No-Butter Coconut Oatmeal Cookies
YAYYYYY - cookies! Regular cookies. Not Passover cookies. Because passover is over. And we're back with our regularly scheduled, leavened, and flour-packed recipes *clap clap clap*
I hope you like coconut. Because today I present to you these coconut cookies. No-butter coconut oatmeal cookies. An impeccable combo, coconut and oatmeal is (are?).
And I know that you might be thinking, "oatmeal cookies without chocolate chunks? Or any type of chocolate?!"
And that thought process is understandable, especially knowing my history of posting loads of cookies and bars packed with chocolate chunks. But this time, just this once, I felt like skipping the chocolate. And all I can say is that once you taste one of these cookies, you'll understand why.
I'm not necessarily the biggest fan of coconut. I don't hate it. But I don't love it.
But I've come to realize that I like sweetened, shredded coconut much more than I like unsweetened, shredded coconut. Not necessarily because of the sweeter flavor of the former, but more because of its chewier texture. Unsweetened coconut tends to be dry and crunchy. Sweetened coconut is soft and chewy. YUMMMMMMY.
So yep, you guessed it - these no-butter coconut oatmeal cookies use sweetened coconut.
And oats. I've also come to realize that I prefer quick oats to rolled oats in my oatmeal cookies. I guess I'm really not into that whole dry, crunchy thing, be it with unsweetened coconut or with rolled oats. Quick oats are softer and chewier. Again - YUMMMMMMY.
And right again - these cookies call for quick oats as opposed to rolled oats.
About the no-butter part. Coconut oil replaces butter in these cookies. Duh. We're talking about COCONUT cookies here.
I've mentioned this many times, but I actually prefer coconut oil to butter (unless we're talking about brown butter, which is a whole different story) in my cookies.
So really, I didn't only use coconut oil in these cookies just because they're coconut cookies, but also because coconut oil is amazing and gives cookies so much rich flavor and awesome texture.
Do you see how thiiiiiiiiiick these coconut oatmeal cookies are? These are some of the thickest cookies I've ever created. Thick. And dense. And chewy. And soft. Just how I like my cookies.
And the flavor. Oats add that hearty, rich, earthy flavor, and the coconut adds a sweet, tropical taste that's very awesome. A great contrast, if I do say so myself.
I'm telling you, you don't need (or even want) chocolate chips in these cookies. There's already so much wonderful flavor and texture from the oats and coconut without it. The chocolate chunks would just interfere.
Oh, and there's no need to refrigerate the dough before baking these no-butter cookies. They come out so nice and round and thick on their own, so no fridge-time is necessary.
This recipe, just like the last few I've posted, is super quick and easy. Melt the coconut oil, whisk it with the wet ingredients, add in the dry, and you're done.
Thick. Soft. Chewy. Rich. Flavorful. Easy. Delicious. Addictive. Das all.
no-butter coconut oatmeal cookies
Yield: about 20-22 cookies
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sweetened, shredded coconut
1/2 cup quick oats
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together the melted coconut oil and sugars with a rubber spatula. Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix until smooth.
Pour flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt right over wet ingredients and mix everything together until just combined. Stir in coconut and oats last. Dough should be thick and dryish.
Round pieces of dough between palms and space out onto baking sheet. Bake cookies for 9-10 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden brown. Let cookies firm up on sheets for 10 minutes before moving them.
