These easy to make Oatmeal Coconut Cookies have crisp edges with soft and chewy centers. Made with shredded sweetened coconut, rolled oats and staple baking ingredients, your family and friends will love these cookies!
These chewy coconut oatmeal cookies are flavorful and full of texture. The oats provide these cookies with a hearty and chewy texture and the coconut gives them a hint of tropical flavor. They're perfect for enjoying as a snack or satisfying your cravings for a sweet treat.
If you love a good chewy oatmeal cookie, you'll want to check out this recipe for Oatmeal Date Cookies, it's a favorite on this site.
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How to Make Them
These Oatmeal Coconut Cookies are made with simple ingredients and are easy to prepare. Keep in mind the dough will need to be refrigerated for about an hour to ensure thick and chewy cookies that don't over spread.
Please see the recipe card at the end of the post for ingredient amounts and complete instructions.
Ingredients Overview
- Unsalted butter: Make sure to use room temperature butter, you should be able to make an indent in the butter by pressing it with your finger. Careful not to let the butter get too soft as this will make the cookies spread more and yield a thinner crispier cookie.
- Brown and granulated (white) sugar: Brown sugar helps make these cookies nice and chewy.
- Large eggs
- Pure vanilla extract: Adds flavor.
- All-purpose flour: Gives the cookies some structure.
- Rolled oats: Rolled oats also known as old fashioned oats are best for producing a chewy cookie with lots of texture. But you can also use quick oats if that's all you have on hand.
- Coconut: I used sweetened shredded coconut for this recipe.
- Baking soda and baking powder: Used to help the cookies rise.
- Salt: A touch of salt helps to enhance all the flavors.
Steps Overview
- Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and brown and granulated sugars. Beat on medium speed until butter mixture is fluffy, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl at least once.
- Add in the eggs and vanilla, and beat until blended.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat on low until combined.
- Add the rolled oats and coconut, beat on medium until mixed in. Cover bowl and refrigerate the cookie batter for 1 hour.
- Preheat your oven and line cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Using a medium cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons), scoop dough and place on prepared baking sheets leaving about 2 inches in between cookies.
- Bake cookies until golden brown on sides, approximately 10-12 minutes. Baking time will vary depending on your oven. For cookies with a chewy texture, watch them carefully once you reach the 10 minute mark.
- Cool baked cookies on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Tip: Use a cookie scoop to portion dough for even sized cookies.
Variations
This recipe is versatile so you can customize it by adding some of your favorite add-ins. Here are some ideas of how you can switch it up:
- If you love the combination of coconut and chocolate, add 1 cup of chocolate chips to these coconut cookies.
- Add some chopped pecans to the cookie batter. Add 1 cup of lightly toasted pecans along with the coconut and rolled oats.
- Add even more tropical flavor to these cookies by adding lime zest and juice! Use the zest of one lime and 3 tablespoons of lime juice.
Storage Instructions
These coconut oatmeal cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Cookies can also be frozen in a freezer bag or an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw frozen cookies overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours.
These oatmeal cookies can also be frozen and baked later. Simply refrigerate cookie dough balls on a baking sheet in the refrigerator for a couple of hours until solid and then place them in freezer storage bags and store in the freezer.
When ready to bake, remove as many cookie dough balls as you wish from freezer and bake without thawing. Just bake for an additional minute or two.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you absolutely can! I used shredded sweetened coconut in this recipe but if you prefer, you can also use unsweetened coconut. However using unsweetened coconut will produce a less chewy and tasty cookie.
Yes, you can use coconut oil instead of butter, simply use the same amount of butter as indicated in the recipe.
Oatmeal cookies are done when the edges are turning golden. Centers should still be soft. Leave baked cookies on baking sheet for 5 minutes so they continue to set before moving to a cooling rack.
Enjoy!
More Recipes Made with Oats
- Banana Oat Smoothie
- Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Homemade Toasted Muesli
- Vanilla Almond Granola
Oatmeal Coconut Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2-1/4 cups rolled oats
- 1-1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut (200 grams)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using a hand mixer, beat butter and both sugars on medium speed until butter mixture is creamy. Make sure to stop and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl at least once.
- Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and beat on medium-high until combined.
- Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until combined. Finally, add the oats and coconut and beat just until combined.
- Cover cookie dough bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.
- Place a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop cookie dough (about 2 tablespoons) and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
- Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, about 10 to 12 minutes. Cookie tops will look slightly undone but they will continue to cook as they cool.
- Cool cookies on baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Store oatmeal coconut cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Cookies can be frozen in freezer bags or an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw cookies overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature for a couple of hours.
- Cookie dough balls can also be frozen and then stored in freezer storage bags to bake at a later time. Bake frozen cookie ball without thawing, simply add an extra minute or two to the baking time.
Jaime
Wednesday 31st of January 2024
What if I used a lot less sugar. Will it change the texture
Fida | Sweet and Savoury Pursuits
Thursday 1st of February 2024
Hello Jaime, using a lot less sugar would change the sweetness, moisture, chewiness, spread and flavor of the cookie. If you combine both the brown and granulated sugars, there is a total of 1-1/4 cup of sugar, you could try and reduce it to one cup of sugar, I would use brown sugar and keep 1/4 cup of the white sugar. If you need to reduce it more than that I would recommend using a sugar substitute, but I'm not sure how it would affect the texture and taste of the cookie. I've only ever tried the recipe the way it was written. Let me know if you give it a try!