Dark Chocolate, Coconut, Oatmeal Cookies
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This recipe is in the current issue of Lucky Peach and for years had been Peter Meehan’s secret house cookie, which he got from a friend who lived in Alaska, hence the name. In the article, Peter confesses to eating AK cookies all day long, describing them as, “the ideal companion to the first coffee of the day, a buffer between the quiet of dawn and the demands of the day to come.”
That was enough for me. Make ’em.
Dark Chocolate, Coconut, Oatmeal Cookies
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 15 cookies
Description
Source: Lucky Peach (RIP)
A note from LP: “These cookies are best when they have fully cooled, though you will undoubtedly eat some warm because it will take you years to develop the patience to ignore the siren’s call until they are ready. You are only human.”
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (256 g) flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 12-oz chocolate chips (I like Sharffen Berger semi-sweet bars, which I coarsely chop)
- 2 cups quick-cooking oats
- 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Using a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until homogenous, and smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix for another five minutes. Add the dry ingredients in order, mixing them in on low speed, just until each is incorporated into the dough.
- Use two soup spoons or an ice cream scoop, form the dough into lumps about the size of a squash ball. (I weigh mine into 36 g or 1.25 oz portions)
- Scoop out all of the dough and chill it on a quarter sheet pan in the fridge for at least 30 minutes but ideally 24 hours before baking. (If you’re not baking the whole batch, freeze the balls on the sheet tray before transferring them into a freezer bag.) When you are ready to bake, space them well on a Silpat- or parchment-lined sheet pan and bake for 11-12 minutes. The cookies will look pale and not cooked when you remove them from the oven. Have patience — they will continue cooking on the sheetpan and will firm up perfectly. Let them cool a bit (or completely) on the sheets, then transfer them to wire racks to fully cool before serving.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Cookie
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
65 Comments on “Dark Chocolate, Coconut, Oatmeal Cookies”
Hi Ali, these cookies will happen in my kitchen this weekend, they look wonderful! Your children are beautiful!
Thank you, Jennifer! And yay! I hope they do make it to your kitchen this weekend. If you do have the patience to wait until they are completely cool (and of course you don’t have to with all of them), they really are best that way. Not sure why. We are devouring them though. So so good.
These look like you just took them out of the oven, Ali; I’ll be right over! Yum!
Please come! It has been too long 🙂 Think of you every time I use one of those giant bay leaves. Hope all is well!
These look like cookie perfect. I can smell them from here!
Liz, they are pretty fantastic. I’m on my fourth of the day…oops.
I thought the AK stood for Alexandra’s Kitchen! I thought- ‘how can she limit herself to ONE cookie worthy of such a title?’ Then I read the post…. OOOOooohhhh! Now I get it!
Hahahaha, I love it. I have to say there was a certain allure in the title for me. But, yes, just a happy coincidence 🙂 These cookies are addictive! I’m usually a straight-up chocolate chip cookie kind of girl, but I love the walnuts and coconut and oats in here. SO good.
Hmm… I think I will have to try them both warm from the oven and cooled and see if I agree. It’s a tough job… Thank you for sharing this recipe. Looking forward to making these tomorrow night!
I love these cookies. . glad you were feeling wild because these cookies look divine. . can’t wait to try! love the addition of the shredded unsweetened coconut!!
Thank you Alice!
I made these cookies last night. They were so good- to die for good. I love nuts, but had to omit them because I have kids in braces. Yum Yum!!!!
Yay!! So happy to hear this! And how cute…I still remember my braces (and headgear…oiy) days.
Yummy!
I love the shredded coconut in these! They look so pretty.
next time I have a cookie yen and no cookies in the house (probably tomorrow), I’m going to make these. Coconut, oats, and chocolate sound like a superb combo.
Amazing! Everyone loved these…even my son who doesn’t like coconut!
Darling darling photo of your kids. Made me smile. And these cookies with dark chocolate make me smile.
I would trust Peter Meehan with my life. And you, for that matter 🙂 Sounds like these cookies neeeeeed to happen! Loving the coconut in there. Loving the photos of your beautiful kids 🙂
Haha, I know, me too. What a gem 🙂
I was so excited to see these cookies because they are very, very similar to the cookies my mom made when we were growing up. We lived in Maui for a couple years when we were small, and my mom found the recipe in the Maui newspaper. The only difference is the recipe called for macadamia nuts instead of walnuts/pecans. We call them “Maui cookies” 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
I was thinking I would LOVE these with madadamia nuts. Next up for me: Maui cookies!
I’ve made these a couple times with rolled oats (not quick oats) and whole wheat flour and they’ve turned out wonderfully. The whole wheat flour makes me feel better when I’ve eaten three of them in one day 🙂
Haha, yes, totally, a cookie made with whole wheat flour is absolutely not a cookie 🙂 So happy to hear all of this!
I making these the SECOND I get home today. It’s windy and cold, and yes, I need a cookie.
🙂
Love the photos of the kids going for it in the cookie dough bowl! These look great!
These are divine. I added 1/2 cup of dried cranberries and it’s going to be really really REALLY hard not to eat them all before the guests arrive tomorrow for Thanksgiving. And now I want them with macadamia nuts too!
