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When you make homemade cookies, they should be memorable and worth your while. These butterscotch cookies with coconut are it.
I wouldn’t list butterscotch on a list of favorite flavors (just to give you an idea of where butterscotch and I stand). But these butterscotch coconut cookies were incredible: chewy, soft, and a little thick — I’ve made them twice.
Table of Contents
- Cookies by Williams-Sonoma
- You’ll Love These Butterscotch Cookies
- Baking Butterscotch Cookies
- Williams-Sonoma Collection: “Cookies” Cookbook
- Recipe for Butterscotch Chip Coconut Cookies
- Cookbooks by Marie Simmons
- Related Recipes
Cookies by Williams-Sonoma
Williams-Sonoma stores possess an intimidating factor for the new cook or baker. But then you learn about Williams-Sonoma founder Chuck Williams — kept editing Williams-Sonoma cookbooks into his nineties (you can find all of them at the link above). He liked keeping a hand in things.
The stacks of gleaming cookware, shelves of shining kitchen essentials, and rows of small appliances might seem a bit more accessible.
I passed over “Cookies” by Marie Simmons in my cookbook collection due to its slimness. What a mistake. Our new favorite cookie recipe had been hiding there all along.
It was one of those days where I didn’t bother to ask my teen sons what kind of cookie they wanted. I wanted to try a new cookie recipe. I knew I didn’t want peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookie variations, or even our go-to chocolate malted milk cookies.
I scanned recipe index after recipe index in I don’t even know how many cookie cookbooks — until I stumbled upon this one.
These butterscotch and coconut cookies catch you off-guard. You might think you will have just one cookie. You won’t have just one cookie. Count yourself lucky if you can stop at two.
You’ll Love These Butterscotch Cookies
The color of some cookies, especially when they have added chunky ingredients, such as rolled oats or butterscotch chips, makes it hard to tell when they are done. It’s too easy to go from underbaked to overbaked cookie dough.
But if you’ve made chocolate chip cookies before, you can handle this recipe for butterscotch cookies.
It’s full of the good stuff: butterscotch chips, sweetened shredded coconut, and vanilla extract for a little something-something. This recipe uses one whole egg (I didn’t want to mess with an egg yolk and then deal with a leftover egg white). So, bonus points all-around.
Baking Butterscotch Cookies
Of course, you’ve already set your unsalted butter out to soften (I use salted butter for its long-lasting ability, but I tend to use a little bit more salt in a cookie recipe than what is stated anyway). Turn on your oven before you begin the whole prepping of your baking sheet with the parchment paper process. Set the cookie sheet aside (not on the oven vent).
For these butterscotch chip cookies, set your oven temperature at 325*.
My dollhouse oven is tricky. I used my 1 ½ Tablespoon cookie scoop, or disher, to place the cookie dough on the prepared baking sheet. With the cookie dough balls spaced two inches apart, the recipe stated it should take 15 minutes for the butterscotch cookies to bake. Mine were done somewhere around the 11- to 12-minute mark.
When you make chunkier cookies, like chocolate chip cookies or these butterscotch oatmeal cookies, it’s harder to tell when the cookies are done. It’s too easy to go from underbaked to overbaked cookie dough.
You know your oven. If it runs hot, and things tend to finish faster than a recipe states, always shoot for the lower time range. In this case, bake cookies at 325* and check them around 10 minutes. See what you think. Do the edges look golden brown?
Overbaking could result in scorching your butterscotch chips and creating a hard cookie. No one wants that.
You could probably play with this recipe a little. Use half chocolate chips and half butterscotch chips to create a butterscotch chocolate chip cookie. Sprinkle a little coarse salt on the top for salted butterscotch cookies.
Or, get that oatmeal cookie vibe going on and maybe add in a ¼ cup of ground oatmeal for ¼ cup of the all-purpose flour for oatmeal butterscotch cookies or is it a butterscotch oatmeal cookie? I’ve had plenty of oatmeal butterscotch cookies (and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies). I like how these are different (thank you, coconut).
Recipes are your playground (just stick with the all-purpose flour. Bread flour is not a substitute). Have fun with these brown sugar butterscotch cookies. Or, just make these cookies with big butterscotch flavor “as is,” just like I do, and expect delicious results every time.
Williams-Sonoma Collection: “Cookies” Cookbook
Cookies is part of a larger Williams-Sonoma cookbook collection. The full title is “Williams-Sonoma Collection.” These Williams-Sonoma Collection cookbooks include the following titles (and are affiliate-linked to Amazon and eBay for your convenience):
- Bread
- Chicken
- Cookies
- Dessert
- Fish
- Grilling
- Hors D’Oeuvre
- Pasta
- Potato
- Risotto
- Roasting
- Salad
- Soup
- Thanksgiving
- Vegetable
Williams-Sonoma cookbooks don’t skimp on images. They don’t cram multiple recipes on a page, either. Each cookie recipe in Marie Simmons’ Cookies includes a standalone layout, image, and helpful tip or hint.
“Cookies” contains 120 pages of trusted, tested recipes. Each recipe includes the U.S. and metric measurements for easy baking and a large image.
The chapters in Williams-Sonoma Collection Cookies include the following:
- The Classics
- Cookies for Kids
- Party Cookies
- Cookies for Giving
- Holiday Cookies
- Decorated Cookies
- Cookie Basics
- Glossary
- Index
Choose among Pistachio-Spice Cookies, Moravian Molasses Cookies (a favorite with the Pennsylvania Dutch), Chocolate Espresso Bars, Almond Crisps Drizzled with Chocolate, Peanut Butter Cookies, or Neapolitan Cookies.
Recipe for Butterscotch Chip Coconut Cookies
Butterscotch Coconut Cookies Recipe
Equipment
- 1 KitchenAid Stand Mixer
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature I use salted butter because it keeps longer. I haven't noticed a difference in flavor.
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed Do not substitute light brown sugar with dark brown sugar.
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract You may know vanilla extract as "vanilla essence"
- 1 3/4 cups sweetened shredded dried coconut You want sweetened shredded coconut here. Do not substitute with unsweetened coconut.
- 1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips
Instructions
- 325* oven.
- Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.* *If you choose to use a greasing spray, such as Pam for Baking with Flour or Baker's Joy, it can cause cookies to spread slightly. Parchment paper is fast, reusable, and makes my cookie-baking dreams come true.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl: all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the large bowl of your electric mixer, cream the butter until it looks fluffy and pale yellow.
- Add the granulated sugar and the (firmly packed) brown sugar and combine until it loses the gritty texture (you can feel a small portion between your finger and thumb to check).
- Add the egg and the vanilla extract (or vanilla essence — it's the same thing), and beat on a low speed until blended. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl on occasion so the cookie dough mixture blends cleanly.
- Add the all-purpose flour mixture and mix together on low speed until a few streaks of flour still show.
- Add in the butterscotch chips and the coconut. Not completely mixing in the flour helps prevent overmixing when you add in the chips. Mix ONLY until the mixture is blended, stopping and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl on occasion. This part will not take long.
- Using a 1 1/2 Tablespoon cookie dough scoop, or disher, set the rounded tablespoons 2" apart on your parchment paper-covered cookie sheet.
- Bake for 11 to 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. You may want to rotate the baking sheet halfway through the time if your cookies aren't baking evenly.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes so they set and you can safely scoot them to a cooling rack. Let cool to room temperature before storing in a covered, reusable plastic container.
Cookbooks by Marie Simmons
You may not recognize the name “Marie Simmons,” as readily as you would Marion Cunningham or Irma Rombauer, but I’m sure you’ve seen Marie’s work. This cookbook author has more than 20 solid cookbooks to her name.
Good Spirits (1986) by Marie Simmons and Barbara J. Lagowski
365 Ways to Cook Pasta: For Every Season, For Every Reason, A Pasta Lover’s Paradise (1988) by Marie Simmons
Better by Microwave: Over 250 Recipes for the Foods Microwave Does Best (1990) by Lori Longbotham and Marie Simmons
Rice: The Amazing Grain : Great Rice Dishes for Everyday (1991) by Marie Simmons
Italian Light Cooking: Easy, Healthy, Low-Calorie Recipes from Pizza to Pesto (1992) by Marie Simmons
The Light Touch Cookbook: All-Time Favorite Recipes Made Healthful and Delicious (1992) by Marie Simmons
The A to Z Cookbook Series: Bar Cookies (1994) by Marie Simmons
The A to Z Cookbook Series: Muffins A to Z (1995) by Marie Simmons
Fresh and Fast: Inspired Cooking for Every Season and Every Day (1996) by Marie Simmons
The A to Z Cookbook Series: Pancakes A to Z (1997) by Marie Simmons
Williams-Sonoma Lifestyles: Holiday Celebrations (1998) by Marie Simmons
The A to Cookbook Series: Puddings A to Z (1999) by Marie Simmons
The Amazing World of Rice: with 150 Recipes for Pilafs, Paellas, Puddings, and More (2002) by Marie Simmons
Williams-Sonoma Collection: Cookies (2003) by Marie Simmons
Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Healthful Cooking: Recipes and Techniques for Wholesome Home Cooking (2003) by Dana Jacobi and Marie Simmons
Fig Heaven: 70 Recipes for the World’s Most Luscious Fruit (2004) by Marie Simmons
Williams-Sonoma Mastering: Soups and Stews (2005) by Marie Simmons
The Good Egg: More than 200 Fresh Approaches from Soup to Dessert (2006) by Marie Simmons
Things Cooks Love: Implements, Ingredients, Recipes (2008) by Sur la Table and Marie Simmons
Fresh and Fast Vegetarian: Recipes That Make a Meal (2011) by Marie Simmons
Taste of Honey: The Definitive Guide to Tasting and cooking with 40 Varietals (2013) by Marie Simmons
Whole World Vegetarian (2016) by Marie Simmons
Related Recipes
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