These Oatmeal Coconut Pecan Cookies are a great snack or dessert the whole family can enjoy!
Oatmeal with pecans. That’s what I eat for breakfast most weekday mornings as I sit at my desk preparing for the work day. It’s an easy breakfast to make at the office and it’s more satisfying than a cereal bar. One morning, while I was enjoying my oatmeal and rummaging through emails, I thought how much more enjoyable oatmeal with pecans would be in the form of a cookie!
Time to begin planning my recipe!
Now Greg DOES NOT like raisins AT ALL, like ever, in anything. So I usually make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies instead of oatmeal raisin. But I knew I did not want to add chocolate to this cookie. I wanted a different flavor, with just a touch of sweetness, but what could it be?
Then I had a flashback. Wooh, swirly lines, going back in time….OK, so now we’re back in the 1980s in my parents’ kitchen and my father is making oatmeal cookies with walnuts and COCONUT. Ahh..I remember the deliciousness of the coconut. Thank you time machine for that memory spark; now let’s get back to 2015.
Ok, thank goodness. I think my hair was getting too big in that dream sequence.
Heading back to the present time
So, once it was established that the cookies will consist of oatmeal, pecans and COCONUT, I was ready to begin. Getting the correct measurements of the base ingredients is just as important as what’s being added to the cookie (i.e. raisins, chocolate chips, nuts, etc.).
It can greatly affect whether your cookies are soft or crunchy or if they are light or dense.
The measurements were tested a few times until the Oatmeal Coconut Pecan Cookies came out absolutely perfect. The final result was soft, moist and absolutely DELICIOUS!
Helping me create these Oatmeal Coconut Pecan Cookies were my daughters, Londyn and Jovie. We all wore matching aprons for total cuteness! Londyn helped mix the wet ingredients.
Jovie helped combine the dry ingredients and add them to the wet ingredients.
Then we added in the oats followed by the coconut and pecans.
Thank you girls for your assistance! Once the dough balls were formed and the cookies placed into the oven on a greased baking sheet, the girls watched the raw dough become cookies right before their eyes…
Poof! The finished product, which we all enjoyed as a family and know you will too!
Oatmeal Coconut Pecan Cookies
Ingredients
- 17 tbsp unsalted butter, softened (1 cup plus 1 additional tablespoon)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 cups uncooked old-fashioned oats
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
- 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350º F.
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Use a spoon to mix together 1 cup butter (2 sticks/16 tablespoons), brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl until well combined, but do not overmix.
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In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
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Mix flour mixture into butter mixture, being sure not to overmix.
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Grease baking sheet with additional 1 tablespoon butter.
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Roll dough into balls, approximately 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place dough balls onto baking sheet.
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Bake approximately 12 minutes until cookies are light golden brown.
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Recipe yields 3 dozen cookies.
Recipe Notes
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. Accuracy is not guaranteed. Information shown should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Love the recipe, but honestly it’s easy to find oatmeal cookie recipes. What’s not so easy to find are photos that make one smile, like those of your daughter learning the joys of baking. Now want a photo of her eating the cookies! (Her smile is infectious:)
Thanks Laura! I’ll try to get a shot of the kids chowing down! 🙂
Your cookies look so crunchy and delicious Sherri. Love your cute helpers! So now I need about a dozen or so cookies and a glass of milk….little bed time snack. 🙂
Thank you so much Allie! They had a lot of fun making them!:)
Very tasty cookies. I’m not much of a coconut fan but, these cookies don’t overpower the tastebuds with coconut. They have more of a pecan flavor. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Beth! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed them!
Thank you for sharing your recipe.. I just finished making your recipe and they are delicious my friend couldn’t quit eating them. Delicious with a cup of coffee.
Thank you Mary! I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies! 🙂
As I live in a metric country, I would need to know how many grams of butter you use in this recipe. Cups of butter would also be useful….but certainly not the measurement of ‘2 sticks of butter’. So, another search for a similar cookie needed. Too bad.
Hi BevLan! Thank you for pointing out this oversight. I have subsequently made the correction. Each stick of butter is 8 tablespoons or 1/2 cup. Therefore, you would need 1 cup of butter. Again, thank you for noticing.
Hi. Love this recipe would like your permission to enter them in our local fair..?
Hi Leah! Thanks for reaching out and for your interest in my recipe! You have my permission to enter them into your local fair, and I wish you good luck! Please let me know how you do with your submission! Also, if the recipe is going to be featured in any publications, please have the publication credit Watch Learn Eat. Thanks again and best wishes!
I followed the recipe and my cookies came out flat. Any idea what went wrong?
Sorry to hear that Roxie. There are a number of reasons why cookies can flatten or spread, such as overmixing, the butter being too soft or melted or the dough being too warm. Other causes are a hot pan or baking at a high altitude. One way to fix this would be to refrigerate the dough for 20-30 minutes before using and continue to refrigerate in between baking rounds. You can also use two different pans to ensure the pan is not too hot before baking the next round. Instead of using melted butter on the pan, you can also use parchment paper if you want. Another trick is to try making the dough “balls” higher instead of perfectly round, but still using the same amount of dough per cookie. If you are at a high altitude, I would lower the amount of butter called for by 2 or 3 tablespoons.
I hope that helps. Please let me know if you have any additional questions and how they come out next time. Have a great day! 🙂
Hey Sherri & Greg! Just wanted to drop a note to say hi and let you know I’ve adapted this recipe with a cuban inspired twist. Based in Miami at the moment and have been trying out recipes in the kitchen. I think I might have created a frankenstein but so far taste testers have loved it. Wanna say thanks for sharing this recipe. Absolutely grateful. I’ve linked back in my blog to this recipe too, just to make sure credit to given. Let me know what you think! =) Have a great weekend!
