My husbands favorite cake is a German chocolate cake and I love baking things that I know he loves, but for the past few weeks, it has been almost 100 degrees with humidity that feels downright tropical, so the thought of baking a cake seems unappealing. I will, however, bake some cookies though (I know that logic is flawed, but there are cookies in the oven, so let’s move on)…
Did you know that you can channel all of the delicious chocolatey, coconutty and classically nutty flavors of a German chocolate cake into the cookies? Yep and you are going to go absolutely crazy for them.
Let’s get started…
Begin by gathering 2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 cup of cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 sticks of room temperature butter, 1 cup of granulated sugar, 1 cup of tightly packed brown sugar, 3 large eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips (semi-sweet, milk chocolate or dark), 1 1/2 cups of sweetened coconut flakes and 1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans.
Start by whipping together 2 sticks of room temperature butter with 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1 cup of brown sugar. Once they are fully combined, add 3 large eggs and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Sift in all of the dry ingredients and mix until the dough is fully incorporated. The dough should be thick and resemble a brownie batter.
Add in 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips, 1 1/2 cups of sweetened coconut flakes and 1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans and mix until everything is just combined. This dough will be thick, so use your good arm for mixing or hire a strong assistant (trading labor for future cookies always seems to work for me).
Add heaping tablespoons of dough onto parchment lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart. These cookies will not spread out much during baking, so prior to putting them into the oven, press the dough out into a bit of a disk with your finger tips. This is when I sprinkle a few extra coconut flakes, pieces of pecan and chocolate chips over each cookie.
Bake the cookies on a center rack at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. The cookies will still be a little soft in the center, but take them out and let them cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer them onto a cooling rack to continue cooling.
Beautiful, aren’t they? Thick and moist and full of chocolate, coconut and pecans, just like that German chocolate cake that we all know and love, but you don’t need a fork or even a plate to enjoy these… just grab a few and head for the couch…
I am so in love with these cookies that I feel like I should warn you about them. They are so chocolatey that I literally can’t have one. It’s like I need one to enjoy the chocolate flavors and then one for the coconut and then one for the pecans and then one more for the compilation of all of the flavors. So… you’ve been warned…
I hope you love these cookies as much as I do and make them again and again and again…
German Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups of all purpose flour
- 1 cup of natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 16 tablespoons of butter, room temperature
- 1 cup of granulated sugar
- 1 cup of brown sugar, packed
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups of sweetened coconut flakes
- 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips (milk, semi-sweet or dark chocolate)
- 1 1/2 cups of pecans, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
- In a large bowl, cream together 2 sticks of room temperature butter with 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1 cup of brown sugar using either an electric hand mixer or stand mixer
- Add 3 large eggs and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and mix until creamy
- Sift in 2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 cup of cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1 teaspoon of salt
- Mix using a silicone spatula until all of the ingredients are fully incorporated
- Add 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips, 1 1/2 cups of coconut flakes and 1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans and mix until they are just combined
- Place heaping tablespoons of cookie dough about 2 inches apart onto parchment lined baking sheets
- Gently press the dough out to flatten it a bit into the shape of a thick disk
- Bake at 350 degrees on a center rack for about 10 minutes
- Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer the cookies directly onto a cooling rack
- Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature
