Gluten-free Coconut Cookies

To make these buttery, crispy gluten-free coconut cookies, you only need 7 pantry staple ingredients and 5 minutes to mix the dough. They are melt in the mouth, buttery treats for Christmas or any other occasion. We show you 3 ways to enjoy them: 1) plain and simple, 2) topped with toasted coconut or 3) dipped in chocolate.

If you are interest in more cookie recipes, try out our Walnut Crescent Cookies recipe, or our Blueberry Jam-filled Gluten-free Lemon Cookies recipe, or our Gluten-free Thumbprint Cookies recipe.

What do these coconut cookies taste like?

The base cookie recipe is a buttery, but crispy shortbread-like coconut cookie. The best way to enjoy them is if you roll them thin and bake like that. If you make it without topping or decoration, the shredded coconut mixed in the dough will give you a hint of coconut flavor only.

However, for coconut lovers we recommend covering the cut-out cookies with even more shredded coconut. If you do that, the cookies will have a lovely toasted coconut taste all the way.

If you want to turn them into decadent festive Christmas cookies, dip them in melted chocolate or drizzle them with it. They are absolutely heavenly. Coconut and chocolate taste perfect together.

Ingredients

To make this recipe, you need 7 pantry staple ingredients. I used plain gluten-free flours instead of a branded box mix, so the recipe can be made by anyone without access to specialty gluten-free flour products. Moreover, lot of gluten-free coconut cookie recipes use almond flour, but I opted for making this recipe also nut-free. So what do you need to make them?

• desiccated coconut (fine, shredded, dry, unsweetened)
• white rice flour
• buckwheat flour
• corn starch (you can substitute it with tapioca or other starches)
• cane sugar (you can use coconut sugar or other dry sugars)
• dairy-free butter (I haven’t tested it with dairy butter)
• salt

How to make gluten-free coconut cookies?

You can make them by hand in 3 minutes, or by a food processor in 2 minutes.

1. Add all dry and wet ingredients (coconut, white rice flour, buckwheat flour, starch, sugar, salt dairy-free butter) to a food processor and mix until it reaches a crumb-like texture. (It will not likely form a ball like that.)
2. Take a large bowl and add the dough from the food processor. Knead it with your hands for 2 minutes or so to form a ball. If the ball is dry and crumble still after 2-3 minutes, add 1-3 tsp water, 1 tsp at a time. The dough should not stick to your fingers. If it is you added too much water. In that case, make sure you flour the rolling mat thoroughly.
3. Take your rolling mat and lightly flour it. Roll the cookie dough thin about 4 mm (approx. ¼-inch). Choose your favorite cookie cutter and cut out the shapes you want.
4. Bake them on parchment paper for 10-12 minutes. Baking time may depend on your oven, so check them around 8-10 minutes.

Top tips to make them perfect every time

• Flour your surface – I like using rice flour to dust my rolling mat. Rice flour seems to have a non-stick tiny ball-like consistency that just makes working with any dough easier. The dough just roll all over it literally.
• Use a saran wrap or cling foil – I also use a saran wrap/cling foil on the top so the dough will not stick to the rolling pin. Other than for cookies, I use it for all gluten-free baking recipes like rolling out a gluten-free pie crust or a gluten-free pizza crust.
• Parchment paper instead of a baking sheet – I recommend using parchment paper instead of a baking sheet especially if you are making multiple batches. You can take out the parchment paper from the sheet pan and bake the next round, while the first round can cool down on its own. If you try to move them while they are hot, they will likely break.
• Place them close – As there is no baking powder, baking soda or any other type of leavening, they will not rise significantly. You can place them relatively close to each other.  
• When are they ready? – If they start to brown on the edges, you are too late. 

Why cover them with shredded coconut?

Take a shallow bowl and add ¼-1/2 cup shredded coconut. Take the cut-out cookies. Place the cookies in it 1 by 1, gently pat them and flip and pat them again. You will have a lovely toasted coconut finish if you bake your cookies like that. (see below picture)

How to decorate cookies with chocolate?

Melting chocolate

There are many ways to melt chocolate. I usually opt for my handy double boiler melting pot*. It is super easy to use and you can warm the chocolate evenly compared to the microwave where you can get the edges super hot while the middle can still remain unmelted.

1. Use chocolate chips or break/cut a chocolate bar into smaller pieces.
2. Boil water in a kettle. When it is done, add the water to a saucepan and keep it boiling on the stovetop.
3. I place the double boiler melting pot on top and add the chocolate pieces.
4. When the chocolate starts melting, stir it with a spatula a couple of time. It is ready, when the chocolate is evenly melted.

Decorating the cookies

You need to wait for the cookies to cool down before decorating them with chocolate. Gluten-free cookies usually stay very soft while they are hot, but firm up once they are cool.

• DIP IT! – When the chocolate is melted, you can just dip your baked cookies in it half way and place them on a wire rack for drying and cooling.
• DRIZZLE IT! – If you prefer to drizzle them and not dip them, then leave the baked coconut cookies on the parchment paper. When the chocolate is melted, take a spoon and drizzle the chocolate on top of them. If the chocolate is too thick to drizzle, add 1-2 tsp of coconut oil to it and mix thoroughly.

Please note that depending on your chocolate and how thick you cover your cookies, the waiting time here can be from a couple of hours to overnight for the chocolate to dry and become firm again.

FAQs and substitutions

How long will the cookies last?

You can leave them on room temperature for 1-2 days without covering them and they will be just as good as new. You can store them longer approx. up until 2 weeks, if you use an airtight container. I never stored them longer, so let me know if you do.

Can I substitute any flour or starch?

I have only tested it with tapioca starch and saw no difference. Read our Tapioca Flour Substitutes article for more starch options. As for the flours, you can use oat flour or millet flour instead of buckwheat, although the flour combination in the recipe card is the one I recommend the most to use.

Can I substitute cane sugar?

You need dry sugar for this recipe to work: white sugar, coconut sugar or anything that is fine and powder-like. I haven’t tested it with any liquid sweetener.

This Gluten-free Coconut Cookies recipe is vegan, so dairy-free and egg-free as well. It is also suitable for a nut-free, soy-free diet. It is not WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) as the butter is not compliant. I haven’t tested this recipe with any nut butter, but please comment below if you tried it like that.