Chewy Dark Chocolate, Coconut & Pecan Cookies

These cookies are just the right amount of sweet, salty, nutty and studded with big disks of melty chocolate. These Dark Chocolate Coconut & Pecan cookies are based off our favorite chocolate chip cookies recipe but loaded with lots more flavor and a little crunch! They're absolutely addicting and sure to be a fabulous addition to your favorite cookie recipes!

For another chocolatey cookie recipe, try our Dark Chocolate Dipped Pistachio Biscotti!

Ingredients

These Dark Chocolate Coconut Pecan Cookies use all the usual ingredients for cookies plus a few special mix-ins. Here's what you'll need:

• Salt - We use Diamond brand kosher salt in the cookie dough. If you're using iodized or table salt, reduce quantities by about half.
• Granulated Sugar & Brown Sugar - This sugar combination lends to these cookies perfect golden brown color, sweet flavor and chewy texture.
• Brown Butter - Brown butter is key to these cookies delicious nutty flavor! See our How To Make Brown Butter post for step by step instructions and more baking inspiration! Brown butter + pecans + coconut + chocolate = absolute HEAVEN.
  • In a pinch, you can substitute plain softened butter for this recipe.
• Pecan Halves & Pieces - Lightly toasted to bring out the flavors!
• Toasted Coconut Flakes - UNSWEETENED coconut is key here! Otherwise the dough will be too sweet and have an unpleasantly stringy texture. We use Bob's Red Mill coconut flakes.
• Dark Chocolate - When it comes to cookies, chopped chunks or chocolate disks are greater than chocolate chips. Sure, you can use regular bitter sweet chocolate chips but large hunks of dark chocolate lead to ooey gooey melty pools of chocolate that are simple irresistible. As pictured, we used regular dark chocolate melting chips (Ghirardelli makes some yummy ones), but if you can find Vahlrona's signature chocolate feves - all the better.
• Fleur de Sel - Optional but oh, so good. Topping these cookies with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt is next level divine.

How To Make Brown Butter

Brown butter makes these chocolate, pecan, and coconut loaded cookies so nutty, flavorful and delicious! The flavor of brown butter pairs SO well with the other ingredients. Making brown butter only takes one ingredient, one pan, a few minutes and is well worth the effort! Here's how:

Place sliced butter (this recipe uses unsalted butter) in a medium saucepan or skillet. We like to use a stainless steel pan with a lightly colored bottom, so we can see when our butter is golden and not burnt.

Place butter over medium heat and melt. When the butter melts, the milk solids - which will look white and foamy - will separate from the butter fat and rise to the top.

Use a whisk or rubber spatula to stir the butter, frequently. After a few minutes of cooking (the exact times will depend on your quantity of butter and cooking temperature) the white foam will start to subside.

Then, the milk solids will begin to turn a light golden color. Keep whisking and DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE BUTTER! At this stage the butter will go from barely brown to burnt in a matter of seconds. When the milk solids sink, become golden brown and the butter smells nutty, rich and aromatic: the brown butter is complete! Remove it from the heat.

Immediately transfer the brown butter to another bowl or container to stop the cooking and prevent burning. Be sure to use a rubber spatula to scrape all those delicious little brown bits from the pan into the butter. Viola!!

Using & Measuring Brown Butter for This Recipe

Now that you have delicious brown butter, what's next? Well, first off, the butter needs to be re-measured. We recommend using a kitchen scale for accuracy, but a volume measurement can also work.

WHY? When the butter is cooked into brown butter, some of the moisture inevitably evaporates. That evaporation causes the butter to decrease in weight and volume. Therefore, even if you weighed your butter to the precise 280 grams/ 2½ Cups before, browning... you still need more butter.

Once the brown butter is made it will be melted, liquid gold. (Which is perfect for pasta sauces and lobster boils!) However, for this Dark Chocolate Coconut Pecan cookies recipe, we need room-temperature solidified butter. Either make the brown butter well ahead of time (I usually have some ready-to-go in the fridge) or allow the melted butter to cool until softened.

When I need to, I pop the warm brown butter in the fridge and stir it (every ten, or so minutes) until solid but not cold and hard. A longer amount of time on the counter top works just as well.

Mixing the Dough (& Trying Not To Eat it All)

This delicious cookie recipe is quick and easy to mix up. You can make this recipe in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer or by hand with a wooden spoon and little elbow grease!

1. Start by adding softened brown butter and both sugars. On medium speed (or by hand) cream butter and sugar together until well combined.
2. Then add vanilla extract and the eggs, one at a time. Mix until combined and use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
3. Next, add in your dry ingredients. Do not over mix! To avoid over-mixing in the stand mixer, I lightly pulse the mixer on and off of it's lowest speed about 10 - 15 times or until the flour mixture is almost completely mixed in.
4. To finish the dough, add in the dark chocolate pieces, pecans and toasted coconut. Mix them in with a few additional pulses or by hand until well distributed throughout the dough.

For another scrumptious coconut and chocolate cookie recipe, make our Billionaire Alfajores with Homemade Dulce de Leche & Toasted Coconut!

Portioning and Chilling The Dough

Here's the catch. Were you expecting a catch? This cookie dough needs to be chilled at least overnight or for up to 72 hours before baking. Technically speaking, could you bake this dough right away? Yes. However, allowing this dough to chill, rest and fully absorb the flour into the butter will create the PERFECT chewy texture. Trust me. It's worth the wait.

I recommend scooping (or weighing) the cookie dough right after mixing - when it is still soft. These cookies are best when you make them bakery-style BIG. When these Dark Chocolate Pecan Coconut cookies are nice and big, they bake off to have a slightly crisp golden edge, with gooey, chewy centers.

I use a #10 ice cream scoop to portion these cookies on a sheet tray. If portioning with a scale, these cookie dough balls should be about 3 and a half ounces, or nearly 100 grams. In this case, I promise, bigger is better.

Freezing, Saving & Storing

Dark Chocolate, Pecan and Coconut cookies are perfect for making ahead of time and baking off whenever you need an indulgent gooey-centered pick-me-up! Here are our recommendations for storing:

Storing Cookie Dough

• Refrigerator - Keep the scooped cookie dough in the refrigerator, covered tightly, for up to 3 days until ready to bake.
• Freezer - This cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months! Slightly flatten each scoop of cookie dough, before chilling. Then, allow the cookie dough to chill in the refrigerator until firm. Transfer chilled scoops of cookie dough into a freezer safe bag or container and freeze. Cookies can be baked from frozen (with a longer baking time). However, we recommend thawing cookie dough first, in the fridge or counter top, for more even baking.

Storing Baked Cookies

• Room Temperature - Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container on the countertop for several days. (But they rarely last that long in our house!) We like to warm our cookies in the microwave for a few seconds before enjoying.
• Freezer - You can also store the baked cookies, twice-wrapped in the freezer for up to one month. Thaw completely at room temperature.

More Baking Recipes

For our entire collection of scratch baking recipes, check out our Sweets & Desserts page!