Holiday season is the time for sharing and Peta of Peta Eats is sharing a dozen cookies, some classics and some of her own, from all over the world with us.
While Peta shared a dozen cookie recipes with us, our challenge for the month was to choose one of the recipes to make!
I chose to make Chocolate Coconut Cookies! This recipe came via Baking Glory and is a delicious chocolate cookie with a coconut macaroon filling. I did have a little issue with the dough, so I had to change the way I formed the cookie. The cookie dough is supposed to be formed like a purse to hold the filling. While I formed my cookies this way, they didn’t hold their shape well during baking. You will see in my pictures below how I formed the cookies and what they looked like after being baked, but I have to say that I gave up! I took pictures after baking a dozen cookies, then with the rest of the dough, I just made thumbprint cookies! That was easier and they still tasted the same- no matter how they looked 
Chocolate Coconut Cookies
Recipe lightly adapted from Baking Glory
Coconut Filling:
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
2 1/4 cups sweetened shredded coconut
Cookie dough:
1 3/4 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
To make the coconut filling:
In a medium-sized bowl, cream together (either by hand or with a hand-held mixer) the cream cheese and sugar. Add in the egg yolk and vanilla bean paste. Stir in the shredded coconut. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
To make the cookie dough:
In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add in the egg and mix until well combined. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in the flour mixture (the cookie dough will be stiff).
To make the thumbprint cookies:
Use a small-sized ice cream scoop (or a tablespoon), scoop the dough and roll it into a ball. Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, and using your thumb, create a well in the middle of the dough. Place a teaspoon-sized amount of the coconut filling into the well of the cookie.
Bake in a preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until the cookies are set. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, move the cookies onto cooling racks and let cool completely. Enjoy!
How the cookies looked when I formed the dough around the filling…
how the cookies looked when I made them as thumbprint cookies!
Made with love, not calories!
Quick thinking on the thumbprint shape! These look great.
This was a fun challenge.
Cher,
Thank you! It was a fun challenge! I’m looking forward to trying more of the recipes.
Fantastic job on this challenge! Your chocolate coconut cookies look so delicious!
Thank you! The Daring Bakers’ challenges are always a lot of fun!
Hey, holding their shape or not, I bet they were DELICIOUS. And great solution, too
Shelley, They were delicious! Making them into thumbprint cookies was an easy way to solve my issues!
I like the rustic look and the flavor combination sounds mouthwatering. Well done!
Thank you! Chocolate and coconut do taste great together!
I prefere thumbprint shape, great job on the challenge!
Thank you! The thumbprint shape was much easier to make!
Those do look like hard cookies to shape, but your idea of making them thumbprints was smart! No matter how they were formed, they still look good, and I bet they tasted even better!
Thanks Jenni! You’re right- they still tasted good, regardless of how they looked!
The chocolate cookies look great. I have read that several people struggled with the shapping of the cookies as well. I would hope they taste as wonderful as they look.
Thank you Kim! They are a delicious cookie! Even though the dough didn’t hold its shape as intended, they were well worth the effort (and design change)!!