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These coconut sugar cookies are thick, chewy, and packed with toasted coconut. They’re the perfect cookie to share with anyone who loves coconut!
Coconut is one of those ingredients that you either love or really dislike. Around here, we absolutely love it.
Whether it’s a slice of coconut cream pie (or coconut cream bars), a piece of impossible coconut pie, or chewy coconut macaroons, we love it all.
So the idea of taking our popular chewy lemon sugar cookies and turning them into coconut sugar cookies? You know we were all about that.
These coconut sugar cookies have the thick, chewy texture of the original recipe but are packed with the flavor of toasted coconut. They’re the perfect cookie for any coconut lover!
Chewy toasted coconut sugar cookies
If you love chewy sugar cookies and are a fan of coconut, you’re gonna want to make this recipe immediately.
The dough for this recipe is based on my chewy lemon sugar cookies, but I swapped out all of the lemony goodness for coconutty goodness instead.
These coconut sugar cookies have two forms of coconut in them – toasted sweetened coconut and coconut extract.
There’s just enough coconut extract in the dough to help the coconut flavor shine through, but I promise it’s not so much that they are going to taste like sunscreen. (Trust me, no one wants that.)
Meanwhile, toasting the coconut makes the flavor even more complex and nutty. Plus, the texture of the coconut adds to the chewiness of the cookies.
They’re the kind of cookie you’ll find yourself making all year round, whether it’s for a holiday cookie platter, a summer cookout, or just for a random Thursday treat.
How to make my coconut sugar cookies
My chewy coconut sugar cookies are easy to make. Plus, the dough doesn’t require any chilling time, so you can be enjoying these in almost no time!
Ingredients you’ll need
To make this recipe, you will need:
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup room-temperature unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- ¾ cup toasted sweetened flaked coconut
Before you start baking, make sure you know how to measure flour and how to cream butter and sugar correctly. Knowing how to do both of these things the right way will help your coconut cookies turn out perfect every time.
If you forget to set your butter out to soften ahead of time, check out my tips for how to soften butter quickly.
There are a few different ways to toast coconut. If you’ve never tried this before, I’ve got a guide that will walk you through how to toast coconut in the oven, in the microwave, and on the stove.
Making these cookies
To make this cookie dough, start by whisking together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set this mixture aside.
Now grab a mixer and cream the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy. This will take around 3 minutes – don’t try to rush this step!
Add the egg and the vanilla and coconut extracts and mix until well combined.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, mixing until just combined. Stir in the toasted coconut.
Grab a medium cookie scoop and portion the dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. Leave a couple of inches between each dough ball.
Bake the cookies at 350°F for 13-15 minutes or until they are lightly browned. When in doubt, this is one of those cookie recipes that is better slightly underbaked than overbaked.
Let the coconut sugar cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Storage and freezing
Store these chewy coconut sugar cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days. You can also freeze them in an airtight container or zip-top freezer bag for a couple of months.
You could also freeze the portioned cookie dough so you can enjoy freshly baked coconut cookies any time you like. Find more details on this process in my post on freezing cookie dough.
FAQs
If you only have unsweetened coconut, keep in mind that the cookies won’t be quite as sweet.
If you want to fix that, you have a couple of options: Roll the portioned dough balls in granulated sugar before baking, or place a pound of unsweetened coconut in a bag with 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar and shake it up to sweeten it.
Chewy Coconut Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- ¾ cup toasted sweetened flaked coconut
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add in the egg and extracts and mix until combined.
- Gradually add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add in the toasted coconut and mix until it is incorporated.
- Use a medium cookie scoop (1.5 tablespoons) to portion dough balls onto the prepared cookie sheets
- Bake 13-15 minutes in preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Allow the cookies to cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
