When you need BOTH the golden brown crisp edges and the soft and chewy center, these Chewy Coconut Cookies are the ONE.
Coconut Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of salt
- ½ cup 1 stick softened butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1½ cup flaked or shredded, whatever coconut
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, sift together 1 cup all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon baking powder, and a pinch of salt.
- In a separate bowl, cream together ½ cup softened butter (that's 1 stick of butter for the measurementally challenged) and ½ c. each of granulated and brown sugars. Beat in 1 large egg and 1 tsp. vanilla.
- Mix flour mixture into butter/sugar mixture, then mix in 1½ cup flaked coconut.
- Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet (there's enough butter in the dough) and bake for 8-10 minutes until cookies are light brown and edges are toasted.
- Cool on racks, wrap them up, and give those b**ches away.
Food for Thought
You know it's that time of the month when you eat two cookies before 9 am by justifying them as the same thing as muffins, only smaller and harder, then, because you feel guilty about eating two cookies before 9 am, you skip lunch.
You eat two more cookies anyway because you're hungry because you skipped lunch, then allow yourself half a cookie as an afternoon snack because you're on the "half-diet" on which you only eat half of whatever is in front of you, but you eat the other half anyway because really, who eats half a cookie?!
Then, because your body can now no longer function at any level below sugar shock (!!!), you end the day by shoveling the entire second layer of cookies under the foil in the Tupperware that you brought to the office in the first place expressly because you had to get the cookies out of your house lest you eat them all because if they are there, in your house, just sitting there, in your house, you will eat them, but you. Don't. Want. To eat. Them.
So genius you, you took them to the office!
Gee, that strategy totally worked out well.
And guess what time of the month it is.
It is time to pay the bills.
It is time to pay rent, pay insurance, pay auto insurance, pay health insurance, pay insurance insurance. Time to pay credit card balances, pay water bills, electric bills, gas bills, cable bills ok, I don't have cable TV because what even is TV, but apparently, this Internet thing isn't as free as we thought, now is it?!?!, cell phone bills, medical bills even though you just paid health insurance?, and bills for products and services that I am sure I never ordered but my name appears in the glassine window so I have to pay them.
Paying bills gives me stress. It's not the act of paying bills itself. It's that paying bills is a painful reminder that I don't have a job.
You Had None Job
Not having a job gives me stress, and when I stress, I eat Every. Thing. In sight. (**See footnote) Unfortunately, my stress management behavior also includes Mental Bakedown™, and more unfortunately, I can't use the Get-Baked-Goods-Out-of-the-House Strategy that is doomed to fail anyway because I don't have an office to which to excommunicate the sinful cookies because I don't have a job. So not only am I stressed because I am once again reminded that I don't have a job, but now I'm fat overnourished because I've eaten seventeen cookies in two hours and having fat gives me more stress than not having a job.
It's quite the convoluted vicious cycle.
And if you think Chewy Coconut Cookie Crisps are bad, wait until that once-in-a-long-time total eclipse of that time of the month with that hormonal time of the month.
The cookie dough never even makes it to the oven.
** I don't actually mind being jobless, but given that I am technically full-time jobless in a market in which jobs are hard to come by for the majority of the jobless population, I feel sort of assholish to not feel the same pain.
H. C. says
Ha! I'm going through that time of month too -- actually a bit behind, I keep telling myself I'd finish taking care of the bills on the 1st. But hey, it's April -- who am I foolin'?
sarah j. gim says
hc: i am MORE than behind because i have been wasting time on that OTHER thing that gives me even more stress.
TAXES.
cookinpanda says
oh stress... well, these cookies will certainly help.
