In cookie recipes, it’s difficult to find the balance of enough liquid flavor without ruining the cookie’s texture and spreadability. However, these soft coconut lime cookies nail it! Using 1/4 cup of lime juice, a little coconut extract, and plenty of sweetened shredded coconut, the cookies are flavorful with just enough spread. Roll the dough balls in granulated sugar before baking, then finish the cookies with tangy lime glaze.
Coconut Lime Cookies Details
- Flavor: These coconut lime cookies have a refreshing summery flavor that hits the spot if you crave a unique cookie when the weather warms up. Don’t skip the glaze because it adds flavor—it also sets after a couple hours so the cookies are convenient to stack, store, and/or transport.
- Texture: These are soft cookies with a slightly cakey crumb. They are not nearly as cake-like as blueberry muffin cookies though.
- Helpful Tools: This is a pretty simple cookie recipe that requires an electric mixer. If you have a food processor, pulse the coconut a few times to break the shreds down before mixing into the cookie dough. I recommend this in our coconut macaroons and coconut cake recipes, too. Smaller pieces of coconut keep the cookie dough balls tight and compact and leave a more desirable texture. If you don’t have a food processor, just give the coconut a quick chop with a sharp knife. You can use bottled lime juice or squeeze fresh limes at home using a citrus juicer. Here is a wonderful juicer if you don’t have one and need a recommendation. And finally, make sure you have a zester.
- Time: Chilling the cookie dough for at least 1.5 hours in the refrigerator is a non-negotiable. These coconut lime cookies contain excess liquid (lime juice), so the dough is very soft and sticky. The colder and firmer the cookie dough, the less they’ll over-spread. As a bonus, giving the dough time in the refrigerator before baking allows the flavors to develop and settle.
Video Tutorial: How to Make Coconut Lime Cookies
Key Flavor Ingredients in Coconut Lime Cookies
- Lime Juice & Zest: You can use regular limes or key limes. I haven’t tested these coconut lime cookies without citrus. For a coconut lemon cookie, feel free to swap the lime juice and zest with lemon juice/zest. There’s a bit more citrus flavor in today’s cookies than the lemon ginger cookies. (This recipe also yields more.)
- Sweetened Shredded Coconut: I strongly recommend using sweetened shredded coconut because it’s moister than unsweetened and that makes a big difference in the cookie’s flavor, moisture, and texture. Knowing the texture and flavor will change, you can use unsweetened coconut flakes if that’s all you have.
- Coconut Extract: Like in this chocolate coconut cupcakes recipe, I found the coconut flavor lacking in these cookies without a little coconut extract. The cookies are still great without it, but if you can find coconut extract, use it. It’s pretty common in most major grocery stores.
Some step-by-step photos to help guide you through the recipe:
Recipe Testing: What Works and What Doesn’t
After I mastered the base recipe with enough lime juice and coconut flavor, I wanted to experiment with different finishing touches. These include rolling the cookie dough balls in confectioners’ sugar, leaving them plain, and rolling in granulated sugar. When I first envisioned the cookies, I wanted a crinkle cookie similar to my lemon crinkle cookies and chocolate crinkle cookies. However, as you’ll read below, I found their flavor lacking without the glaze.
Each of the following cookies were made with the same cookie dough.
- Top Left – Butter Too Warm: Before I could even start taste testing with different finishing touches, I sabotaged my efforts by accidentally starting with too soft/too warm butter. Remember that room temperature butter is still quite solid and cool to the touch.
- Top Right – Rolled in Confectioners’ Sugar: I loved these! But wanted more lime flavor from a glaze.
- Bottom Left – Plain: I baked the cookie dough balls completely plain without rolling in granulated sugar. I also skipped the lime glaze. The cookies were tasty, but they definitely benefit from both of the following finishes.
- Bottom Right – Rolled in Granulated Sugar + Added Lime Glaze: These were the clear winner. Taste testers could not stop snacking on them (even when the cookies were 3 days old!). Thanks to the lime glaze, the lime flavor was strong. Rolling in granulated sugar was the perfect amount of sweetness AND it gave the edges a little bit of texture.
If you need more cookie inspiration, today’s cookies join 25+ others on my Summer Cookie Recipes collection page.
