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Photograph of Toasted Coconut and Brown Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chips

Toasted Coconut and Brown Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chips

These Toasted Coconut and Brown Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chips are a celebration of the timeless and classic flavour combination of chocolate and coconut.

Makes 16 - 18

Course afternoon tea, Morning Coffee, Snack, treat
Keyword Brown butter, Chocolate, coconut, Cookies
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Author Susan

Ingredients

For the cookies:

  • 125g unsalted butter
  • 100g desiccated coconut
  • 100g soft brown sugar
  • 75g caster sugar
  • ½ teaspoon fine salt 
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 20ml milk
  • 200g plain/all-purpose flour 
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder 
  • 200g milk chocolate, chopped into chunks - or use white or dark chocolate if you prefer

For topping cookies:

  • 20g desiccated coconut
  • extra chunks of chocolate - 3 or 4 per cookie

Instructions

  1. Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.

  2. Around an hour before you make want to bake the cookies, brown the butter: this must be done at least 1 hour before but can be made up to 3 days in advance. Chop the butter into squares and place in a saucepan. Heat over a moderate heat, stirring from time to time, until the butter turns brown. To read more about browning butter, please see here.

  3. Pour into a mixing big enough to make the cookie dough in. Let it cool a little and then pop it in the fridge to harden.

  4. Secondly toast the coconut: heat a frying pan over a moderate heat and add the desiccated coconut. Cook, stirring from time to time, until the coconut turns a light brown. Keep a close eye on it; the coconut can burn very easily.

  5. Tip the coconut in a bowl to ensure the coconut does not carry on cooking. Set aside to cool.

  6. Make the cookie dough: when the butter has hardened in the fridge, remove it and beat with an electric whisk until lighter and fluffy.

  7. Add both of the sugars and the salt and beat again until fluffy. This should take 3-4 minutes. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure it mixes evenly.

  8. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and add the egg, milk and vanilla extract. Beat again with an electric whisk until thoroughly mixed.

  9. Add the flour and baking powder to the butter mixture. Either beat with an electric whisk on the slowest speed (to avoid a cloud of flour covering your kitchen!) or mix in with a wooden spoon. Do not over mix.

  10. Cut the chocolate into chunks and set 4 - 5 chunks aside to use later. Add the chocolate to the mixing bowl with the toasted coconut.. Fold in.

  11. Use an ice cream scoop to divide the mixture into balls, roughly 50g each – you should make around 17 cookies. If you prefer smaller cookies use a smaller scoop to give you 30g balls of cookie dough. Place, spread out, on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment.

  12. The final cookie is often devoid of chocolate chunks – add the chunks you set aside earlier and stick them into the base of the last cookie.

  13. Add the toppings: roll the top of each dough ball in desiccated coconut – you do not need to toast this coconut as it will toast as it cooks.

  14. Stick 3 - 4 chunks chocolate into the top of each dough ball.

  15. If you want to freeze any uncooked, now is the time. Spread out on baking parchment and freeze. As soon as the dough balls are solid, they can be transferred into labelled freezer bags or containers. Alternatively, you can store them covered in the fridge for up to 3 days and then bake them when you are ready

  16. A few minutes before you want to cook your cookies, preheat oven to Fan Oven 160°C/180°C/350°F/Gas 4 and line your baking trays with baking parchment if necessary.

  17. Place the cookies spread out on baking sheets and bake in a pre-heated oven for:

    - 14 – 15 minutes for larger 50g cookies.

    - 11 - 12 minutes for smaller 30g cookies

  18. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Recipe Notes

Equipment:

  • Kitchen scales and measuring spoons
  • Electric whisk and mixing bowl
  • Ice cream scoop
  • Chopping board and knife
  • Baking sheets lined with baking parchment, if necessary

Softening brown sugar:

Have you ever taken soft brown sugar out of the cupboard and found it was rock solid? If this has happened to you and you need to know how to fix it using the microwave rather than a hammer, please see here.

Weighing the ingredients:

You can either weigh your ingredients and then add them to the mixing bowl or you can weigh your ingredients directly into your mixing bowl. Simply put the bowl on the scales and zero the scales. Make sure you remember to zero them in between adding each new ingredient.

Can I freeze these cookies?

One of the wonderful things about this recipe (and most cookies in general, to be fair) is that you can make a big batch and freeze them uncooked but oven ready. Simply place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment, cover loosely with cling film and place in the freezer. As soon as the dough balls are solid, they can be transferred into labelled freezer bags or containers.

They can then be cooked directly from frozen; you just need to allow 1 – 2 minutes extra cooking time. Freshly cooked warm cookies on demand – what’s not to like?