Coconut Scone Cookies

Is it a scone? Is it a cookie? Coconut Scone Cookies are the best of both worlds.

It’s a coconut cookie that comes together in an easy scone recipe. That makes this a bite-size scone “cookie” that no coconut lover will be able to resist.

These are scones you can eat for dessert and cookies you can eat for breakfast. A crumbly biscuit-y scone is topped with sweet vanilla glaze and dotted with perfectly toasted flakes of light and ever-so-slightly-crisp coconut. They’re a nice change from the berry and citrus scones that tend to get most of the attention!

Coconut scone cookies are delicious fresh from the oven at a big family breakfast. They also make a great “grab and go” breakfast for busy mornings and a tasty mid-morning or afternoon snack. Make sure you set one or two (or three or four) aside for yourself to enjoy with a hot cup of coffee or tea before the kids eat them all up!

Coconut Cookies

If you love coconut as much as I do, you MUST also make some of my other favorite coconut cookie recipes. Coconut Lover’s Oatmeal Cookies are a go-to simple and crowd pleasing cookie and my showstopping German Chocolate Macaroons absolutely can’t be beat when it comes to decadent, impressive and tasty.

For the true coconut lover in your life, you’ll want to save my Grandma’s recipe for Coconut Chews. They’ve been one of my favorite treats to both make and eat ever since I was a kid.

Back to Coconut Cookie Scones! Raspberry Scone Cookies

How To Make Scones

Scones are an often misunderstood baked good. They’re not flat biscuits or the dense and dry triangles of bread you see in the pastry shops at chain coffee shops. When well made, scones are buttery, flaky, tender, light pastries that are still sturdy enough to hold up to glaze, icing or a spread of your favorite butter and jam.

Learning to make a good basic scone will serve you well in your baking life. Starting with cold butter and a combination of flour, sugar, baking powder and buttermilk or cream (or coconut cream, in this recipe) you pull together a basic dough before cutting it into your desired shape and baking.

Traditionally, scone dough is cut into triangles or circles before baking. Since this is a cookie-inspired scone recipe, I opted to scoop the dough into neat little round balls before baking. This makes them into bite-sized delights ready to pop into your mouth.

Coconut Scone Cookies are the best of the scone and cookie worlds! - get the recipe at barefeetinthekitchen.com

How To Cut In Butter

If you’ve been reading this website for long at all, you may have noticed that I love to grate cold butter for certain recipes. This is a recipe that benefits from that easy method of cutting in the butter. It’s so much easier to cut cold butter into your flour after it’s been grated.

A big key for successfully getting that crumbly texture you’re looking for when cutting butter is using butter that’s extremely cold. You know how most cookie recipes call for butter that’s been softened to room temperature? Definitely DON’T do that here.

Make sure your grater, bowl and all the other ingredients you need for your recipe are out and ready to go BEFORE you grab your stick of butter from the refrigerator. Once it’s out and grated, quickly toss it with the flour mixture to coat every single little bit of that buttery goodness. This helps keep your dough from turning into a wet melted mess.

You can use either a fork or a pastry cutter to combine the butter with the flour but your fingers can work well, too(especially if your hands tend to run cold!).

Tips for Toasting Coconut

I use toasted coconut in all kinds of cookies, cakes and desserts because it really draws out the rich, nutty flavor of the coconut flakes. To toast either sweetened or unsweetened coconut flakes, simply spread the flakes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or a silicone mat) and bake at 350 degrees for 5 – 7 minutes or until lightly browned.

Keep a close eye on the flakes as they toast to prevent them from burning and be sure to let the flakes cool completely before adding them to your recipe. In the case of Coconut Scone Cookies, using warm coconut flakes would cause your scone glaze to melt making a gooey mess (they would still taste good though)!

Coconut Scone Cookies are a coconut lover's dream! - get the recipe at barefeetinthekitchen.com

Scone Recipes

After you make these scones once, you’ll find yourself wanting scones and scone cookies all the time. Maple lovers will do a little dance of joy when you feed them Maple Scone Cookies dotted with pecans and drizzled with rich maple frosting. Reach for slightly tart Raspberry Scone Cookies if, like me, you don’t have much of a sweet tooth.

What to Put on Scones

I find that Coconut Scone Cookies are buttery and sweet enough all on their own, thanks to the touch of glaze and toasted coconut on top of each one. But if you’re baking up a scone storm and looking for the right topping or spread, here are some of my favorites:

Butter
Clotted cream
Lemon Curd
Apple Butter
Your favorite homemade jam or preserves.
Vanilla Bean Icing or glaze

These are just a few ideas. Have fun experimenting with pairing different kinds of scones with different kinds of spreads and toppings!

Gluten Free Scones

These scones can be made gluten free by substituting a combination of brown rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch and xanthan gum for the all-purpose flour. Simply use this gluten free combination in place of the flour and proceed with the recipe as directed.

Whether you make them gluten free or the original way, these Coconut Scone Cookies are everything a coconut lover could want in a breakfast, dessert or snack. They’re tender, flaky and baked with nutty, complex coconut flavor. Best of all, they’re totally easy to prepare and come together in a snap.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a medium-size mixing bowl. Stir with a fork to combine.
Grate the cold butter and add the butter shreds to the flour mixture. Use a fork to mix the butter into the flour until it’s evenly dispersed and approximately pea-sized.
Stir together 1/3 cup coconut cream, vanilla, and coconut extracts. Add the liquids and stir until a loose, dry dough forms. Add additional cream, only if needed. Gently fold in the coconut.
Use a medium scoop to portion 12-18 balls of dough onto a lined baking sheet. Press the cookies together with your hands, if the dough is crumbling. Bake for 18-20 minutes and remove from the oven when very barely browned on the bottom, taking care not to brown the tops of the cookies.
Transfer the cookies to a wire rack. While the cookies cool, combine the powdered sugar, milk, and coconut extract in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth. Add more cream or milk, just a few drops at a time, as needed to thin the glaze.
Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies and immediately sprinkle with coconut. Store in an airtight container.

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