Grace says
i've stopped kidding myself--now i just bake a pie, take a carton of ice cream out of the freezer, sit in front of the tv, and eat my anxieties away.
hey, ya do what ya gotta do.
sarah j. gim says
mary ellen: i saw your comment earlier and included the recipe! ;)
cookinpanda: these cookies, yes. plus whatever comes out of my ice cream maker, plus the boxes of girl scout cookies already in my pantry, plus...at this rate, i sould be beyond zen by morning
grace: a whole pie. that impresses me :)
sarah j. gim says
mary ellen: i saw your comment earlier and included the recipe! ;)
cookinpanda: these cookies, yes. plus whatever comes out of my ice cream maker, plus the boxes of girl scout cookies already in my pantry, plus...at this rate, i sould be beyond zen by morning
grace: a whole pie. that impresses me :)
Anonymous says
I like that "Mental Bakedown." I may have to start using that term.
StickyGooeyCreamyChewy says
Bill paying gives me anxiety too. Even when I have the money, I hate parting with it. Just having it sit there in my account makes me feel secure! Writing checks makes me ravenous! Just thinking about writing checks makes me ravenous! Um...gotta go bake some cookies now.
sarah j. gim says
anonymous: it just so perfectly describes what it is, don't you think?
sgcc: especially these days, keeping cash on hand is probably the best thing to do with your money.
except, of course, investing it in baking ingredients. butter, sugar, flour eggs - commodity investing is the best way to go, imho.
Miss Tiffie says
it's not even that time of the month for me and all i can think about is cookies now... all i smell are cookies... >_<; note to self: it's all in the head.. sigh. time to head down to the office cafe and buy some cookies :) look what you did!!
oddlyme says
Those look divine!
Question - is it sweetened flaked coconut, or unsweetened?
sarah j. gim says
miss tiffie: it's all part of my master plan...
oddlyme: i think i used sweetened, but now that i think about it, unsweetened would have been better because the dough itself is very sweet.
Hillary says
Oohhh, that time of the month??? Hmmm...I thought you meant a different kind which these cookies would be equally good for. They look delicious. I love your intro...I totally bring food into the office and wind up eating it myself all the time!
Emily says
You are hilarious.
Anonymous says
In a selfish way, I'm glad you don't have a job b/c when you did, you NEVER blogged and I love this blog.
sarah j. gim says
hillary: yeah - but like i said, when that time of the month coincides with THAT tome of the month, wow. it's scary.
emily: thank you :)
anonymous: wow, i honestly think that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me about not having a job!
Raw Food Diva says
I am past the "that time of the month" thing but yet I still have the cookie in the morning situation going on sometimes!
thanks for your nice blog!
Laurel says
Hello! I know this is an old post, but I am interested in the recipe. For me though it shows up all jumbled together... Just trying to make sense of it! I am enjoying your site by the way!
jmz says
Your recipe and its comments made me laugh! I wish you the best and hopefully you are gainfully employed and still making these gems.
All the best!
marla (Family Fresh Cooking) says
Oh the vicious cycle of stress, food rewards, food stress. Yeah, I would be shocked if everyone hasn't gone through this at some point. At least if you are gonna have a cookie party, these are the ones to turn to. If they had some chocolate chips in them........even more trouble. Not like these coconut yum yums need anything more :)
Sarah J. Gim says
jmz: still "funemployed," sort of. The past two years have been wholly dedicated to TasteSpotting! And by "wholly" I mean "holy sh**, I can't believe that this is my work." :D
Marla: chocolate chips would have been an awesome addition to these, or maybe even dipping half the plain coconut cookie in melted chocolate? O the endless possibilities...
dawn says
I'm sooooooooo (<--is that annoying?) that you are back to blogging....I love your crazy-honest posts.
Sarah J. Gim says
dawn: omg it is. sooooo annoying ;) and thanks. I'm still trying to get back into the habit of blogging -- the mechanics of taking pictures, editing them, uploading, etc isn't that difficult - just like riding a bicycle, you know? But it's just hard to get the writing confidence back. I really find myself stuck sometimes in the writing part, but I have to keep reminding myself...this is a blog. Not a master's thesis.
SmilynStef says
I thought the cookies were good on day one ... then I tried them on day two ... oh my goodness, even better.
