Read the instructions below to make these crisp, coconut buttery cookies. I always reduce the sugar in my recipes because I often find baked goods far too sweet for my liking. As the name indicates, these cookies are crispy, use coconut flakes/shredded coconut, with a nice hit of butter (but not as much as the average shortbread).
One point to note: I’m an easy baker, not a precise baker. I won’t tell you exactly which type of shredded coconut to use or which brand of flour to tackle this with. Why? My baking philosophy is a little different: while most think baking is a precise science, I think of it more as guided art. After all, there are so many recipes out there. If you modify any recipe, even slightly, it probably resembles someone else’s and their baked goods came out just fine so why wouldn’t yours?
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, not packed
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup coconut flakes/shredded coconut (whatever you have on hand)
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Use: baking sheets lined with parchment paper
- Oven: 350F degrees
Step 1: Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder together, mix, and set aside.
Step 2: In a separate bowl (I use a stainless steel one), cream butter with a whisk until the colour lightens a bit, then add both sugars and cream/beat some more. They should come together in one combined chaos of goo.
Step 3: Add the vanilla extract and beat it again to incorporate.
Step 4: Add the dry flour mix in and use a spatula to combine. Add the coconut flakes at this point as well. The end result will be a combined stiff dough. If it’s a bit stiff or crumbly, keep working at the dough. You can imagine this would be a stiffer dough since there are no eggs or milk to keep it all together so it’s really just using the magic of butter to do the trick.
Step 5: Preheat your oven at this point to 350 degrees at this point. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
Step 6: Make 1 inch balls. My baking sheets allow for 3 balls X 4 rows so space yours out in similar fashion. This dough won’t spread so use this simple trick to flatten your cookies. Take the base of your measuring cups (if you have the flat bottom ones) or the bottom of a glass cup. Place a small square of parchment paper on top of each dough ball. Then press down to flatten to about 1/4 or 1/8 inch thickness (depends on your oven and how you like your cookies). Repeat for each dough ball.
Step 7: Bake 8 – 10 minutes depending on how hot your oven runs or until the edges turn golden. Let cool and enjoy!
Notes
- You can see I’m using 1/2 cup of sweetness for 1 cup of flour with 1/2 cup of butter so you know these cookies aren’t crazy sweet. I never pack down my brown sugar. If you have a sweeter tooth, you can opt to pack the brown sugar or add a bit more of each sugar.
- I use salted butter so you see this recipe doesn’t indicate the use of salt. If you use unsalted butter, you can throw in a pinch of salt to the dry mix.
- What kind of shredded coconut, you ask? Up to you, there’s different levels of flaked coconut – some more shredded than others, sweetened, unsweetened. It’s up to you. Just make sure you’re not using fresh coconut. I have no idea how that will turn out. If you use the sweetened one, that’s okay too. Just know your cookies will turn out sweeter than mine and that’s totally fine!
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