My older daughter knows where I store my recipes in the pantry that I plan on making for the week – and every once in a while, she goes through the piles and points out recipes that she wants me to make sooner. This was one of them. She really loves coconut – which started an entire day devoted to coconut. First we made these cookies – then she decided she and her sister needed to have a smoothie with the very ripe banana on the counter. She found a can of crushed pineapple in the pantry as well – so we blended together banana, coconut, crushed pineapple, and vanilla yogurt. This smoothie was so delicious, I even had some – my only mistake was not taking a picture of it to put in the blog – oh well, that just gives me an excuse to make it again!
Ok – back to these cookies. I saw this recipe in Cooking Light – and I knew it would be a winner. I only changed one thing in the recipe (which I have adapted slightly below) – instead of sweetened coconut (which I can’t stand) I used unsweetened coconut, and the cookies were fantastic. They were nice and chewy, and the coconut and chocolate combination is a match made in heaven. They were plenty sweet – so I really recommend the unsweetened coconut if you can find it. The only other thing I would change is to add more chocolate next time. I used what I had in the house – which was about what the recipe called for – but if you like chocolate, please do yourself a favor and add some more – as my husband always reminds me, you can never really have too much chocolate, can you?
Ingredients
- 1 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
- 4.5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 2 ounces dark chocolate (70% cacao), chopped
- Cooking spray
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
Arrange coconut in a single layer in a small baking pan. Bake at 350° for 7 minutes or until lightly toasted, stirring once. Set aside to cool.
Weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk until blended. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Beat in vanilla and egg. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until combined. Stir in toasted coconut and chocolate.
Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until bottoms of cookies just begin to brown. Remove from pan, and cool completely on wire racks.
For a printer-friendly version of this recipe, please click here: Toasted Coconut Chocolate Chunk Cookies
First Look, Then Cook 
Hi Dawn,
Do u have to chill your dough before you bake? I find that if I don’t for at least an hour or so, the cookie goes flat on me (still tastes good but…) The only recipe I’ve found that doesn’t do that is when I browned the butter first.
Thanks,
Jenn
No, I don’t chill my dough first. Supposedly there are a lot of reasons for the cookies to turn out flat – like the type of butter you use. These came out perfect – I used my mini ice-cream scoop to make little mounds of dough.
This look like perfect cookies! I love their texture and the use of brown sugar. Thanks for sharing the recipe. :D
I saw some coconut cookies at the mall today and I wished I had bought them. Im so glad I came across your post today, I will definitely make this. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
These must be so delicious! I love coconut in chocolate chip cookies!
Gorgeous! :)
mmmmm… mine are in the oven right now and judging from the batter, I’m already smitten! Thanks for posting this one, I know it will be a keeper!
I made these a couple of weeks ago, they were awesome! I agree you do need to add more chocolate, I actually chopped some chocolate and added chocolate chips. I used unsweetened coconut too. And I only made a single batch you really need to double it.
I had this posting up on my computer for a week and I finally got around to making them tonight. GOOD. I subbed earth balance for butter and added raisins. It’s the perfect amount for a small batch. I will definitely be adding the recipe to my files. this one is a keeper!
I baked these cookies last night and I love them. I think they’re best the day of, because they still have a crisp edge to them with the chewy insides. Still excellent the next day, but more like the texture of an oatmeal cookie. I can’t believe that the original recipe called for sweetened coconut since the cookies were plenty sweet. I might even cut back a bit on the sugar next time. I love how it makes a relatively small batch!
My son requested chocolate chip coconut cookies today so after a brief internet search I found these. They are delicious!! I used bittersweet chunks and unsweetened coconut “chips” that I toasted and then pulsed the the cuisinart. So yummy. (oh and I doubled the recipe) thanks!
Thank you for this recipe!!! Made them for my sister and her sweet tooth, she’s on a bit of a diet and she looooved them! :) x
Glad they were a hit!!