These coconut flavored meltaway cookies melt in your mouth as you eat them. They are delicate, tender and buttery. The cookies are easy to make and they only need 4 ingredients. The cookies also store well so they can be made ahead of time for an event.
My family loves when I make meltaway cookies and this coconut version is one of my favorite ones because I love coconut flavored foods.
Ingredients
- Butter
- Powdered sugar
- Cake flour
- Shredded coconut
Butter: These cookies are made with unsalted butter. Butter is a key ingredient in meltaway cookies. It is what gives the cookies their tender and buttery texture.
Powdered sugar: The cookies are sweetened with powdered sugar. Powdered sugar needs to be used because it melts easier and helps give the cookies their melt-in-your-mouth sensation. Make sure to use powdered sugar that contains cornstarch. In the US, powdered sugar is usually sold with cornstarch mixed in to help prevent caking. The cornstarch contained in the powdered sugar will also help with the structure for these cookies.
Cake flour: Cake flour is a lower protein flour. It is usually found with other types of flours at the supermarket. Please do not confuse cake flour with cake mix. Using cake flour gives these cookies a more delicate crumb. Typically meltaway cookies are made with a combination of all purpose flour and cornstarch. Cake flour is an easy way to eliminate the need for both. If you don’t have cake flour, I do share a homemade version in the notes section of the recipe card.
Shredded coconut: These cookies use finely shredded unsweetened coconut. I do recommend you stick with unsweetened coconut because the sugar from the sweetened coconut will likely cause the cookies to spread too much and sweetened coconut is not as finely shredded.
What are Meltaway Cookies
Meltaway cookies is a name given to various shortbread-type cookies. They are usually very delicate, contain cornstarch, and have a melt-in-your-mouth feeling when you eat them.
How to Make Coconut Meltaway Cookies
The butter and sugar are first beaten together until light and creamy. The cake flour and shredded coconut are then added in at low speed until a dough forms. The cookie dough is then scooped out and placed onto a lined baking pan. Roll the individual scooped dough between your palms to form smooth round balls and then roll in shredded coconut. Place back onto the lined baking sheet.
The cookie dough is refrigerated for 30 minutes or until solid. The cookies are then baked in the oven for about 12 minutes.
Cookie Texture and Sweetness
The cookies have a very light and delicate crumb. They are like a very tender shortbread. The cookies are only lightly sweet, similar to most shortbread cookies. You can dust the top with powdered sugar before serving. I usually do this for my other meltaway cookies because it helps create that melty texture and adds more sweetness but I wanted the shredded coconut on top to be visible, so I did not dust these. I think they are sweet enough without it but you can dust them with powdered sugar if you prefer.
More Meltaway Cookies
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- 4 Ingredient Chocolate Melting Moments
4 Ingredient Coconut Meltaway Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter
- 5 tbsp (38 g) powdered sugar
- 1 cup (114 g) cake flour
- 1/4 cup (19 g) unsweetened finely shredded coconut plus additional for coating
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add butter and sugar. Using the flat paddle attachment on the mixer, cream at low speed just until sugar is incorporated into the butter. Increase your mixing speed to the highest speed and beat until light and creamy (this should only take about 30 seconds). Make sure to pause/stop the mixer and scrape the sides of your bowl with a spatula at least once in between mixing. Once your butter is ready, take a moment to thoroughly scrape all the butter from the sides of the bowl and from your paddle attachment and get it into the middle of the mixing bowl. This is an important step. See notes for more details.
- Add in cake flour and unsweetened coconut. Using the lowest speed, mix until a dough forms.
- Use a 2 tsp cookie scoop to scoop out dough. If you don't own a 2 tsp cookie scoop you can just measure out 2 tsp of dough with your measuring spoon. Place scooped dough onto prepared baking pan. Continue until all dough is scooped out. Roll each dough ball in between your palms until it becomes a smooth round ball.
- Add about 3 tbsp of shredded coconut to a small bowl. Roll each dough ball in the bowl of coconut until it is lightly coated in coconut. Place back onto prepared cookie sheet, spacing cookies at least one inch apart. Place your baking pan with the cookie dough balls into the fridge for 30 minutes or until the dough feel solid.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). I usually start my oven about 20 minutes into the refrigeration time so that the oven is ready at the same time the cookie dough is.
- Bake cookies for about 12-13 minutes or until the cookies are done. The cookies should stay pale but may turn lightly brown around the edges. Remove cookies and let them cool on the cookie sheet. Once cooled, they can be eaten. You can also dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Notes
- It's important to scrape all the butter from your flat beater and sides of mixing bowl into the middle of the bowl before adding the flour. This is to help ensure that all the butter is evenly mixed in with the flour. If you leave butter on the flat beater or on the sides of the bowl, what happens is that once your dough forms, it will be sticky and will stick to the sides and the beater. When you scrape the dough with your measuring spoon or cookie scoop, you end up with unmixed butter in the dough and that will cause the cookies to flatten.
- If for some reason your cookie dough is too soft to scoop and release (it shouldn't be but if you are working in a very warm kitchen it could happen), then you can place the dough into the fridge for a few minutes until the dough is firm enough to scoop. It should only be 5-10 minutes. If you leave it in too long it will be too firm to scoop.
- You can dust the cookies with powdered sugar before serving. This is how I generally serve my meltaway cookies but I didn't want to cover up the coconut shreds on top. I did feel the cookies were sweet enough even without the additional dusting of powdered sugar.
- Make sure to use unsweetened shredded coconut for this recipe.
- Homemade cake flour: Measure 1 cup of all purpose flour and remove 2 tbsp of it. Add the remaining amount into a small mixing bowl. Add 2 tbsp of cornstarch to the bowl. Whisk together to combine.
- Nutrition estimate assumes 7 tbsp of coconut (the 4 tbsp mixed in plus additional 3 for rolling).
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
I love it I have to try it for my family. Can I have more recipes pls
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Very delicious
I’m so glad you like them!
Can u substitute margarine or coconut spread for butter
Margarine doesn’t always work the same in cookie recipes – it can cause them to spread more and the flavor won’t be the same. We haven’t tried it with coconut spread.
This I am very interested in making
Hope you enjoy!
What is equivalent to cornstarch and cake flour in uk please.
Thank you
For the cake flour, we’re not sure but sponge flour might be the equivalent in the UK. If you use that you don’t need to use cornstarch. If you are using plain flour (called all-purpose flour in the US) you will need to use cornstarch (using the amounts listed in the recipe card notes), which is called corn flour in the UK. We have only tested this recipe with US ingredients, so we can’t say for sure how it will work with what’s available in the UK.
I LOVE ? YOUR RECIPE’S ALOT ,THANK ? YOU AND HAVE A BLESSED DAY,
We’re so glad you love them!
Your recipes looks so goid. Thank you for sharing. Will bake the coconut butter cookies for my grandchildren. Thanks, Porsche.
We hope they enjoy them!
Can I stir or beat by hand if I don’t have a mixer??
You can but it will take a little longer to get the right consistency.