German Chocolate Cookies

Hello friends! Today we are making German Chocolate Cookies. Chewy and soft chocolate cookies, with a scrumptious coconut pecan filling.

The coconut filling is absolutely delicious and easy to make.

It’s actually based off brigadeiros, which is a Brazilian fudge made out of sweetened condensed milk.

So this has a texture very similar to brigadeiro, but a bit softer because we are adding some coconut milk (or heavy cream) when making it.

I added pecans and coconut to the filling, to incorporate the elements of the German Chocolate Cake dessert that inspired these cookies.

When making these German Chocolate Cookies, you want to start by making the cookie dough.

I used Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk to make the cookie dough. Using sweetened condensed milk to make the dough is what makes these cookies stand out in texture and flavor. They are not your regular chocolate sugar cookies, they are soft, chewy, and have a delectable sweetened condensed milk taste, which makes them rich and so flavorful.

The dough is very simple to make. This recipe makes a very easy to work with dough. It doesn’t require a whole lot of chilling, and it’s easy to roll it out and cut into cookies.

Using sweetened condensed milk in the cookie dough is an absolute game changer.

It enhances not only the taste of the cookies, giving them sweet milk notes, but also makes for an amazing texture.

The cookies will have a chewy and soft texture at the same time, making them perfect for filling later on.

After making the dough wrap it in plastic and place it in the fridge for about 1 hour. You can leave it longer, up to 2 days in the fridge.

Chilling the dough is actually not absolutely necessary, it just makes it easier to roll it out, and you’ll have to use less flour if the dough has chilled. If you don’t chill the dough, you may have to use a bit more flour to roll it out.

To roll out the dough, first cut it into 4 sections. It makes it much easier to roll the dough.

I used a 2″ cookie cutter to cut the cookies.

Right after cutting the cookies, place them in a baking sheet. The cookies don’t have to be too far apart, because they won’t spread too much as they bake, they also won’t rise much.

You can bake the cookies immediately, they don’t need to chill before baking.

Time baking will vary, but the chocolate cookies will be done baking when the middle doesn’t look “wet” and shiny anymore, it can take 8 minutes or so. Time baking also depends on the size of the cookies, the thickness or their diameter.

After the cookies are baked, let them cool down before filling.

You can make the filling ahead as well.

The filling consists of: sweetened condensed milk, shredded coconut, chopped pecans, coconut milk (or heavy cream), and butter. We cook this mixture over the double boiler until thick, and then let it cool down before using it to fill the cookies.

The filling can be kept at room temperature for a day. If you place it in the fridge, might become too hard to pipe. You can always let it come to room temperature before piping or heat it up gently for about 5 second increments in the microwave.

The recipe makes a bit more than you will need, but I am using two cans of sweetened condensed milk.

If you halve the recipe and use just one can, you won’t have enough to fill all the cookies. So you can do that if you want and just keep some cookies without filling, or make the full recipe and have leftovers, which is more than fine because this is so good you will want to eat it with a spoon.

You can also refrigerate any leftovers for about 15 days, or freeze for up to 2 months, and use to fill macarons, or as cake filling.

You can decorate the tops of the cookies with melted chocolate. Drizzle the chocolate over the cookies, and while the chocolate is still wet, top with shredded coconut, or chopped pecans.

Another option for decorating the cookies is to dip them in chocolate. I like dipping half of the cookie, it looks super pretty, and it’s less messy.

While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle the tops of the cookies with any toppings of your choice. Because these are German Chocolate cookies, I used German chocolate to dip the cookies.

And for the toppings I picked shredded coconut and chopped pecans.

I liked to have a combination of the drizzled and the dipped cookies.

And I think these cookies will be beautiful in my cookie box this year.

I made extra and froze some, and in December I am going to add them to my cookie box.

Tips for making these German Chocolate Cookies

• Don’t roll the dough out too thin of the cookies, because they don’t rise much in the oven when they bake.
• When rolling out the dough, try to use as little flour as possible, as that can make the cookies dry and tough from all the flour excess. If the dough is sticking too much even after adding flour, refrigerate it for a bit, or roll it between two sheets of wax paper.
• Be careful not to over bake the cookies, since they are brown, it’s hard to tell by their color when they’re done baking, so the best way to tell is to look right in the center on top of the cookie and make sure it doesn’t look wet or sticky. When it looks set and baked, that’s when the cookies are done baking in the oven.
• Don’t over cook the filling, as soon as it’s falling off the spatula into chunks, and you can see the bottom of the pan when running the spatula through the middle, you can remove it from the heat.
• These cookies travel great. The filling can stay for up to a day at room temperature.

If you like these cookies, here are some other you might like:

• Chocolate Dulce de Leche Thumbprints
• White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
• Dulce de Leche Thumbprints
• Fudge Gingerbread Linzers
• Passionfruit Cookies
• Lime Thumbprints
• Homemade Oreo
• Pretzel Chocolate Chip
• Dulce de Leche Crumbl Cookies

Thank you so much for reading!