Betty says
I made these cookies tonite and they're almost all gone! It's a keeper recipe, but I think I'll double it next time. I can't remember how I found you ( I think someone on one of my card stamping blogs directed me) - anyway you're bookmarked in my cooking file. Thanks!!
sarah says
Smilyn Stef: I may have to make these again soon...I don't think I've ever tried them the second day (they don't last that long)
Betty: Thanks for bookmarking The Delicious Life!
Jules says
I tried this recipe and my cookies came out totally FLAT! They taste great but look kinda sad--I'm going to a cookie party and presentation counts :)
Yours look so fluffy/puffy...any idea what I did wrong?
Sarah J. Gim says
Jules: Hm. Cookies can come out flat for a couple of reasons:
1. butter too soft (room temp, juts soft enough to cream) or
2. over-creaming/beating the butter and sugar.
Other than that, I can't think of anything else that could make them flat unless your baking soda or baking powder are expired?
If you try baking the cookies again, let me know if they come out better...
ChowJoe says
Jules, in addition to what Sarah mentioned, have you checked your oven temperature lately?
Is it possible it's at a much lower temp then you're setting it for?
CindyK says
Making these cookies today- LOVE,LOVE,LOVE that the most relaxing music on your ipod is Eminem. Think I will listen to him while I bake today, in your honor!!
Sarah J. Gim says
ChowJoe: thanks for adding the note about oven temperature. reminds me...I should calibrate mine!
CindyK: at this time of year, with how frenzied everything is, eminem is, in fact, the most relaxing thing!
Jules says
I tried making them again keeping all of your suggestions in mind, but they still turned out flat.
No one minded the shape of the cookies--in fact they were fondly referred to as "Sticky Wrinklies" They were incredibly tasty and a hit at my cookie party. They are now a must-bake for any family gathering.
Thanks for the recipe and the advice!
Sarah J. Gim says
Jules: Glad the cookies worked out any way :) We'll do that, too. Tell everyone that they're supposed to look like those lacy flat Florentines :)
Brenda says
Easy and yummy recipe! I Googled "cookie crisp" and found your site! Thank you so much! (I'm eating my third cookie)
Briget says
First of all I googled umpteen coconut cookie recipes and kept coming back to yours, mostly because of your presentation....my life.for some unknown reason I needed a coconut fix. I ate a lot of batter, then I added some finely chopped pecans, ate some more batter and cooked the rest. I turned the broiler on the last 30 seconds to brown. Heavenly. I didn't have all purpose flour and used self rising...a little flat, but be assured, I'm not giving those bi&?!. away. Thank you for your recipe.
Marisa says
I have made this recipe several times. I have been using it as my base cookie recipe. Sometimes I use coconut, sometimes chocolate chips, or both. I haven't had any problems with it. I love it! Thanks!
jsca says
Has anyone tried using coconut oil instead of butter? it just feels like it would make sense in a coconut cookie.
TheDelicious says
i've never even thought of using coconut oil! my guess is that coconut oil would make the cookies thinner and crisper than cookies made with butter. gonna have to try it, and if you try it first, let us know how it turns out
jsca says
Okay.. I made this cookie batter last night substituting organic cold pressed "Kirkland's coconut oil (from Costco) instead of butter . The batter was placed in freezer for about 1 hr (I had a kiddo in basketball I had to bring home),and baked as instructed (81/2 minutes). The cookies turned out lightly browned on edges and chewy in the middle...not bad. I will report back once I've made them with butter to properly compare. The cookies were not thin- they seemed the same as in your cookie picture. A little lighter in color. I think because coconut oil burns at a higher temp than butter. The butter seems to allow it to become golden as in your picture. Not bad at all. Thanks for sharing & your pic pics are super.
For me the best part of the instructions,"Cool on racks, wrap them up, and give those b**ches away." - lol!
TheDelicious says
@jsca THANK YOU so much for sharing how it turned out for you with the coconut oil!