I made these a couple of days ago, and they were great! But the “squash ball” size threw me: A squash ball is about twice the size of a golf ball, and the cookies didn’t cook in the time stated. I reverted to a generous #10 scoop and it was much better. Also, in SoCal, the unsweetened shredded coconut was pulled from the shelves for contamination at both the local Ralph’s and Von’s (Safeway), so I used sweetened and it worked out fine.
now that I’ve found your site, I’m ready to browse! Thanks for writing!
My husband and I love these! I’ve made them twice but am not sure why mine do not flatten out in the oven. They remain mounded. I do not roll them in balls so they are a little shaggy around the edges (nice and crispy). The oven temperature reading is correct. I used steel cut oats ( 1 3/4 cup) in the first batch because that’s all we had. I followed the recipe exactly as written for the second batch but they still didn’t flatten. Any idea what makes mine different? Maybe I should weigh the flour. I’ll try that next time. More butter? Less flour and/or oats? Believe me, I’m not complaining. They are delicious but yours look so much more presentable.
Mine have come out mounded too — but I use a very small scoop and I get almost 5 dozen cookies out of a batch and have timed it perfectly so that I know they’ll be done in 15 minutes in my oven. I actually like them rounded when they’re that small…they look petite so I can pretend I’m not waiting as long! I have noticed that the longer I’ve left them in the fridge to chill the *less* likely it is for them to flatten out, so that could be it?
Thanks, RJ. Refrigeration may be the reason. I refrigerated the dough for the most recent batch overnight and baked them this morning. Last time I just waited until they were firm (30-40 minutes). I won’t refrigerate the next batch to see if that makes a difference. The baking time may be shorter too. Still, I thought refrigerating the dough ensured a crispy exterior and a chewy interior.
THanks for your unput here, RJ! I have noticed the same thing — the longer the dough balls sit in the fridge, the less they flatten out and the longer they seem to take. I also like the mounded look, but I think this could be rectified by simply squashing the balls down a bit before baking them. Anyway, so glad you like them!
Hi Renee, So happy to hear you like these despite the flattening issue. Weighing the flour will definitely create a cookie more identical to mine, but I think RJ is right about the chilling thing — the longer they chill, the less likely they are to flatten. But, I do think if you weigh the flour, which will probably end up being less than what you used the last time, the more likely they are to flatten out a bit, too. Less flour often allows for more spread.
Very excited to try these! Question about freezing: if I freeze the dough balls, do they bake the same? Will I need to thaw the dough balls before baking them, or can I just use the same oven temperature for a bit longer?
Finally got around to making these… my God!!!! What a perfect cookie, and just in time for fall.
Have you tried them with yoghurt? I may have been looking for an excuse to have one with breakfast this morning, dipped it into plain yoghurt, the tartness balances perfectly. So, dear Cookie, I now christen thee “granola”.
So good!!!! Goes on my favorite list. I only had flaked coconut but it worked just fine. Used the one minute oatmeal and other than the coconut didn’t change a thing. Soft and chewy on the inside and crispy on the edges, just how I like my cookies Thanks for the recipe
Hello
Thank you for the recipe.
I would try it soon. Looks so yummy.
I love the pictures and specially the last one with your kids.
It looks like a happy family picture hihi.
Lovely kids.
How would I adjust the recipe if I didn’t want the coconut in it????
I would just leave it out!
So delicious!!!
Yay 🙂 🙂 🙂
Hello! These cookie sound just delicious. But for us non-American, how much is two sticks of butter? If possible in grams? Thanks in advance!
/Cecilia
Hi Cecilia! It’s 226 g. Moving forward, I will try to include gram measurements … I too only bake with gram measurements now.
These cookies are perfection! I have made them again and again!
So nice to hear this, Bea! They’re one of my favorites, too 😍😍😍
These cookies are delicious! People have requested the recipe when I have shared the cookies with them. I love oatmeal cookies and these are definitely my favorites of late. A few things I have altered – I often use 1/2 coconut oil, add 1 tsp of cinnamon and use old fashioned oats. I love them with Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips. Thanks for a yummy recipe!
So nice to hear this, Sarah! Your modifications sound wonderful. Thanks for writing 💕
Hi Ali,
I wanted to ask you a question about how many cookies this will make.
I used my scale and converted volume to weight using King Arthur ingredient info where necessary. I portioned into 35-38 g dough balls with my Volrath #30 disher and ended up with 44.
The recipe says it should be 15, hoping I am OK. The dough taste really great 😊 and I have the dough balls chilling for a bake tomorrow. Fingers crossed 🤞.
As always, thanks in advance for your help and patience in answering my questions.
Hi Bruce! Such a bummer I didn’t already have this recipe in gram measurements for you … I’ll try to add those measurements soon. I have to be honest, I have not made these in ages, but 15 seems like an awfully low yield. I think that’s my mistake, and I’m sorry! I will revisit this recipe soon and add accurate measurements and yields. Glad the dough balls taste good — that’s a good sign, and I have a feeling the cookies will be just fine. Thanks for bringing this to my attention!
Hi Ali,
The cookies worked out beautifully. I baked some today and then have frozen the rest for later to take on a RV trip this spring and share with my neighbors.
I really enjoyed the greater depth of flavor and texture vs. the standard Tollhouse style.
Phew! So glad to hear this. I am looking forward to revisiting this recipe soon so I can make some notes/additions to the measurements/yields.
Love these cookies. They are the perfect thick, chewy cookie!! Great recipe.
Great to hear, Christin! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