These Coconut Pecan cookies are soft, melt in your mouth and loaded with pieces of pecan and shredded coconut! They’re the perfect dessert – don’t forget a big glass of milk!
This recipe was originally published in April 2020 – I’ve since updated the photos and also tweaked the recipe slightly but adjusting the bake time. Enjoy!
Okay, so, hear me out before you denounce me for adding pecans to my cookies.
I frequent my favorite NC grocery store, Harris Teeter. I found these amazing fresh baked cookies in their bakery section.
Can you guess the flavor? Yup, coconut pecan. I bought them and they were scarfed down in a second at the workshop. They were insanely soft, delicious and I loved the texture additions of the coconut and pecans.
So I knew that I wanted to re-make them for my blog eventually. So here we are! I’m so excited to share these with you today.
Why You’re Going to Love these Cookies:
Well, cookies in general are just the greatest. These in particular are lovely. They are super soft and gooey on the inside but retain a slightly crispy edge aka my perfect cookie.
They are super buttery and have the perfect balance of salty/sweet thanks to using salted butter + a pinch of salt in the dough.
The sweetened shredded coconut has the BEST texture – you definitely get that deliciously sweet coconut flavor that you’re hoping for in there.
The pecans…yes, nuts in a cookie. They add such a good crunch that is necessary in this soft, melt in your mouth cookie.
The pecans add a sweet earthy tone and add a richness to the cookie that otherwise wouldn’t be present.
Did I mention these cookies are insanely simple to make?! Yes, one bowl baking goodness! No chilling the dough, no insane ingredient that you probably don’t have in your pantry.
They bake up super quickly and while of course, maybe you should let them cool for like, 10 minutes, you can still just go for it while they’re warm on the pan because we have no rules during this crazy time!
Ingredients You’ll Need:
- Melted salted butter – you can use unsalted if preferred.
- White granulated sugar + dark brown sugar – the combo of both sugars yields the perfect cookie!
- Sweetened shredded coconut – the best texture!
- Pecan pieces – the pecans are so perfect in this cookie!
- All purpose flour – a must have to bind the dough together.
- Baking soda – to help these cookies puff up and rise!
- Vanilla extract – for flavor!
- Egg – of course! Only one needed in this recipe though.
Baking Tips for Coconut Pecan Cookies:
Use pecan pieces, this will ensure that you’re not getting like a huge pecan in every single bite – but bits throughout the cookie here and there.
I would definitely suggest using a hand mixer or stand mixer if you have it. This will save you from a major arm workout!
Fold in the shredded coconut and pecan pieces last! Gently, making sure that you don’t overmix the final cookie dough.
My sweet spot in baking these cookies was 9 minutes. They might look a little underdone in the middle, but if you leave them to cool ON the warm pan after you pull them out of the oven, they will cook a little longer. Trust me, you don’t want to overbake these!
Ingredient Substitutions:
If you must, you can sub walnuts for the pecans. I’m positive that the pecans have a more delicate and sweet flavor – but things like walnuts or macadamia nuts would work in place if you don’t have pecans readily available to you.
Since there is already quite a bit of sugar in this cookie recipe, you can swap out the sweetened shredded coconut for unsweetened shredded coconut – this will cut down some of that sugar if you’re trying to watch it.
In most baking recipes, you can usually swap butter for coconut oil one for one – I personally have not tried that in this recipe, but I’m assuming it would work and contribute to an added layer of coconut flavor.
Overall, these cookies are just so dang good. Dip ‘em in milk. Eat ‘em with ice cream. Eat it right off the pan – you do you and ENJOY. XO – Haylie
Did you enjoy this recipe? Here are a few more cookie recipes you might like:
Salted Pretzel Brownie Cookies
White Chocolate Cranberry Shortbread Cookies
Chocolate Drizzle Peanut Butter Cookies
Thank you so much for following along here, friends! Want to see more? Be sure to follow ourbalancedbowl on Instagram and tag me with your photo if you end up making a recipe! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the Our Balanced Bowl Facebook page! I always love to see your re-creations! If you do make a recipe, it would make my whole day if you were to rate and comment so I can get your feedback! Lots of love! – Haylie
Coconut Pecan Cookies
These Coconut Pecan cookies are soft, melt in your mouth and loaded with pieces of pecan and shredded coconut! They’re the perfect dessert - don’t forget a big glass of milk!
Ingredients
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) melted salted butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 1/3 cup pecan pieces (chopped pecans)
- 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
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In a large bowl, melt the butter and let it cool off for a few minutes, you don't want it to be steaming hot. Add in the granulated and dark brown sugar and using a mixer, mix to combine.
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Add in the vanilla extract and egg and beat until combined and fully incorporated - I find that's best to beat this on low speed.
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Add the dry ingredients: the all purpose flour, baking soda and pinch of salt. Using your mixer, combine the dough until combined.
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Add in the shredded coconut and pecan pieces and fold in gently with a wooden spoon until combined.
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Using a cookie scoop or your hands, roll the cookies into about 1 and 1/2 tablespoon sized dough balls - this recipe makes anywhere from 12-15 (depending on how big you want your cookies to be!)
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Add either a silicon mat or a parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Place the cookies a few inches apart from each other on the pan.
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Bake for 9-10 minutes and then pull out. They *might* look underdone, but you don't want to overbake these! They may still look gooey in the middle - but let them cool on the warm pan for an additional 10-15 minutes and they will continue to cook more. Move to a cooling rack and let finish cooling and then enjoy!
Recipe Notes
You can substitute light brown sugar for dark brown - I just preferred the extra molasses in the dark brown sugar.
You can also substitute unsweetened shredded coconut for sweetened to cut back on the sugar.
If the dough is too sticky or sticking to your hands when rolling, you can add in a bit more flour.
Coconut pecan, yuuuum. I’ve got coconut pecan granola on the blog and it’s one of my favorites, so I know I’d love these two combined into a cookie! We could all use a few cookies these days, right!?
The combo is out of this world! I’ll have to check out that granola recipe! YUM!
Can you kindly tell me what size do you make the dough balls? Like how much dough for each. This would have a big impact on the cooking time. Over the years I’ve learned that if I measure out the dough for each cookie I get much better and consistent results:) I personally like 1 1/2 Tablespoon size for most cookies (I think thats equivalent to a medium cookie scoop?) Thanks
Hi Janet! Thank you for your comment!! I absolutely agree with you – I apologize for not putting that detailed info in the recipe..usually I do about the same amount, about 1 and 1/2 tablespoon size cookies!! I definitely agree that it helps in consistency and delicious results each time. I would also make sure they are a few inches apart on the baking sheet 🙂 Just added that info in the recipe card! I hope you enjoy these cookies – happy baking to you!! 🙂 – Haylie
How many calories in one ihave to watch my sugar
Hi Rosemarie, I’m not sure how many calories are in these cookies. You can always punch in the listed ingredients into an online calorie counter and get the nutritional information that way 🙂 These are surely delicious though and I hope you do try them! 🙂 – Haylie
Made these cookies this evening”………..”DELICIOUS
Yay! So glad you enjoyed them, Peggy! Merry Christmas!!
Great cookies, easy to make. I use a smaller scoop and get many more smaller cookies. I would suggest you list the ingredients in the order they are used to make it easier to follow the steps!
Thank you so much for the feedback, Patti! So glad you enjoyed the cookies!! Happy baking to you!