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Soft, chewy thick Levain Bakery Caramel Coconut Cookies made with rich caramel, sweet coconut flakes, and semisweet chocolate chips. This seasonal Levain Bakery cookie recipe is the perfect coconut caramel cookie.
Oh, you know how much I love Levain Bakery cookies. As soon as they release a brand new seasonal cookie flavor, I receive so many messages requesting the copycat recipe.
I get to my test kitchen as quickly as possible to start creating the recipe for you! When I was recently in New York City and Washington DC, I was analyzing and studying every aspect of the cookie.
Levain Bakery just released its new Spring cookie flavor and it is insanely good. As soon as I saw that it was a Caramel Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookie, I rushed to the store to pick up the ingredients. That is one heavenly combo!
All of my recipe testers went crazy over these cookies and I couldn’t wait another minute to get this recipe out to you.
These Carmel Coconut Chocolate Cookies are perfectly soft, thick, and chewy with bits of soft caramel, sweet and chewy coconut, and decadent chocolate throughout the cookie.
You can find eight more Levain Bakery copycat cookie recipes below.
Ingredients
If you are familiar with my Levain Bakery Cookie recipes, you know they are unique and different. A few ingredients tweaks, oven temp, and a few tips and tricks make all of the difference.
- Butter — use cold butter cut into cubes. This helps the cookies keep their shape while baking and allows you to skip the chilling step.
- Brown Sugar — makes the cookies extra chewy.
- Sugar — gives the cookies crispy edges and helps to brown the cookies.
- Eggs — use large eggs in this recipe.
- Vanilla Extract — this is an optional ingredient as Levain Bakery doesn’t use vanilla in their recipes. I do like the flavor it adds to the cookie dough.
- All-Purpose Flour — I love to use a mix of all-purpose flour and cake flour. If you don’t have cake flour, you can use only all-purpose flour in this recipe.
- Cake Flour — helps to create a soft, tender texture in the cookies.
- Cornstarch — helps to thicken the cookies while still keeping them soft. Cornstarch helps to keep the cookies softer for longer.
- Baking Soda — helps the cookies to rise once they hit the oven.
- Salt — is a flavor enhancer and a must in all baked goods.
- Sweetened Coconut Flakes — use soft, sweetened coconut flakes, like Baker’s coconut in this recipe.
- Soft Caramels — use soft caramels cut into pieces or caramel bits.
- Chocolate Chips — I suggest using semi-sweet chocolate chips but you can use milk chocolate or dark chocolate too.
See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for quantities.
Instructions
- Start by creaming together cubed butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
- Add eggs and vanilla and mix for 1 minute longer.
- Stir in all-purpose flour, cake flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt, just until combined.
- Fold in coconut and chocolate chips.
- Weigh the cookie dough into 6-ounce balls.
- Cut the soft caramel into small pieces.
- Place the cookie dough balls on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. I suggest using a light colored baking sheet.
- Place the caramel pieces in the center of the cookie dough ball. It is important to keep the caramels in the center of the cookie or they will spread on the sides of the cookie and stick to the pan.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until a light golden color. Remove from the oven and let set up for 10-15 minutes before removing from the pan.
Substitutions
What if I don’t have cake flour?
If you don’t have cake flour, you can use 3 cups of all-purpose flour.
What types of caramels should I use in this recipe?
I used the Werther’s Originals SOFT CHEWY caramels. Don’t use hard caramels in this cookie recipe. You can also use Kraft caramels or caramel bits.
Equipment
Storage
These Caramel Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies store very well. I suggest keeping it in an airtight container. The cookies will stay fresh for a few days.
If you would like to freeze these cookies, place them in a Ziploc freezer-safe bag.
Top tip
Watch the cookies carefully and don’t overbake. To ensure that the cookies don’t burn on the bottom, I suggest using a LIGHT COLORED cookie sheet. Also, you can place the cookie sheet on a higher rack in the oven.