And remember baking is a science and I’m happy to share my best baking tips and test recipe variations so you don’t have to!
Print
Glazed Coconut Lime Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: 50 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These coconut lime cookies have a refreshing summery flavor that hits the spot when the weather warms up. Don’t skip the glaze because it adds flavor; it also sets after a couple hours so the cookies are convenient to stack, store, and/or transport. Set aside enough time to chill the cookie dough in step 4.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/4 cups (100g) sweetened shredded coconut*
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) granulated sugar, divided
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60ml) fresh or bottled lime juice (regular or key lime), at room temperature*
- 2 teaspoons lime zest (regular or key lime)*
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
Lime Glaze
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar (or more, as needed)
- 2 Tablespoons (23ml) fresh lime juice
Instructions
- Optional but recommended: Pulse the coconut shreds in a food processor or chop them up with a sharp knife so they are finer. Smaller pieces make a more desirable texture in the baked cookies. Set aside for step 3.
- Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until creamed, about 1 minute. Add the egg, lime juice, lime zest, and coconut extract and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Mixture will appear curdled and that’s ok. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl. Turn the mixer down to medium speed and beat in the coconut. Add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until combined. Dough is thick, creamy, and sticky.
- Cover and chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for at least 1.5 hours (and up to 4 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite firm.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Pour remaining sugar into a large bowl. Roll cookie dough into balls, about 1 Tablespoon of dough per cookie. Roll each in granulated sugar. Arrange 3 inches apart on the baking sheets.
- Bake for 12-13 minutes or until very lightly browned on the sides.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the glaze: Whisk the glaze ingredients together. If desired, add more confectioners’ sugar to thicken or more juice to thin out. The thicker the glaze, the whiter (and less translucent) it will be. Drizzle on cooled cookies and feel free to garnish each with more shredded coconut and/or lime zest. Icing will set after about 1 hour, so these are convenient to store and transport.
- Cookies without glaze stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. Cookies with glaze stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Cookie dough balls without coating in sugar freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw for 30 minutes, coat each in sugar, then bake. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough. Baked cookies, with or without glaze, freeze well for up to 3 months.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Food Processor | Citrus Juicer | Citrus Zester | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack
- Sweetened Shredded Coconut: I strongly recommend using sweetened shredded coconut because it’s moister than unsweetened and that makes a big difference in the cookie’s flavor, moisture, and texture. Knowing the texture and flavor will change, you can use unsweetened coconut flakes if that’s all you have. Give them a rough chop or pulse in the food processor as instructed in step 1.
- Cornstarch: If you don’t have cornstarch, you can leave it out. It helps maintain a thicker, softer cookie but test batches without it were still intact and delicious.
- Limes: You can use regular limes or key limes. Since they’re so tiny, you need at least 7-8 key limes for this amount of juice (in the dough and glaze) and zest. If using regular limes, you need about 3. Feel free to use lemon juice/zest instead of lime. I haven’t tested this recipe without citrus. If you want a plain coconut cookie, try these coconut macadamia nut cookies, skip the nuts, and add 1 teaspoon coconut extract when you beat in the vanilla extract.
I prefer to use salted butter when baking. Should I decrease amount of added salt ?
Hi Cheryl, if using salted butter in this recipe, you can reduce the added salt down to 1/4 teaspoon.
What do you think about adding some white chocolate chips to these? Would it mess with the final texture? Would it make cookies too sweet?
Hi Olivia, adding about a cup of white chocolate chips should work well. Let us know how it goes!
I would love to try this recipe but I can’t find sweetened shredded coconut in Australia. Can you recommend substitutions? Thank you very much
Hi Kate, have you been able to find unsweetened coconut flakes by chance? Those would work in a pinch, although the cookies will be a little less sweet and a tad drier (since sweetened coconut provides additional taste and moisture). If you can’t find any coconut, you could try these plain lemon cookies and swap the lemon for lime. Hope this helps!
I made these for my elderly Southern neighbors last week. They said these were the most delicious cookies they’ve ever had in their lives. I toasted the coconut for 13 minutes at 300 degrees. I am making for them again today because Jay ate more than his share and Mary Lou did not get that many. They are so cute and the best neighbors ever. I cook and bake for them weekly. I gave this recipe 5 stars however the stars would not stay filled in. ?
