Soft, moist and buttery vegan coconut cookies packed with coconut flavor and texture! Super easy recipe ready in less than 30 minutes!
These vegan coconut cookies have all the coconut flavor you could dream of! Coconut flavor, coconut texture, coconut bliss.
They’re soft and chewy, fabulously moist and so easy to make you can throw together a batch of these with barely any notice at all.
An easy 15 minutes to prep these cookies and just 12 minutes to bake them, so you can have a tray of warm and delicious cookies in your kitchen in less than 30 minutes.
And if you love all things coconut then try our vegan coconut cake, vegan coconut cream pie and vegan coconut pancakes.
How To Make Vegan Coconut Cookies
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add vegan butter and white granulated sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer and cream them together until smooth.
- Add vanilla extract and coconut extract and mix in.
- Add all purpose flour, baking soda, salt and dessicated coconut to a bowl and mix together.
- Add all the dry ingredients in with the wet and mix together with a spoon.
- Add soy milk and mix into a thick cookie dough that can be easily rolled into balls.
- Roll the cookie dough into balls (aim for 20 cookies) and place them evenly on a parchment lined baking tray.
- Bake for 12 minutes at 350°F. The edges will be firm and set but they will still be very soft in the middle.
- Let them firm up and cool directly on the tray.
Ingredient Notes
Coconut extract – The only ingredient you might not readily have on hand is coconut extract. This isn’t the most common ingredient but when I saw some at the baking store I had to get it.
You can buy coconut extract from Amazon too, if that’s easiest for you. Alternatively, you can leave it out and replace it with vanilla extract. I think coconut extract is a great addition to these cookies and really helps that coconut flavor to pop, but it’s not crucial.
We’re already adding in 1 and ⅓ cups of actual dessicated coconut to these! So the coconut flavor and texture is there, even if the flavor isn’t as strong without coconut extract.
Dessicated coconut – is the best coconut to use in these cookies because it’s finely shredded but still provides all that coconut flavor and texture. Dessicated coconut is also known as ‘finely shredded coconut’.
Granulated white sugar – we used regular granulated white sugar for these cookies but I think you could use coconut sugar too. I do love the flavor of coconut sugar, but the color is dark so it would affect the color of these cookies.
Soy Milk – I used a little soy milk for the non-dairy milk part of this recipe, but of course you could switch this for coconut milk.
Storing and Freezing
Store them in a sealed container at room temperature where they will stay fresh for up to a week.
They are also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
More Vegan Cookies
- Vegan Pumpkin Cookies
- Vegan Thumbprint Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Vanilla Wafers
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Coconut Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 1 cup White Granulated Sugar (200g)
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- ½ tsp Coconut Extract
- 1 ¼ cups All Purpose Flour (156g)
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 1 ⅓ cups Dessicated Coconut (106g) Finely Shredded Coconut*
- 4 Tbsp Soy Milk or other non-dairy milk*
Instructions
- Add the vegan butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and cream together. Add in the vanilla and coconut extract and mix in.
- Add the flour, baking soda, salt and desssicated coconut to a bowl and mix together and then add all of the dry ingredients in with the butter and sugar mix and mix together by hand (don’t use the electric mixer for this part) until crumbly.
- Add in soy milk and mix together into a thick cookie dough that can easily be rolled into balls.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Roll the cookie dough into balls and place onto a parchment lined baking tray. Aim for 20 cookies.
- Bake for 12 minutes. The edges will be firm and set but they will still be very soft in the middle. This is fine, they will firm up as they cool.
Video
Notes
- Dessicated coconut – is also called finely shredded coconut.
- Soy milk – Depending on the brand of vegan butter you use, it could be that you need a little more or less soy milk so play it by ear, don’t add all of it in at once, start with 2 or 3 Tbsp and then add more until you get to a consistency where you can roll the cookie dough into balls. I used 4 Tbsp but you may need more if you use a hard vegan butter (less water content) or possibly less if you’re using a vegan buttery spread that has a higher water content than the one I used.
- If your cookies don’t spread. These cookies usually spread beautifully on their own but in the event that they don’t, just flatten them gently with a fork as soon as they come out of the oven still warm and soft.
- Storing: Store them in a sealed container at room temperature where they will stay fresh for up to a week.
