a great chewy texture.
Leftover cookies should be kept in airtight container at moderate room temp several days. Baked cookies can be wrapped airtight and frozen for several weeks.
See original article for notes about buying and storing shredded coconut flakes.
Keywords: Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cookie Time
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- Coconut Macaroon Cookies: perfection for spring, Easter, and little hands 🙂
- Soft Funfetti Cookies: the family will adore these for celebrating anything from birthdays to just-because bake days.
- Soft Lemon Pudding Cookies: for the absolute best lemony cookies ever, try these lemon pudding cookies… simply irresistible!
- Buttery Jam Thumbprint Cookies: buttery and jammy. And so much fun to make.
followed this recipe to a t..but added skor bits also….they flattened like a pancake and felt they were too buttery..I then decided to add some oatmeal to bulk them up a bit..worked a bit better…was disappointed as they look so good in your shot….they taste awesome..just wish they looked better
Glad you liked the taste, Maggie. The butter has to be just slightly softened (not too soft.) Try chilling dough longer and forming cold dough balls. That should do the trick. I even typically have to flatten my dough balls a bit b/c they don’t spread too much in the oven. Good idea adding some oatmeal to yours 🙂 Thanks for being here!
I thought there was suppose to be chocolate chips in there
These were awesome. Made it for a lunch party, and everyone raved. Froze extra dough and those turned out great, too. Thank you!
Glad you liked these, Kerri! 🙂
The flavor was great but just like the person above they flattened out paper thin and were very buttery. I added another cup of flour and they were perfect.
Daniel, try chilling the dough longer before baking…it should do the trick without having to add flour; but it sounds like you did awesome and we’re so glad you liked the flavor 🙂 Thanks for being here!
Great cookies!! I was wondering if you recently made changes to this recipe by adding cornstarch to it? If so, do you mind sharing the original recipe please? I thought I remember it being a little different before…
Thank you,
Darshna
Great memory! Yes, I recently added the cornstarch to give it extra chewy texture and to ensure it doesn’t flatten during baking. You can definitely omit it, though thanks for being here and glad you love the cookies!
I am so happy I found this recipe -these are just the cookies I was looking for! I actually made 1/2 a recipe ( using a small egg)~ And they turned out great: flat and chewy!
Next time, I will chill the dough in the bowl and bake them longer about 10 minutes.
Thanks 🙂
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Can’t wait to try these cookies, I am a coconut lover. I love that these freeze well, I like baking just a couple of cookies to have with tea.
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I’m a sucker for a good chocolate chip cookie recipe! Love that you’ve added coconut here, too. Excited to try!
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Chocolate chip cookies are my very favorite, it’s nice to sometimes switch it up with other add-ins as well, such as these glorious coconut chocolate chip cookies!
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I don’t know why I never thought to make coconut chocolate chip cookies. Seeing as how I love both flavors, I should’ve, but I’m really glad you did and that I found this recipe instead.
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I loved these perfectly chewy chocolate chip cookies! The coconut flakes as a garnish was a nice final touch!
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These cookies were all the rave with the kids! I am now everybody’s favourite mom. Thanks for the recipe!
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Your recipe was easy to follow and I absolutely loved the cookies! The coconut and chocolate chips were delicious together.
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Chocolate chip cookies are my absolute fave! Your recipe is making me drool, I do love a chewy cookie!
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Adding coconut to chocolate chip cookies sound so good, I’ll try this recipe next time I make chocolate chip cookies. Thanks for sharing!
I love the addition of coconut, will try it next time
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Your Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies look delicious. I love the flavours of coconut and chocolate and what a good idea to keep some cookie dough in the freezer.
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Chocolate Chip cookies with coconut flakes sounds like the perfect cookie combination to me. YUM!
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I love cookies and adding coconut sends it over the top! These look fantasti and are perfect for all of the fall baking!
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I love chocolate and coconut together. As a kid those chocolate coconut bounty bars were my favourite treat! Def going to give these cookies a try!
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Love chewy Cookies. Coconut chocolate is one of the best combo. Can’t wait to try this out.
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These chocolate chip cookies look addictive! I would enjoy these with my morning coffee or tea!
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I know that toasted coconut gives so much flavor to baked goods, plus it’s so pretty sprinkled on the cookies.
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Those chocolate chip cookies with coconut sounds super yummy. They look so soft and chewy, feel like grabbing some from the screen.
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I recently made these as a fun and special treat for my family. They all enjoyed the cookies and asked for more.
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