I realize you might not have an answer to this, but if I want to add (quick) oats, how much flour should I subtract? Is there a general rule for this? Love the idea of the recipe and hope I didn’t offend by wanting to change it a little bit. Bad results would be totally my responsibility.
Hi Jeff! There isn’t a perfect rule for substituting oats and it will require some testing. We would love to hear what you try!
My dough has started to rise ??? I put it into a stainless steel mixing bowl, covered it with Stretch-Tite plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator. Opened the refrigerator about an hour later, and the dough had started to expand. I didn’t know that baking soda would do this. What’s going on?
We haven’t experienced that with these cookies before—did you happen to make any ingredient substitutions?
I want to try this recipe. After a few of the ingredients there is an asterisk, and I can’t find out why. Could you please explain what I am missing? Thank you!
Hi Anna, the ingredients with asterisks mean that there’s a note about each of them down below the recipe, in the Notes section. (Scroll down to below the video.) Hope your cookies turn out great!
so this is my second time making them but i wanted to make the dough balls and freeze them ahead of time. i had already coated half of them in sugar when i remembered i wasn’t supposed to do that yet. what will happen to those that i accidentally coated before freezing? do i still let them sit for 30 min before baking?
Hi Jessica! The sugar coating will just melt into the cookies as they thaw, but it’s not a big deal. Still let them thaw for 30 minutes, coat each in sugar (re-coat the ones you already coated), then bake.
i made these for easter brunch and everyone went CRAZY for them! they ended up not really spreading far from their ball shape, but the flavor and texture were both still fabulous. i was wondering what you think it could’ve been that caused them not to spread? also i’m making them again this weekend but want to use up a jar of unrefined coconut oil. can this replace the butter and maybe intensify the coconut flavor? thank you!!
Hi Jessica, we’re so glad to hear these were a hit! How did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured. If there is too much flour, that can prevent the cookies from spreading. (This post on 5 tips to improve your next batch of cookies includes a note about what to do if cookies AREN’T spreading, which should be helpful, too). We haven’t tested this recipe with solid coconut oil, but we do expect the cookies to spread more (which may help for you!). You may want to extend the cookie dough chill time. Let us know if you try it!
I have found this to happen frequently with certain cookie recipes (like ginger spice). I am lazy and haven’t looked into experimenting why, so when I find a recipe that does this I gently press the cookie balls before baking (after rolling in sugar and placed on sheet) with the bottom of a glass and they turn out fabulous every time and look professional.
I love your recipes Sally. I was wondering if I could use almond flour instead of regular flour for these cookies. Would I need to make any other changes?
Hi Cheryl, we don’t recommend it. Almond flour has very different baking properties than regular flour, and it’s not always a simple 1:1 swap. You could try using a gluten free all-purpose flour, but we haven’t specifically tested it ourselves. Let us know if you give anything a try!
These were yummy but mine didn’t flatten at all. I did follow the recipe exactly and there were no substitutions. I feel strongly they would have worked better with no time in the refrigerator (they were in for 2 hours). I’m in maine and it’s winter so maybe because it’s so dry here. Not sure but if i make again i won’t put into the refrigerator. They did taste delicious though but i think flatter (like your pictures) would make them better.
Brilliant recipe. Works beautifully. I have made this recipe as written, once without the glaze (which I preferred), and another time, subbing lemon for lime.
Hi Sally,
Love your recipes. I am from the UK and just wondering if shredded coconut is the same as the desiccated coconut we get here? If not can desiccated coconut be used as shredded coconut is not available. Thanks
Hi Dee, that should work just fine. Desiccated coconut is often drier so the cookies’ texture may change slightly. Let us know how it goes!
Hi Sally!
I have been wanting to make these for so long, but haven’t since I can’t find coconut extract anywhere. Recently I’ve found coconut palm sugar so I was wondering could I substitute regular sugar with this and in that way enhance the coconut flavor instead of using coconut extract?
Hi Sarah, We haven’t tested this recipe that way so we can’t say for sure, but let us know if you decide to give it a try!
