Coconut Oil White Chocolate cookies are soft and chewy with firmer edges and moist, soft, dense interiors. The white chocolate chips complement the flavor of the dough perfectly and are oozing in every bite.
I don’t know why I waited this long to make cookies with coconut oil.
Cookie baking will never be the same.
I’m no stranger to using, cooking, and baking with coconut oil. I have 40+ Coconut and Coconut Oil Recipes. I’ve used it on Roasted Vegetables and Chocolate Coconut Kale Chips. I’ve made No-Bake Coconut and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites and have baked Samoas Bars, but had never made cookies with it.
I worried the coconut oil was going to turn the cookie dough into a soupy, sloppy mess and I hate wasting time and ingredients. But curiosity got the better of me, I tried it, and I’m in coconutty lust with the results.
Normally I am a butter-only girl with cookies. The taste and richness are hard to give up, and as a baker, it lends a consistency to dough that’s difficult to replicate. Of the probably 35 cookie recipes on my site, only one uses shortening, Puffy Vanilla and Peanut Butter Chip Cookies. Ironically, they got pretty popular on Pinterest for awhile, but they aren’t my personal favorite because I miss the butter.
I sure didn’t miss the butter in these cookies. Coconut oil proves to be every bit as flavorful and rich as butter does, but in a different way. Coconut oil is not a flavor-neutral oil and anyone who says it doesn’t make your food taste like coconut has different taste buds than I do. Or they use a brand I’ve not tried.
I’ve tried many brands, including Tropical Traditions, Kelapo, Trader Joe’s, Nutiva, Nature’s Way, Spectrum, and Artisana. For these cookies I used Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Unrefined Organic Coconut Oil. The main distinctions among coconut oils, after organic versus non-organic, is in the refined versus unrefined aspect. Refined is more highly processed and generally has less coconut flavor; unrefined is processed less and has more coconut flavor. It’s been suggested that people who don’t like coconut should try refined since it’s less in-your-face.
However, I think all coconut oil, no matter the brand or type, imparts flavor. Here, the coconut oil perfumes the dough and the overall coconut flavor is palpable, but it’s in the background. It doesn’t cause me to feel like I’m eating tanning lotion or anything. It’s subtle yet present.
If you don’t like coconut or coconut oil, I won’t tell you to make these cookies. There are plenty of other cookies to try. But for anyone on the fence about coconut, who likes it, or if you love it, please make these cookies asap.
Coconut oil keeps them soft, moist, and tender. It imparts richness, fattiness, and a melt-in-your mouth quality without being greasy in the least. I’ve had greasier storebought granola bars than the cookies. And because coconut oil and the overall flavor of the dough base was just begging for a little something extra, a copious amount of white chocolate chips prominently rounds out the flavors.
I made the cookies by adapting one of my favorite cookie dough bases, the Sugar-Doodle Vanilla Cookie base. I’ve used it in Cranberry and White Chocolate Chip Cookies, Maraschino Cherry White Chocolate Cookies, and now these. It worked beautifully.
Begin by combining coconut oil with sugars, an egg, vanilla extract, and cream the ingredients until they’re soft and fluffy, about five minutes. It’s important to use coconut oil that’s softened to the consistency of softened butter. The same consistency you’d use for creaming butter with sugars and eggs in traditional cookie dough.
If your coconut oil is rock hard, microwave it in a small bowl for five or ten seconds, or just until it begins to soften. If it’s runny or melted, place it in the freezer momentarily until it firms up. A tiny amount of runniness is fine; it’s an oil and that happens. But do not use melted or purely liquid coconut oil because you can’t effectively cream a liquid; it would be like trying to cream liquid butter. Doesn’t work.
Add the flours, baking soda, and mix to just incorporate. I used a combination of bread and all-purpose flours in these cookies. I feel like a broken record saying this, but bread flour has a slightly higher protein and gluten content (11-12%) than all-purpose (10%), and that little bit of extra gluten helps create chewier baked goods with greater structure. Cookies made with bread flour are chewier and less prone to spreading while baking.
I didn’t want my cookies to spread, and figured with the coconut oil they could use all the help they could get. You could likely get away with exclusively using all-purpose, but I haven’t tried. For $4.99 and a bag of flour, you have insurance against spreading, and you can make more cookies, dinner rolls, and soft pretzels, too. Lucky you.
The dough is thick yet light, and reminds me a bit of Play-Doh. When pinched, it should hold together it’s shape and stick together, but it’s not tacky like regular chocolate chip cookie dough. If you pull off a little hunk and make a marble with it, it should hold together easily, not crumble; nor should it be oily, loose, or falling apart. If your dough isn’t holding a shape and is loose, add a tablespoon or two more flour to dry it out; or if you’ve overdone the flour, adding a teeny tiny drizzle of coconut oil will moisten it back up.