Here’s the link to my adapted recipe,
http://www.aussieporean.com/main/2016/8/31/cuban-inspired-guayaba-cookies
Thank you so much, Charles! We are so glad you enjoyed it that much and are honored to have had it inspire you to make a new creation! We checked out your recipe and it looks so awesome! Love the Cuban flair you gave to it! Have a great weekend as well! 🙂
Great cookies!!! The pecan flavor really come through. I added mini chocolate chips for a twist. Yum! Yum! Thanks!
Thank you so much, Susan! The addition of the mini chocolate chips sounds fabulous! So happy you enjoyed them! 🙂
Would the oatmeal happen to be quick oats or old fashion ?? Thank for the recipe ..
Susan
Hi Susan! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂 The recipe uses old-fashioned oats. I’ll make the change in the recipe card too. Thanks for asking and hope you enjoy!
Made these added chocolate chips for a variation on german chocolate cake, finger style. Yummy
Awesome, Shelley! Adding chocolate chips sounds amazing! Glad you enjoyed the cookies! 🙂
I had these cookies at a church potluck and Had to have the recipe! They are delicious!
Thank you Sylvia! Glad you enjoyed! 🙂
Hi! I want to make this recipe ahead of time and refrigerate overnight. Do you think it will be alright??
Hi Kay! So sorry for the delay; I was very sick this weekend and just saw your comment. Yes, you can definitely refrigerate it overnight. I would just leave it out for about 10 minutes or so before you use it, so it’s not so hard to work with. Hope you enjoy!
These cookies are addictive. Making another batch for the family. Thanks so much for your help and I hope you are much better now.
Thank you so much Kay! I’m so glad you are enjoying them! And, yes I feel much better; thank you! Happy Holidays! 🙂
Do you think raisins could be added successfully?
Hi Tammy, Yes, I think raisins can be added but you might want to use less coconut and less pecans to balance the flavor and sweetness. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy! 🙂
Have been making these very addictive cookies a few months now….my family loves them. Everytime we give them as a gift or take them anywhere people LOVE them! I just wanted to add that at Christmas time we made your recipe exactly and then threw in a handful of dried cranberries to make them festive! They turned out awesome! A huge success! (Sorry I do not have a more exact measurement. We just eye-balled it). Your recipe is such a keeper…thanks!
Thanks so much Vickie; that means a lot to us! Wow; adding dried cranberries sounds amazing – we will have to try them! 🙂
How come these cookies never spread out like the picture. Put on cookie sheet in balls and they flattened a tiny bit but not like a cookie. Why. This isn’t the only cookie I have this problem with.
Hi Sue; I’m not sure why they didn’t flatten as much as in the photograph; however, from my own experience, when the dough has been refrigerated or the butter was not completely softened, my cookies come out more puffy and less flat. The other thing you might want to try is pressing the dough balls down a little after you place them on the sheet before they go into the oven. Hope that helps!
I made these cookies today and decided to dip the bottoms in chocolate! So good!! Thank you for the recipe.
That sounds fantastic, Kalyn! Great idea! Thanks so much for making our recipe! Have a wonderful day! 🙂
Could be the way flour is measured…as in if you scoop your flour with the measuring cup, then level it off, it will have more flour than if it’s spooned into the measuring cup then leveled off. I used to have the same experience with my cookies until I saw a tutorial by America’s Test Kitchen that said it’s important to spoon flour into the measuring cup, to not get too much flour in the recipe.
If I leave out the coconut do I need to replace it with something else?
Hi Jaimee! You can use some more pecans (maybe another 1/2 cup) or another add-in such as chocolate chips or just leave it out. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
I love your recipe and am going to try to make some i will let you know how they came out
Thanks Monica! Hope you enjoy! Have a great day! 🙂
Easy recipe, made them in a mixer. Next time, I will make them in a bowl with a spoon.
The taste was perfectly incredible, but the texture was a bit dry and crunchy for my taste.
The next batch I make by hand, will hopefully come out a bit softer and a little more chewier, perhaps I overmixed a bit. Great recipe overall!
Thanks for the generous Pin!
Thanks so much, Lyd! I’m glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
HI!
I have a low fat diet and am wondering if you have tried substituting some of the butter with apple sauce?
Hi Tanya! I haven’t tried doing so with this recipe. However, I’ve read that you can use half butter and half applesauce, so in this case, 8 tablespoons of butter and 8 tablespoons of applesauce. I know it will add additional moisture so they might be more likely to fall apart. If you do try it, let me know how it works. Thanks! Hope you have a nice weekend!
Hi! I pinned your recipe because I love the oatmeal and coconut combined. Then when I read through your post I saw your daughter’s name, Jovie. My granddaughter’s name is Jovie also, so we MUST try these cookies together. They look delicious!
Hi Tamah! That’s so cool! We were inspired to name Jovie from the movie, Elf…not sure how your granddaughter was given the name, but I’d love to know! Please tell me how you and Jovie enjoy the cookies! I’m so happy you found us! 🙂 Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!
I made these tonight and they are delicious. A new family favourite.
Yay! That’s awesome Patti! So glad your family enjoyed them! 🙂
I can’t wait to make these! Could you use walnuts instead? Thank you!
Thanks Ashley! Yes, you can definitely use walnuts if you prefer them! Hope you enjoy! 🙂
I am confused on the butter amount. 17 TBSP is 2cups of butter. Please clarify! Going to make them for tonite.
Hi Patty! Thanks for reaching out. Two sticks of butter (equivalent to 16 tablespoons or 1 cup) is used in the dough and the other 1 tablespoon is for greasing the cookie sheet. Hope that helps! Enjoy and have a great night! 🙂