Hey Sally, coming back with results. So I made a lot of tests comparing different batches. First I made 2 batches, one with regular sugar and one with coconut palm sugar from a high-quality spice store. On another occasion I have also made 2 batches, one with coconut palm sugar from the spice store and a cheaper version with coconut palm sugar from a convenience store. After that, I have made 2 batches with different amounts of sugar. One with whole amount and another with half the sugar. Didn’t want to write an essay but one comment everyone made was that eventhough they were really tasty that they were too sweet eventhough I reduced the amount of sugar in different batches. So, my conclusion is that the problem was the coconut palm sugar because when baked it has a really intense taste. I guess I will have to wait till they ship coconut extract here to make these again. :'(
Your metric conversions are off. 1.5 cups sugar isn’t 300g. Which system are we to use?
Hi Beau, 1 US standard cup of regular granulated sugar weighs about 200g. 1 US standard cup of liquid holds 240ml or 8 ounces volume. There may be differences in mass and/or volume depending on region, but the written measurements are how these recipes are tested. Are you weighing a different type of sugar?
can i substitute vanilla extract if i don’t have coconut extract? or just leave it out altogether?
Hi Tracy, the cookies are still great without it! If you can’t find coconut extract, 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract works wonderfully, or use a combination of 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. Happy baking!
Absolutely loved these! Will definitely be adding them to my list of go-to cookies. Made them for a party and everyone loved them!
The flavor, the texture, the zest! – Everything was absolutely delicious about this cookie. I’ve made at least 7 cookie recipes from Sally’s website and this one was one of the easiest to make and the flavor was my favorite! This is also the only one where people asked me for the recipe.
These were not on my radar, but I had coconut and several limes leftover from the holidays, so I decided to give them a try, and I am so glad I did. They are delicious. If you are looking for a new cookie, make these.
Does using sugar substitute make the cookie more crunchy?
I accidentally added all the sugar to the dough instead of reserving some for rolling. The dough balls are now in the freezer and I just realized this mistake; I’m planning to bake them this weekend. Will they be ok with extra sugar inside and none outside?
Hi Jess, you can certainly still bake them up (unfortunately there’s no way to remove the extra sugar at this point!). The additional sugar in the dough may change the texture a bit, but they still should be delicious. Hope you enjoy them!
Hi! Love the cookie recipe! I was wondering if I could use lemons instead of limes?
Hi Tab, We can’t see why not! Let us know if you give it a try.
Good evening! I made these cookies recently, for a family gathering. Everyone loved them. Thank you! Could I jumbo size these and use a 1/4 cup measure for making them? Thanks for your wonderful recipes.
Hi Sarah, We haven’t tried making these cookies that large. If you wish to test it you may want to lower your oven temperature 325°F to ensure the large cookies cook evenly, instead of over-browning on the edges and tops. I’m unsure of the bake time they would need. Let us know if you give it a try!
My new favorite cookie recipe! These are addicting. Thank you!
Thank you for this delicious recipe. I made it for the first time today and it did not disappoint. They came out perfectly. Even my five year old ate three of them in one sitting! As always, your recipes and instructions have given me joy and confidence in baking.
Fantastic light melt in your mouth almost angelic cookie !!! My husbands fav cookie used to be snickerdoodles…. but it’s a whole new world now for him ! A new family favorite Sally ! I am a hudge fan of your most encouraging directives in every recipe I try from you . Thank you for giving me the confidence in pie and so much more !
Have these been tried with toasted coconut?! =)
Hi LeeAnn, we haven’t tested this recipe with toasted coconut in the batter, but garnishing with toasted coconut is a delicious option. Let us know if you try anything!
Hi. Im planning on freezing cookie dough balls. Should I roll in the sugar before I freeze? Thank you!
Hi Sandra, it’s fine either way but I usually recommend freezing without the sugar topping then coating in sugar right before baking. See How to Freeze Cookie Dough post.
Hi, may I substitute all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour?
Hi Angelica! We haven’t tested these cookies with whole wheat flour, but fear it would leave the cookies dry and crumbly.
So I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour. They were just a bit dry but turned out really well, overall. I might reduce the flour by a half of cup and try again.
Looking forward to trying these. Is there an easy formula for making them gluten-free??
Thank you.
Hi Mary, We haven’t tested these cookies with gluten free flour, but please let us know if you do!
Does icing sugar i the cookie dough make it crunchy?