Lately, I’ve been obsessed with all things coconut. It has become a term and a lifestyle for me. I’ve been wanting to experiment with coconut in my baking, but unfortunately, the old and unreliable oven in our rental place won’t allow me to make a coconut cheesecake just yet. I’ll have to save that recipe for when we move into our own home, which hopefully will be soon!Instead, I decided to try making coconut cream cheese cookies for the first time. I stumbled upon this delightful recipe on Cooks Illustrated (CI), a source that I absolutely adore. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a weekend retreat at their test kitchens, spending the entire time baking, creating new recipes, tweaking old ones, and perfecting brand new ones?Cooking Notes: I added some pecans on top of the cookies to give them a nice crunch. Just a little something extra that I felt this cookie needed. Keep in mind that these cookies bake quickly. They should only turn a light brown color, not golden brown, as they tend to burn easily. (Note: My personal changes are indicated in parentheses.)
coconut-cream cheese cookies
adapted from BakingBlonde (original recipe from Cooks Illustrated)
print recipe
INGREDIENTS
2 cups plus 3 TB all-purpose flour
1/2 ts baking soda
1/2 ts salt
12 TB (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled until room temp
5-6 oz. cream cheese softened (I used 8 oz)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 ts vanilla extract
2 cups coconut toasted (I used 2 & 1/2 cups)
INSTRUCTIONS :
Adjust oven racks to upper & lower -middle positions & heat oven to 325. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread coconut evenly on baking sheet.
Once oven is preheated place coconut in oven. Bake for 10-20 minutes stirring every 5minutes for even toasting. Remove from oven when light brown. Do NOT burn. Remove from oven. Allow to cool completely before adding to dough.
Re-line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk dry ingredients together; set aside. With electric mixer, or by hand mix butter and cream cheese together with a mixer until smooth. Add sugars and beat until thoroughly combined.
Beat in vanilla until combined.
Add dry ingredients & beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in cooled coconut.
Chill dough overnight.
When ready to bake cookies preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Drop dough onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 12-14 minutes or until edges are set and bottoms are light brown. Do NOT overbake!
Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking and place on wire rack to cool.
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