Fold in the white chocolate chips and although you could use milk or semi-sweet sweet, I think white chocolate and coconut are the perfect paring. And even though I hate nuts in baked goods, I mean, I despise pebbles in satiny dough. But if there was ever a cookie that I could really see macadamia nuts working with, it’s this one. It would be take the classic white chocolate macadamia nut cookie to new heights. But I had no intentions of putting rocks into this soft, buttery, butter-less dough.
Form the cookies into mounds that are 2.25-ounces each by weight, or just shy of one-quarter cup in size, about three heaping tablespoons of dough. The recipe only makes 15 cookies so you could just divide into fifteen equal-sized mounds. I used a cookie scoop to dig out the dough from the mixing bowl, then rolled the balls in my hands a bit to smooth them. If the white chocolate chips are falling out, just keep putting them back in and squeezing them in.
Flatten the mounds slightly. They still should be domed, but don’t keep them in perfectly round balls with tons of height because they won’t cook through properly. It’s very important to get your dough in exactly the shape you plan to bake it inbecause after you chill it, you can’t change the shape. And it goes without saying, warm Play-Doh is not suitable for baking. Don’t even think about not chilling it. Place all the mounds on a large plate, cover it with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 5 days, before baking.
Bake the cookies at 350F for 9 to 11 minutes. My dough was rock hard coming out of the refrigerator after a 3 day chill session, and I allowed it to sit on baking sheets at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking. I baked for just under 10 minutes, rotating trays midway through. Keep an eye on these and err on the lower end of the baking time range if you’re unsure. The tops should barely be set, and will be glossy and appear underdone at 9 or 10 minutes, but they firm up as they cool. Any longer than 11 minutes and you run the risk of the bottoms browning too much. Everyone’s coconut oil, oven, climate, and personal preferences are different, but they taste best when they’re pale, soft, and gooey.
The cookies are a new favorite and I can’t wait to try other cookie recipes with coconut oil rather than butter. It was just like using a stick of butter, except it smells so much better than butter. The fragrance and flavor of coconut oil isn’t over-powering. It’s just right, even for those who don’t love-love coconut oil. Scott didn’t know what was different about these cookies and couldn’t put his finger on it until I told him. Then he proceeded to inhale a few.
The cookies have chewy edges and tender, dense interiors. They’re moist, soft, and stayed soft for days. They’re oozing with white chocolate and it’s a pronounced flavor. I’m a white chocolate fiend, so that’s especially perfect.
I feel like I’m on vacation when I inhale the scent of one of these.
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Coconut Oil White Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup coconut oil, softened (softened to the consistency of soft butter; not rock hard and not runny or melted, see below)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup bread flour, all-purpose flour may be substituted and used exclusively; bread flour yields chewier cookies that will spread less and is recommended, see below
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
- 1 cup 6 ounces white chocolate chips
- ½ to 1 cup roughly chopped macadamia nuts, optional
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine coconut oil, egg, sugars, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed to cream until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Note - Coconut oil should be the consistency of soft butter like you'd use to cream with sugar and eggs in tradtional cookies. If coconut oil is rock hard, microwave it in a small bowl for 5 to 10 seconds or just until it begins to soften. If coconut oil is runny or melted, place it in the freezer momentarily until it firms up. A tiny amount of runniness is fine; it's an oil and that happens. But do not use melted or purely liquid coconut oil because you can't effectively cream a liquid; it would be like trying to cream liquid butter.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flours, baking soda, salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute. Solely using all-purpose flour will work, but the cookies will not be as chewy, may not rise as well, and may be more prone to spreading while baking. Bread flour creates chewier, puffier cookies that spread less.
- Add the white chocolate, optional nuts (I didn't use any and if using the full cup, reduce the white chocolate somewhat so the dough can hold it all) and beat momentarily to incorporate or fold in by hand.
- Using a 2-ounce or medium cookie scoop, form heaping mounds weighing 2 1/4-ounces each. This is a scant 1/4 cup of dough, or 3 heaping tablespoons; or divide dough into approximately 15 equal-sized pieces. They will look on the large side. Place dough mounds on a large plate, and slightly flatten each mound. Very important to get the dough mounds in the exact shape you want to bake them in because after chilling, flattening or re-shaping them is very difficult. Cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours; up to 5 days. Do not bake these cookies with dough that has not been properly chilled because they will spread.
