Learn how to make the best coconut butter cookies with this easy recipe. These butter cookies are loaded with finely shredded coconut, chocolate chips, and toffee bits for the ultimate kitchen sink version of buttery shortbread cookies.
These coconut shortbread cookies are very buttery with a delightfully crisp texture and a little chew courtesy of the shredded coconut and slightly higher sugar content of traditional shortbread. These butter cookies are a variation of the kitchen sink cookie, which we've also explored in cakes via Christina Tosi's compost pound cake.
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Ingredients
The beauty of these buttery coconut shortbread cookies is that they are made from pantry items and butter. These are eggless cookies, which makes them vegetarian-friendly for those who don't eat eggs!
- butter—I tested this recipe with unsalted butter. If using salted butter, you may want to adjust the salt.
- sugar—I've tested this recipe with all granulated sugar and with a combination of granulated and light brown sugar (50/50). It all works, but I like the clean, sweet taste of white granulated sugar here so that the add-ins (coconut, chocolate chips, and toffee bits) can shine
- salt—I bake with Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using table salt, add half the amount or the cookies may be too salty!
- vanilla—these butter cookies have two full teaspoons of vanilla extract for the most flavour. If using artificial, you may want to use less
- flour—I always bake with bleached all-purpose flour though you may be able to use unbleached
- coconut—use finely shredded coconut, the kind that is great for macaroons (preferably unsweetened)
- chocolate chips—I prefer to bake these with mini chocolate chips so make rolling and cutting the cookies much easier. Big chocolate chips would be too bulky.
- toffee bits—toffee bits are sometimes referred to as Heath bits or Skor bits. They are tiny chopped-up pieces of crunchy toffee bar.
Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
With shortbread cookie cutouts, you have to be very careful about making changes because these changes may lead to your cookies spreading as they bake.
- Coconut: If you don't like coconut, you can try to replace it with ground almond. I think this should work though I have not tested this combination
- Chocolate chips: use mini chocolate chips. I love these cookies with dark chocolate chips, but mini white chocolate chips would be very tasty (and quite different)
- Toffee bits: Skor and Heath bars are usually coated in chocolate but these are not. Still, you could finely chop a toffee chocolate bar if you can't find toffee bits.
How to Make Butter Cookies with Coconut and Chocolate Chips
To make these buttery coconut shortbread cookies, you will use the creaming mixing method. I prefer to do this in a stand mixer, which does a better job of creaming the butter until fluffy, especially in the colder winter months, where room temperature tends to be cooler and the butter more firm.
Step 1—Start by making the butter cookie dough by creaming together the butter, sugar and salt (image 1) until fluffy and light before adding the vanilla (image 2), then stir in the flour and coconut (image 3) and finally the toffee bits and chocolate chips (image 4). Let the mixer run on low until the dough comes together and it's evenly mixed, but still a little crumbly.
Step 2—Split the dough into two equal pieces (roughly 365 grams each) and transfer each half to a sheet of plastic wrap (image 5) and use your hands to shape the dough into disks (image 6) before wrapping and refrigerating until firm.
Step 3—Roll out the chilled cookie dough to about ¼ inch thick using a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface (image 7), then cut out into cookies using cookie cutters (image 8). I used snowflake cookie cutters.
Step 4—Transfer the cookies to parchment-lined sheet pans (image 9) spacing them out evenly. I fit 8 to 10 cookies per half-sheet pan. Bake until the edges are golden brown (image 10).
Top Cutout Cookie Tip
To ensure cutout cookies keep their shape when baked. Chill the cutouts before baking them. I like to roll out the two disks of dough and cut out all the cookies at once, placing them on smaller cookie sheets. I chill the cutout cookies for 15 to 30 minutes until very firm, then transfer them to half-sheet pans one batch at a time.
Baking cookies with toffee bits will inevitably lead to some blowouts where the toffee bits on the edge of the cookie melt, distorting the shape a little. You can use the tip of a mini offset spatula to gently push the edges back in, fixing the shape a little when the cookies are still hot and delicate.
More Christmas Baking Ideas
Of course, there are other festive Christmas cookies you can make. My faves include:
If you tried this recipe for the best coconut butter cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
📖 Recipe
Toffee Chocolate Coconut Butter Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 173 grams unsalted butter room temperature
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 10 mL pure vanilla extract
- 220 grams bleached all-purpose flour
- 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
- 90 grams mini chocolate chips
- 90 grams finely shredded unsweetened coconut or regular shredded coconut finely ground in a mini food processor
- 75 grams toffee bits
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, and salt. Add the vanilla extract and mix it in, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the flour and coconut, and mix the dough until it is crumbly.
- Dump in the mini chocolate chips and toffee bits, and mix on low until the dough clumps together.
- Split the dough in two, and flatten each half into a disk. Wrap and chill them for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 350 ºF (175 °C). Line half-sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Working with one disk of cookie dough at a time, roll it to about ¼ inch thick (~6.5 mm). If it cracks, just press it back together. Cut with snowflake or star cookie cutters and transfer to the baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes, or until the edges begin to turn golden brown. Let cookies cool for 10 minutes on the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- For the best texture and to make cutting out the cookies easier, please use mini chocolate chips and toffee bits if you can. Regular chocolate chips are too bulky.
- Use finely shredded coconut (like for macaroons) for these cookies, again to make cutting out the cookies neater and easier.
- You can replace the mini dark chocolate chips with mini white chocolate chips if you can find them.
- You can try replacing the shredded coconut with ground almond, but this may affect the texture and will require some testing first.
- I have tested this recipe with all granulated sugar and also half granulated, half light brown sugar. Both work great!
- Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.
- If the toffee bits melt and spread along the edges, you can gently push them back using a mini offset spatula when the cookies are hot.
Nutrition
Hershey's CHIPITS offered me financial compensation to develop a recipe with their line of chocolate & flavoured chips.
Eldon says
My favourite flavour is the milk chocolate Chipits
maria says
My fave is the regular milk chocolate for chocolate chip cookies
Meg @ Sweet Twist says
I love the skor bits... I put them in everything cookies, Apple cake.. Such a good addition to any dessert really.
Awesome cookies!
roger simmons says
Semi Sweet and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
Andrea says
My favourite is semi-sweet chocolate used to make hello dollies.
Cassey C says
My favourite is the semi-sweet chocolate chips and I would use it to make cookies