- Freezing: They are also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
These turned out super yummy!! I made two versions- regular (as written) and gluten-free using Bob’s 1:1. I used Miyoko’s butter for both. The APF version only needed 2T soy milk; GF took 3T. I had hoped to cookie press these into fun shapes but the batter really spread while baking. Sunflower shapes turned to cookie crisps with the APF version. The texture was crispy and browned like a Florentine. I’m debating whether or not to dip in melted chocolate to make them officially Florentines. For the remainder, I rolled the batter into 8 gram sized balls. Both versions spread but the GF batch spread less. Baked at 325F for 9 min since these were smaller servings. Interesting kitchen experiment. Both versions are super tasty, but interestingly the APF version turned super crispy and the GF version had crispy edges and chewy centers. Both super thin and unlike the photos shown here. I’m wondering if my soda is no longer potent? Or? Anyway, I love these!! Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Joyce, so glad you loved them! The extra spread may just be the size, ours start off as fat balls so they spread less. You can refrigerate the dough if you don’t want so much of a spread. Thanks for sharing and the great review!
Would it still work if I halved the recipe?
And would I be able to sub the vegan butter with coconut oil instead?
Hi Trix, you can halve the recipe! You can also use coconut oil as a sub but it’s not a perfect sub for vegan butter, so there may be changes in the final result.
Obsessed
Heaven in my mouth! I made three parts . Added some raisins and orange zest. Beautiful
Awesome! Thanks Anna!
I’ve made this recipe several times now and it never disappoints. This is one of the best cookie recipes I’ve ever tried. The cookies come out crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. And most importantly, they’re delicious!
Thanks so much Candice!
I love this recipe! I made it twice for a friend and it’s perfect and delish. Don’t be afraid to take them out of the oven if they don’t look totally cooked. They firm up as they cool.
These cookies are wonderful. I made them today for a young, vegan visitor, and they came out great. Liquid: used 1 tbsp oatmilk creamer and 3 tbsp almond milk. I found good, solid sticks of vegan butter in a natural foods store. Weighed out dough to 1.4 oz ball, which made 16 cookies. SO pleased these came out
So glad you enjoyed them Lynn!
these are so so delicious!! second time making them this week. i added chocolate chips and the texture and taste were perfect. these will be on my cookie repertoire from now on
Awesome! Thanks Mili!
I made this recipe a week ago and was absolutely blown away at how easy and tasty the results were!
I’m making it again right now with the addition of, slivered almonds and some vegan chocolate chips…… This is such an amazing recipe!
Awesome! Thanks so much Thomas!
So delicious, sweet, crispy and “buttery” , exactly what I craved!! ???????? thank u so much for the great and simple recipe. Didnt have vegan butter and enough coconut so I subbed with peanut oil and added sesame seeds, and used half buckwheat half regular flour for funsies. I also made them smaller, about 40 teaspoon sized balls, but it took the same time to bake. Will definitely make them again!
Awesome! Thanks for the great review Suna!
WOW! The BEST coconut cookies I have ever made! THANK YOU!
Love from Winnipeg,
Cass
Thanks Cass!
Do you think coconut pulp would work in place of desiccated coconut? I make a lot of coconut milk. Looking for recipes to use it in.
Hi Dawn, I think it would likely be too wet. Dessicated coconut is very dry.
I’ve been making these almost every week during quarantine and they are delicious! Have made little tweaks here and there depending on if I’ve been able to find some of the ingredients, but they have always turned out great and are soon devoured by the whole family!
So happy to hear that Nicole! Thanks for posting! 🙂
Lovely, very sweet but a delicious treat. Salt came through nicely too.
Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed the cookies Dot! Thanks for posting!
I modified this recipe to make coconut pandan cookies. It’s such a great base recipe for it! I subbed the coconut extract with pandan extract (1/2 tsp) and reduced the sugar from 1 cup to 3/4 cup. I’m planning to reduce the sugar further in the next batch as it’s still a little too sweet for me.
I made my own dessicated coconut, shoved an even, thin layer of shredded coconut in the oven on lowest temp for about 20-30 minutes. Cookies still came out wonderfully crisp on the edges and chewy soft in the middle.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Sue!
This turned our great! This is the 3rd recipe of yours that I am trying and every one has been awesome. I am not vegan but I don’t bake with eggs, so I like that your recipes use basic everyday ingredients which I can modify. I made this with regular butter and milk, and I didn’t have the coconut extract. My cookies turned out thinner than yours and spread a lot because I may have added a tad too much milk. But they are the perfect combination of crispy and chewy and we love them!
Awesome! Thanks Pavi!