Coconut Cream Cheese Cookies have everything you're looking for! Made with shredded coconut, cream cheese and butter, they're chewy, buttery, totally addictive and will forever damage your self-control.
These cream cheese cookies are as good for summer as these fudgy matcha cookies! Looking for more coconut recipes? My coconut granola is perfect for breakfast, as are these coconut flour waffles.
And my coconut shortbread bars are as good and easy as these cookies!
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🥥Why bake this recipe
The combo coconut plus sugar is instant happiness, and cream cheese with butter doesn't fall too far behind. So why not bake something with those ingredients? To make everything perfect, why not make bite sized cookies, and eat it like popcorn?
Theses mini coconut cream cheese cookies are:
- Crispy on the edges, and made with no eggs like these sequilhos;
- A fast recipe: you don’t need to chill the dough;
- An amazing homemade gift: they’re heaven for every coconut lover!
- Perfect for a beginner baker: they’re very easy to make!
📃Ingredients and substitutions
This recipe uses simple ingredients you can find in any grocery store:
- All-purpose flour. Use white all-purpose flour.
- Sugar. Granulated white sugar or caster sugar work for this recipe.
- Cream cheese. Use cold, unsalted and unflavored cream cheese.
- Butter. Butter needs to be unsalted and cold.
- Shredded coconut. Use unsweetened shredded coconut.
- Vanilla extract. Use extract, and not vanilla flavor, for the best taste.
- Salt. Use fine sea salt.
🥄How to make them
This is a super simple one-bowl coconut cookies.
Start by preheating the oven, 350°F. This recipe doesn’t ask for chilling time (like my easy no chill chocolate chip cookies), so we’re aiming to bake as soon as the cookies are shaped.
Step 1. In a food processor, add butter, cream cheese, sugar, all-purpose flour, unsweetened shredded coconut, salt and vanilla extract.
Step 2. Pulsate until ingredients are combined and dough is formed.
Don't have a food processor? Don't worry, you can make this recipe without it! Combine butter and cream cheese with the help of a fork or pastry cutter. Add the sugar, all-purpose flour, unsweetened shredded coconut and coconut extract and mix until dough is formed.
Step 3. Scoop ½ tablespoon of dough and, using your hands, shape it into a ball.
Step 4. Place shaped cookies into a baking sheet, each about 1 inch apart.
Step 5. Bake for 13 minutes, or until the edges are golden. Let the cookies cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before placing them on a cooling rack.
🍪Tips for success
Don’t overmix the dough: mix it just until ingredients are combined and there are no dry spots left.
You can mix all ingredients by hand, or you can use a food processor to make it quicker.
Chilling the dough will give you taller cookies that will barely spread. If you're looking for extra thick cookies, chill the dough for 2 hours.
Don’t over bake these cookies, or they won’t be soft and chewy! Take them out of your oven when the edges look just golden.
🙋🏻♀️Questions you might have
For this cookie recipe, I would stick with unsweetened shredded coconut. Using sweetened shredded coconut might give you a too sweet cookie.
Yes, you can freeze cookie dough! Freeze it already shaped, and when baking, do it with dough still frozen. You might need an extra minute or two of baking time.
Yes, you can use flaked or shredded coconut for this recipe. Just make sure to use unsweetened.
🫙Storing and freezing
After cookies are cooled, store at room temperature, in a cookie jar, or any jar with a lid. They keep for up to two weeks if stored correctly.
For freezing, it's best to freeze unbaked dough. Shape the dough into balls, placing them on a baking sheet. Freeze for about 1 hour before transferring the balls to a freezer safe bag. Store in your freezer for up to 3 months.
When baking frozen dough, you might need an extra minute or two of baking time.
If you tried these Coconut Cream Cheese Cookies, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below!
📖 Recipe
Coconut Cream Cheese Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoon butter
- 4 tablespoon cream cheese
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, rack in the middle.
- In a food processor, add butter, cream cheese, sugar, all-purpose flour, unsweetened shredded coconut and vanilla extract.
- Pulsate until ingredients are combined and dough is formed.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or a silicone mat.
- Scoop ½ tablespoon of dough and, with your hands, shape it into a ball. Place in the lined baking sheet, each one about 1 inch apart. Repeat until there’s no dough left.
- Bake for 13 minutes, or until edges are lightly golden.
- Let the cookies cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before placing them on a cooling rack.
Laura
These were amazing! We couldn't stop eating till they were finished!