Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough April 21, 2013, recipe adapted from The Well Traveled Wife

Here's a slightly different twist on the traditional chocolate chip cookie: coconut lovers, put on your running shoes and prepare to do some laps in case you want more than one.  This is different than the usual chocolate chip cookie, not just because of the addition of coconut but also because it uses coconut oil instead of butter.  I've never baked with coconut oil before so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  At a minimum, I guessed the cookies wouldn't spread very much because coconut oil is somewhat solid like shortening and anything with shortening instead of butter has less spread.  And yep, I was right on that one as these stayed nice and chubby.  By my math, chubby in a cookie = good.

The coconut oil has another purpose in the recipe in that it imparts - wait for it - yes, a coconut undertone to the cookie that's achieved even without adding the coconut itself to the dough as a mix-in.  I got a jar of coconut oil by that enabler of online shopping known as amazon, coupled with The Super Enabler known as prime membership and free two-day shipping.  However, if you're in a Trader Joe's, turns out they also carry it for even better instant gratification.  I saw a neat row of jars on the shelves above the refrigerated section in my Trader Joe's, near where the slabs of chocolate and plastic containers of ready-made cookies hang out.

If you love coconut, you'll probably like this cookie.  The nice thing about baking with coconut oil, at least in this recipe, is that it imparts that subtle coconut undertone but doesn't taste artificial.  I don't bake with coconut extract because it tastes artificial to me but I had no problem with the coconut oil in this cookie.  I still added coconut itself to the dough for both the taste and the chewy texture but if you left it out, you'd still get that coconut flavor from the oil.  This also wasn't greasy or leave a bad mouthfeel as some baked goods made with shortening sometimes do.  Overall, a nice change from the traditional chocolate chip cookie.

 

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 cup + 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips   
1.5-2 cups shredded coconut 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray a cookie sheet, or line with a silpat.  
2. In a mixing bowl, use a mixer to beat the the coconut oil and brown sugar.  Add in the eggs and beat until fluffy.  Add in the vanilla extract. 
3. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder with whisk.  Mix the flour mixture into the coconut oil mixture a little bit at a time with a wooden spoon until all the flour is incorporated.  Add in the chocolate chips + coconut and mix well.  
4. Drop by small rounded spoons onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 8 - 9 minutes or until slightly browned around the edges.