This month my Secret Recipe Club blog assignment was to Delicious Existence. (Gotta love that blog title!) On Twitter, Danielle (that’s my sister’s name, I love her already!) describes herself as a social worker, holistic health coach, lifestyle motivator and kitchen magician. And after perusing her blog, I’d have to agree with the last two–all her wonderful vegan recipes are definitely motivating and magical! Although not a vegan myself, I have mad love for their choice and actually try to eat vegan or vegetarian at least once a week, which isn’t too hard for me since I prefer fat and carbs (the good and bad kind :)) over meat anyway. Over time I’ve been so wonderfully surprised how delicious & satisfying a completely meatless, dairy-free, and egg-free meal can be.
Don’t believe me? Check out Danielle’s Herb Pinwheels, Jalapeno Popper Panini, Triple Chocolate Lust Cookies (I’m so making these!), Zucchini, Onion & One Pepper Stew, and Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Pie with Dark Chocolate Drizzle–just a few of the contenders for the recipes I marked to try. I have gone vegan before and found it challenging to find enough variety, but Danielle is clearly a master. Definitely go to her blog to get some inspiration!
I chose her coconut-chocolate chunk cookies to make for this month’s reveal, which is totally random, I know. If it was December, they’d fit right in since that’ s the month everyone starts baking hoards of them to give away. And these would be a great addition to your cookie tins this year! But it’s the week of Thanksgiving and there’s not a speck of cinnamon or pumpkin or even sweet potato in the recipe I chose. I’m sorry, but you guys know about my obsession with coconut oil. Did you really think I could pass up a recipe for cookies that contained not only my beloved coconut oil, but chocolate as well? I think not.
You guys, these are so good. Crazy good. So good that I’m glad I kept it a small batch recipe so I could only eat a dozen at a time. OK, so I didn’t really eat them all myself…but I did eat quite a few. Both times I made them. Yes, I made them twice this month, and will be making them again in a larger batch in December. They’re so good!
The coconut flavor is perfectly balanced with the semisweet chocolate, IMHO. You just would not believe how wonderful the coconut oil makes these cookies taste. So much better than using an extract! The cookies are sticky-crispy on the outside and the middles are soft & chewy-my favorite texture for a cookie, and I believe the corn syrup helps with it. The original recipe did not call for corn syrup, but I wanted to use ingredients that most people would have in their kitchen so instead of making a flax seed egg (mixing flax meal with water creates a binder similar to egg), I decided to use something else that was sticky to bind the cookie together. (You could also use agave nectar for a more natural cookie.) I used more corn syrup in the first batch and the cookies were a lot more chewy and a lot more crispy at the edges, and I think I’ve improved them by subbing a tablespoon of the corn syrup for milk (I used almond milk but coconut would obviously work great here), making the cookies softer but still crispy-chewy.
Whether you’re vegan or not, if you like coconut, I think you’re going to love these cookies! If you don’t believe me take my friend Kevin’s word for it (it was his birthday and I gave him some, along with an accidentally egg-less version of this banana bread)–he cracks me up!
I call Kevin “Obiewan,” thus his Star Wars reference. :)
Thank you Danielle for sharing your fabulous recipe! It pleases Jedi masters and padawans alike. :)
Coconut-Chocolate Chunk Cookies {Vegan}
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture
1/4 cup (1 7/8 oz / 52 g) virgin coconut oil, melted & cooled slightly (measured solid)
1/3 cup ( 2 ½ oz / 72 g) packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup or agave nectar
1 tablespoon milk of choice (I used almond)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
¾ cup (3 oz / 85 g) all-purpose flour
¼ cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chunks
Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silpat mat.
In a small mixing bowl combine the coconut oil, brown sugar, corn syrup, milk, and vanilla. Stir until blended, then add the baking soda and salt and stir well. Add the flour and mix well, using your hands if necessary, then stir in the coconut & chocolate, again using your hands to combine. Roll the dough into 12 (1-inch) balls, making sure there are three chocolate chunks per cookie. Place on prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until golden at the edges. As soon as you remove them from the oven, use a spatula to push any misshapen cookies into place so that they retain a round shape. Allow to cool on baking sheet for five minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container or Ziploc bag.
Makes 1 dozen cookies.
Recipe source: adapted from Delicious Existence
I learned this trick from fellow SRC members Katrina & Liz–to whip any misshapen cookies back into shape, as soon as they’re out of the oven, scoot them into a round shape with your metal spatula. Easy peasy and looks so much better!
To check out the other Group C SRC recipes, click the linky man below! As always, thank you for being the bestest hostess with the mostest Miss Debbi!
Veronica's Cornucopia 
Coconut and chocolate…what’s not to love these cookies!
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This recipe looks like a keeper :-)
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Here I am trying to hide from sweets and you go and post this deliciousness!! ;) These look amazing girl and the coconut oil sounds like a great addition.
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These cookies are perfect in flavour :)
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Coconut oil ftw! and I love your choice of almond! These look so scrumptious, Veronica!!
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I love your tip for making them round and pretty! Mine are always misshapen. These sound awesome, I love coconut!