- Preheat oven to 350°F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat Non-Stick Baking Mat,, parchment, or spray with cooking spray. Place dough on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart; I bake a maximum of 8 per sheet. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until tops have just set, even if slightly undercooked and glossy in the center. They firm up as they cool and I recommend the lower end of the baking range because they taste best when softer and paler. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes before moving. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Alternatively, unbaked dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
- Adapted from Cranberry and White Chocolate Chip Cookies and Sugar-Doodle Vanilla Cookies
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Coconut oil haters and doubters, listen to me. While I am completely cookoo for coconut, I have a family that has a burning hatred for the stuff. And even at the mere mention of coconut, their faces turn sour. But Averie’s recipe was far too droolworthy for me to ignore, so I made them and neglected to tell anyone what went in the cookies. The smell alone hooked them–they kept commenting about how it smelled so good and “vanilla-y” but they didn’t realize that I had used coconut oil for that distinct, nutty, sweet flavor. I am not joking when I say that I ate almost every cookie by myself and they are easily THE BEST cookies I’ve EVER had. PERIOD. My family enjoyed them, too, but basically they only got the scraps I left them. I told you I was cookoo for coconut :)
I heart you for this comment! Thank you!
“they kept commenting about how it smelled so good and “vanilla-y” but they didn’t realize that I had used coconut oil” — I couldn’t have said it better myself. It has a nutty, sweet, distinct smell; far more so than the actual taste, but it just perfumes the house and it’s heaven-sent, I agree!
I had to keep from eating the whole batch myself and tried to hide them from myself :) I don’t know if you sampled any raw dough (I sure did…and I lived) but it’s some of the best cookie dough ever! Crazy good! Thanks for making these and taking the time to come back and tell all the coconut haters they have nothing to worry about! :) xoxo
Um, yeah, there was a brief crisis in which I almost ate half of the dough. Next time, I may just make the dough and omit the eggs (and replace with milk or something) to just eat the dough plain. SO GOOD.
Also, if coconut haters still dislike this idea, please make the cookies for the heaven-sent aroma Averie and I are talking about. It’s unreal, and I have a feeling if we could bottle it, we’d make millions. And you can always ship either of us the cookies when they’re done :)
Oh wow! These look delicious! Im deffinitly going to have to give these a try, specially knowing there is coconut oil in them. The cookies just come out so much better! I as well have a cookie recipe that uses coconut oil. They are Chocolate Chunk-Chip cookies, https://saddlingupinthekitchen.weebly.com/2/post/2013/01/chocolate-chunk-chip-cookies.html
And I just made more coconut oil cookies…will blog about them next week I think!
Unfortunately, I had a problem with this recipe. The dough was so dry!!! I added a little water, then about a tbsp more coconut oil, then more water, and more water. After all of that I still had to compress each cookie into a ball by hand and then press them down or they would not spread. I think I’ll try 1/4 cup less flour next time…That being said, there will definitely be a next time! They were quite tasty! Please let me know if you think less flour will help or more liquid. I have made many of your other recipes and never had a problem. Thank you!!!
I would guess that variance in brand to brand of coconut oil is the issue. My coconut oil may have been more oily and yours more dry and that’s why the same amount of flour for me may be a bit much for you, hypothetically speaking. Unless you’re making bread, I would never add water to dough. You could have probably added another tablespoon or two of coconut oil OR reduced the flour by 2 to 4 tbsp and been fine. Minor, minor tweaks and you’re all set! Baking is part art, part science, and part looking at your ingredients in the mixing bowl and deciding how to remedy things. Sounds like in your case 1/4 less flour and maybe slightly more oil would be the ticket! LMK how things go next go-round!
Thanks! I’ll let you know how it goes :)
I actually have a jar of coconut oil in my pantry just waiting to be used up!
Thanks for the awesome recipe – I’ll be sure to make this soon. I’m out of snacks at home so I really need these cookies around!
Oooooh boy I’m excited to try these cookies! So much do I love white chocolate. I haven’t yet tried baking with coconut oil, but I think now is the time to start! I use Lou Ana All Natural Pure Coconut Oil, and it doesn’t taste like coconut at all to me (which is good because I do NOT favor coconut flavor!). I bought it because it was the cheaper coconut oil, but I was very pleased with the neutral flavor. Like I said though, I haven’t baked with it yet. Guess I’ll just have to make these cookies to test it out!! :D Thanks for the recipe, Averie!
If you try them, LMK!
Coconut oil has been finding itself into more of my baking. I love coconut flavored everything, but I honestly have never thought the oil tasted like coconut. Maybe it is the brand I use? Just a generic one from Walmart. I love how soft and puffy your cookies always look, no matter what you use!!!
Different brands vary widely in taste – I would say experiment with a few others until you find one you like (for some people, they’d actually prefer what you describe; sort of neutral & non-coconutty). Some of the organic unrefined brands are pretty strongly coconut scented I’ve found. Sometimes this is good, sometimes not as much, depending on what you’re making.
And they’re puffy from dough chilling. That is the secret, always!