German Chocolate Cake Cookies

Take a delicious chocolate chip cookie, pump it up with the addition of sweetened coconut, and then up the ante by adding a homemade German Chocolate frosting? Complete with pecans, coconut, and chocolate, these cookies are impossible to resist!

If you know me or are friends with me on Snapchat, then you are well aware that one of my absolute favorite side hustles/life activities is hosting trivia at Penn Social on Tuesday nights.

Between the free beer, free food that I don’t eat because it all involves meat and cheese (where the vegan options at, P-Sosh?!), clever team names, and tipsy enthusiasm of my participants, it is absolutely a highlight of the week, every week!

Now, I’m absolutely terrible at trivia, which is how I got into hosting in the first place. I figured – if I can’t get the answers on my own, why not force someone else to give me the answers?! Being paid is just a nice bonus 😉

However, when I was invited to be a guest on the District Trivia ‘We Don’t Know Either’ podcast and had to write my own questions, I panicked. What do you mean, write my own! You guys write them for me! THAT IS THE POINT OF THIS WHOLE OPERATION WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!?!

I was stuck in a really dark place, at odds with my emotions, taking long walks alone in the rain, pondering unanswerable questions like “why do the trivia people hate me so much?” and “why didn’t I bring an umbrella?”

So, in this time of need, I chose to focus on what I do best – baking. I did a little bit of research into baking history, and discovered this fascinating tidbit about chocolate chips:

The chocolate chip cookie came before the chocolate chip. In the 1930s, Ruth Wakefield of the Tollhouse Inn chopped up some chocolate and threw it into her cookie batter in hopes it would melt into the cookie. It did not, but the chocolate chip cookie was so popular that manufacturers began creating chocolate bits for cookies. As such, the chocolate chip was born!

This recipe is for you, Ruth. You keep doing you. Also, if you want to hear me ramble about cookies on air, you’ll have to wait til next Monday. BUT, if you want to hear me awkwardly talk about speed dating and how scared I am of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyworld, take a gander at this week’s episode! And come out to Penn Social at 7PM on Tuesday – you won’t regret it 😊

German Chocolate Cake Cookies

To make these cookies, you will need:
Cookies
– 2 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
– 1 t baking soda
– Pinch salt
– 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
– 3/4 cup light brown sugar
– 3/4 cup granulated sugar
– 2 eggs
– 1 t vanilla extract
– 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
– 1.5 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Frosting
– 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
– 1 egg
– 1/2 cup evaporated milk
– 2/3 cup granulated sugar
– 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
– 1/2 cup chopped pecans

First, preheat your oven to 350F. In a small bowl, whisk together your flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine your butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat well until fully combined, light, and fluffy, then beat the eggs in one at a time. Add vanilla.

Add the dry mixture into the butter mixture, stirring just until no streaks of flour remain. Stir in chocolate chips and coconut, then allow dough to chill in the fridge or freezer for at least 30 minutes while you make the German Chocolate frosting.

Add your butter, egg, sugar, and evaporated milk to a medium saucepan and heat over medium low, stirring frequently so that the egg does not scramble.

Let cook for 10-12 minutes, until mixture begins to thicken, then remove from heat and stir in coconut and pecan pieces. Let chill while you bake your cookies.

Scoop your chilled cookie dough by the tablespoon onto a cookie sheet lined with Silpat or parchment paper. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown around the edges. Remove to a wire rack and let cool.

Once both the cookies and the frosting have cooled to room temperature, go ahead and spread the frosting onto the cookies! Try to resist eating the frosting straight from the spot along the way – this stuff is so good, you could drink it!

And there you have it! All the goodness of German Chocolate Cake in quick, easy, single-serving cookie form. Now, the real challenge is trying to have JUST one or two… or three… or four…?

Have a fantastic week, readers!

XOXO,
Jess