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I really believe it’s the coconut oil that keeps chocolate chip cookies nice and soft, along with only using brown sugar, instead of the white-brown combo most recipes call for. I discovered a recipe for chocolate chip cookies using coconut oil a while back…I deemed them the best chocolate chip cookies…lol I have also did 50/50 butter and coconut oil…and they are still soft on the inside and slightly crisp on the outside. With all of that said, these cookies look spectacular and I am certain they are wonderful!
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The coconut oil might keep them soft but the corn syrup is what makes them so much more chewy and crispy than normal cookies, I love it. But you can use agave nectar for a more natural cookie–I just happened to be out but I sub it for corn syrup in other recipes (like caramel corn) and it works fab. Next time I make these I will go ahead and use eggs, but no butter–I love the flavor the coconut oil gives–the more the better. :)
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those look amazing!
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those cookies look amazing and delicious!
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Fantastic cookie recipe. These look so delicious! Great and excellent cookie choice for this SRC, Veronica!
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Hey, thanks for the little cookie-shapin’ shout out. ;) I can’t believe these cookies are vegan. They look so good! I just made a cake with coconut oil today. Love that stuff.
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No problem Katrina, I was so happy to have that little trick in my repertoire when many of these came out looking funkified. lol.
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These are such cutie pie cookies! I really need to bake with coconut oil more!
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what a great cookie repair tip :)
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It really helped my ugly cookies out-lol
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I have some vegan friends who will absolutely appreciate this recipe. I find myself pinning all your stuff lately, Veronica!
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Well thanks Jorie! I’m flattered. :)
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Delightfully cookies! Good tip,too! I also love coconut oil!
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I’m a little confused. I made these cookies and they did not look like the picture at all. I looked again at the recipe and realized I missed the agave/corn syrup, because nowhere did it say when to add it. Where was it suppose to go?
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Cenne, I’m so sorry for the mistake and have now updated the recipe on my blog and the printables as well to include that step. I write my recipes with the ingredients in the order they are used, so it was to be added along with everything up to the vanilla. I feel terrible that I ruined your recipe!! Let me know if you like them if you try them with the corn syrup added. I found it gave them such a chewy texture, and it was addictive to me!
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Veronica, thank you for your fast response. I have to check if I have enough left to make another batch. Now I hope the Agave will work as well, I don’t like using corn syrup.
I really like chewy cookies too so I hope the agave makes the difference, ’cause mine came out still as round balls… and a little dry.
Thanks for updated the recipe so fast.
Cenne
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I didn’t try it with agave yet but I think it will work well, please let me know how they turn out this time if you are able to make them again. And if your dough seems crazy dry, just add a little more milk. Good luck!
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I didn’t have enough ingredients for another whole batch, but wanted to try again with the agave so I halved the recipe (not easy with these measurements). They came out much better, chewy and flatter, not dry at all (no extra ‘milk’ needed). But they still do not look like your picture, I guess the corn syrup gives it a more golden color. But they still taste great!
Thanks again.
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Oh I didn’t see this comment before I asked how they turned out-lol. OK good, I’m glad it worked out!
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I forgot to ask last time, did you use unrefined (virgin) or refined coconut oil for the cookies? I used refined the 1st time ’cause refined is for higher temps (baking), and virgin is for low temps (up to 280 f). But problem is the refined doesn’t have as strong a coconut flavor. The 2nd batch I didn’t have enough oil so I had to do half of each, which gave it more of a coconut flavor. Which I do like better. I also used coconut milk (carton) instead of almond. Thanks again! again.
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Oh wow, I just can’t believe how badly I wrote this recipe! I am usually so careful and am specific with ingredients and steps. I used virgin oil, that’s what gives it the wonderful coconut flavor. Oh you poor thing. I understand if you never visit my blog again! lol! I’m glad you used half virgin but do try all virgin, the flavor is just so good that way. How did the agave work for you?
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Yes, everything worked out. I will try all virgin coconut oil next time. Don’t worry I will visit your blog again, you were so great about fixing my problems and getting back to me so fast. Funny thing is, I found you because I was in the middle of making vegan coconut chocolate chip cookies when I realized I myself had copied the recipe wrong and didn’t have the measurements for the coconut milk! I googled it and found yours and they looked so good I decided to try your recipe instead. I also used toasted coconut instead ’cause I had already gone thru that process for the other recipe, which was very good. I’ll have to try regular next time to see which is better. Thanks!
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Thank you for being so forgiving! I’m just so mortified about the trouble I caused you. A lesson learned! Hopefully that won’t happen with future recipes. Too funny how you found me, I guess we were made for each other. ;) FYI I have a giveaway for virgin coconut oil going on right now but it’s for a whole gallon. If you think you could handle that much you can enter here: https://veronicascornucopia.com/2013/01/16/win-a-gallon-of-tropical-traditions-coconut-oil/
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Funny how things work out, huh? I guess it was fate! I was trying to enter your contest (I did just use the last of my coconut oil for the cookies), but I’m having computer problems and I seemed to just miss the deadline- bummer. Hopefully you will have another one soon. Thanks for letting me know.
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Aw, poor Cenne! Nothing bud bad luck. It must be about to change!
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