Related
Looking for other Levain Bakery Cookie Recipes like this? Try these:
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Levain Bakery Caramel Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter (cold, cut into cubes)
- 1 cup Brown Sugar (packed)
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 large Eggs
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract (optional)
- 1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 1/2 cups Cake Flour *
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 1/2 cups Sweetened Flaked Coconut
- 2 cups Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
- 16 Soft Caramels (Werther's or Kraft, cut into small pieces)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Add eggs and vanilla and mix for 1 minute longer.
- Stir in all-purpose flour, cake flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.
- Fold in coconut and chocolate chips.
- Roll the dough into 6-ounce large balls. Place on a parchment paper lined light colored baking sheet.
- Cut the caramels into small pieces. Place the caramels in and around the center of the cookie. This is important so the caramel doesn't get close to the outside of the cookie which may result in the caramel sticking to the pan.
- Space the cookies apart with only 4 or 5 on each baking sheet. Bake for 8 1/2 – 10 minutes or until a light golden color.
- Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to set up for about 10-15 minutes before removing from the pan.
Notes
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Best. Cookies. Ever. This is the second version of this recipe I’ve tried and I definitely saved the best for last. It has the perfect amount of everything. I used it as the base for an award winning recipe this year with my homemade caramel but it’s really great with the Werther’s as a stand alone cookie. I tried it as is and it came out amazing. Served warm or days old sitting on the counter. Can’t lose. For my own tweak I use half sweetened coconut and half unsweet. Thank you so much for all of your hard work making this recipe for us, I love love love it!
I am so happy that you loved this recipe! Thank you so much for following along Jennifer!
These are very good, but to make them more authentic to what Levain actually does, I would make the following changes:
1 1/2 UNsweetened flaked coconut (sweetened coconut made it much sweeter than Levain’s)
1 C Heath toffee bits (cut-up caramels or Kraft caramel bits made it overly gooey and sticky; Levain’s was not like that)
1 1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips
If you do the above, it will be much more like Levain’s Caramel Coconut Chocolate Chip cookies!!
Thanks for your suggestions Emily!
I have made these cookies twice and they are absolutely amazing. A winner recipe! Can you freeze the dough? Would love to make the dough ahead of time and bake fresh the day I want them.
Hi Randy! I am so glad you love this recipe. You can definitely freeze the dough! I recommend storing the frozen cookie dough in an airtight container for up to 3 months. When ready to bake let the cookie dough come to room temp and bake as normal. Or you can bake from frozen and add 1-2 minutes to the total bake time. I hope that helps!
Fantastic cookie flavor but I messed them up. I forgot the cornstarch. I don’t know if that makes a difference but these had major spread. I weighed each cookie at 3 ounces (instead of 6) and decreased the baking time. When I pulled the first batch out of the oven, I had flat cookies. I threw the sheet in the fridge for 45 minutes and the next batch was better. Regardless, they taste amazing and I’ll try them again. Eventually, I plan an attempting all the Levain recipes you have posted. My coworkers are extremely happy I found your page!
BTW, I am going to try ALL your copycat cookie recipes. My “tasters” are waiting… Thanks so much for your exceptional talent and graciousness to share!
Those are some lucky tasters! I would love to hear your favorites. 🙂
I REALLY didn’t believe that this was going to come out so good! I have some “tasters” that review what I’ve baked. “10 out of 10″…enough said!! (Except one of them gave them a “12”)
Aw I’m so glad all of the tasters approved! Thank you so much for your comment, Myra!
OK, so I say to myself, “yeah, another copycat recipe…” OMG, this was EXCEPTIONAL!! I made an “experiment” with this recipe, just because, and I bring it to my school (I’m a teacher by profession). I already had to commit to make one of my favorite colleagues a dozen for his b-day. Have no words to express my gratitude…and my husband…”Fogetaboutit!”
That makes me so so happy to hear. Thank you so much for making my recipe, Myra!
Hello Melissa,
Have you ever tried using Caramel Syrup in place of the caramel? Or would they all just stick to the pan?
Thank you,
Sandi D.