German Chocolate Cookies

Camila Hurst

These German Chocolate Cookies are feature a delicious Coconut Pecan filling, they are soft and chewy, the perfect cookie to bake if you are feeling a little fancy.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 24 sandwich cookies

Calories 230 kcal

Ingredients

  

Chocolate Cookie Dough

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened 169 grams
• 1 14 oz. can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk 396 grams
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar 150 grams
• 1 large egg room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour 382 grams
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 75 grams
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

Coconut Filling

• 2 14 oz. cans Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk 792 grams
• 1 1/2 cup shredded coconut 132 grams
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans 81 grams
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup coconut milk or heavy cream

To decorate

• 1/3 cup chocolate preferably German chocolate, but you can use any
• 3 tbsp shredded coconut
• 3 tbsp chopped pecans

Instructions

 

Chocolate Cookie Dough

• Start by beating the butter with an electric mixer for 2 minutes, until fluffy and creamy.
• Add the Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk and sugar and mix to combine.
• Then add the egg and vanilla to the bowl. Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally to ensure all ingredients are getting blended together.
• Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt, mix on the lowest setting until almost entirely incorporated. I like to finish mixing the ingredients by hand with a spatula which ensures the dough isn’t getting overworked, and also ensures all ingredients from the bottom of the bowl are getting incorporated nicely together.
• Transfer the dough to the counter and wrap it on plastic tightly. Place it in the fridge for at least 1 hour, you an also make it the day before and roll it out the next day.
• Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF.
• After 2 hours, remove the dough from the fridge, cut it into 4 pieces and work with one piece at a time, leaving the other pieces covered with the plastic, inside the fridge.
• Sprinkle the counter with some flour, and then sprinkle some flour on top of the piece of dough. Begin rolling with a rolling pin, until the dough is 1/4” thick. You may need to add more flour to the bottom of the dough, so it doesn’t stick to the counter, but don’t be so liberal with the flour, you don’t want to add too much of it, because it can make the dough dry.
• Use the cookie cutters of your choice to cut shapes out of the cookie dough, I used a 2” round cutter. Place the cookies about 1 inch apart from each other on top of a parchment paper lined baking sheet. They actually won’t rise or spread too much during baking.
• Bake the cookies in the pre-heated oven for about 8 minutes, time baking will depend on the size of the cookies, smaller cookies will take less time to bake, and big cookies will take longer. Once the cookies don’t look wet on top anymore you can remove them from the oven, if they still look wet to shiny in the middle on top, keep baking them for another minute then check again.
• Gather the leftover dough back into a ball, then flatten it out and roll it out, repeat cutting with the cookie cutters.
• Repeat rolling, cutting, and baking with the remaining dough that’s in the fridge.
• Keep the baked cookies in an air tight container for up to 4 days at room temperature. You can freeze the cookies for one to two months.

Coconut Filling

• To make the coconut filling, add the sweetened condensed milk, shredded coconut, pecans, butter, and coconut milk (or heavy cream) in a medium saucepan. Cook the ingredients over medium heat, stirring non stop the whole time, for about 10 minutes, until the mixture is thick and falling into chunks off the spatula.
• Remove it from the saucepan and pour into a bowl. Let it cool down completely, keep it at room temperature. The filling can be kept at room temperature for a day. If you place it in the fridge, might become too hard to pipe. You can always let it come to room temperature before piping or heat it up gently for about 5 second increments in the microwave.

To assemble

• To assemble the cookies, place the coconut filling in a piping bag fitted with a round tip.
• Pipe some filling on the bottom side of a cookie, then top with another cookie.

To decorate

• Melt the chocolate in the microwave, then you can dip the sandwich cookies in the melted chocolate, or drizzle it on top of the cookies. While the chocolate is still wet, top it with shredded coconut or chopped pecans.

To store

• Store the cookies in the fridge for up to 5 days, in the freezer for up to 2 months. It can also stay at room temperature for up to one day.

Notes

Rolling the dough: When rolling out the dough, try to use as little flour as possible, as that can make the cookies dry and tough from all the flour excess. If the dough is sticking too much even after adding flour, refrigerate it for a bit, or roll it between two sheets of wax paper.

Pecan Coconut Filling: The recipe makes a bit more filling than you will need, but I am using two cans of sweetened condensed milk. If you halve the recipe and use just one can, you won’t have enough to fill all the cookies. So you can do that if you want and just keep some cookies without filling, or make the full recipe and have leftovers, which is more than fine because this is so good you will want to eat it with a spoon. You can also refrigerate any leftovers for about 15 days, or freeze for up to 2 months, and use to fill macarons, or as cake filling.

Cooking time: Don’t over cook the filling, as soon as it’s falling off the spatula into chunks, and you can see the bottom of the pan when running the spatula through the middle, you can remove it from the heat.

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