These high altitude toasted coconut pecan cookies are thick, soft and chewy, frosted with fluffy vanilla buttercream and crunchy coconut flakes.
You might also love this carrot coconut bundt cake, coconut frosted fudge brownies, and homemade coconut cream pie.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Soft for Days. The soft, chewy texture of the cookies with the nuttiness of the pecans and sweet coconut is the perfect combination.
Fun Holiday Cookie. If making these for Easter, you can decorate the top of the cookies with Cadbury mini eggs for a colorful and festive touch.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Coconut. I love to use “natural” unsweetened coconut flakes for my baking. It’s really so superior in both flavor and appearance to shredded sweetened coconut.
- Pecans. To complement the flavor of the coconut, I also add chopped pecans to the cookie dough.
- Vanilla Buttercream. For a sweet finish, and to give the coconut on top something to stick to, I frosted these toasted pecan coconut cookies with vanilla buttercream. As an alternative to the buttercream, you could also dip your cookies in icing, then sprinkle with the coconut.
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 300 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spread the coconut and pecans on a baking sheet, and toast in the oven for about 4-5 minutes, until the coconut is golden brown. Set aside to cool slightly, and roughly chop the pecans.
- In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar, until well combined. Then whisk in the vanilla extract and the egg, until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda, until everything is evenly distributed.
- Add the flour mixture, chopped pecans and coconut to the wet ingredients, and stir everything together with a spatula until you have a soft dough.
- Use a large cookie scoop (about 2 tbsp capacity) to scoop 12 portions of dough, then slightly flatten each dough ball with the palm of your hand. (If the dough seems too warm and soft, you can flatten the cookies after chilling the dough.)
- Cover the dough balls with plastic wrap, and chill for 25 minutes while you preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Space the chilled cookies several inches apart on the baking sheet, baking six at a time, and keeping the rest refrigerated until needed. Bake the cookies for about 12-15 minutes, until the edges are set and light golden brown, and the centers look ever so slightly underdone.
- Tip: For perfectly round cookies, use a round cookie cutter that’s larger than the circumference of the baked cookies to “scoot” it around the hot cookies, pulling in any uneven edges.
- Cool for several minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
- Make 1 recipe Vanilla Buttercream.
- Spread the top of the cooled cookies with the buttercream, then press the frosted cookies against the coconut.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
I’ve only tested this recipe with unsweetened coconut. If you use sweetened shredded coconut, your cookies may be too sweet, unless you slightly reduce the sugar.
Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.
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High Altitude Toasted Coconut Pecan Cookies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup "natural" unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1 cup pecan halves
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- â…“ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¾ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp baking soda
Buttercream
- 1 recipe Vanilla Buttercream
- 1 cup "natural" unsweetened coconut flakes
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 300 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spread the coconut and pecans on a baking sheet, and toast in the oven for about 4-5 minutes, until the coconut is golden brown. Set aside to cool slightly, and roughly chop the pecans.
- In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar, until well combined. Then whisk in the vanilla extract and the egg, until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda, until everything is evenly distributed.
- Add the flour mixture, chopped pecans and coconut to the wet ingredients, and stir everything together with a spatula until you have a soft dough.
- Use a large cookie scoop (about 2 tbsp capacity) to scoop 12 portions of dough, then slightly flatten each dough ball with the palm of your hand. (If the dough seems too warm and soft, you can flatten the cookies after chilling the dough.)
- Cover the dough balls with plastic wrap, and chill for 25 minutes while you preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Space the chilled cookies several inches apart on the baking sheet, baking six at a time, and keeping the rest refrigerated until needed. Bake the cookies for about 12-15 minutes, until the edges are set and light golden brown, and the centers look ever so slightly underdone.Tip: For perfectly round cookies, use a round cookie cutter that's larger than the circumference of the baked cookies to "scoot" it around the hot cookies, pulling in any uneven edges.
- Cool for several minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
- Make 1 recipe Vanilla Buttercream.
- Spread the top of the cooled cookies with the buttercream, then press the frosted cookies against the coconut.
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