Blackberry Coconut Cookies

Two popular summer flavors join together to create these delicious blackberry coconut cookies! The cookies begin with a thick and chewy coconut cookie base, frosted with a tangy and nutty coconut cream cheese buttercream with a blackberry filling center, and are finished off with a toasted coconut garnish.

One of my favorite summer activities is picking a giant bowl of blackberries for $FREE.99 in a random field or wooded area. Berries aren’t cheap and it makes it all the sweeter to get juicy berries for only the effort of spending time foraging for them! I have good news for you though if you can’t get fresh/in season blackberries…this recipe tastes just as delicious using frozen berries.

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Blackberry Filling

To begin, make the blackberry filling to ensure proper cooling time before assembly. This filling is a snap to whip up! Simply stir together fresh or frozen blackberries, sugar, lemon zest and juice, and water in a medium saucepan. Cook the mixture down until the berries have thoroughly broken down, mashing them as you go.

To thicken, create a cornstarch slurry by mixing the cornstarch and water in a small bowl, and drizzling it into the blackberry mixture while stirring. Continue cooking and stirring for a few minutes until the mixture has thickened.

Set in the fridge to cool while you make the cookies and cream cheese frosting. (You can make this in advance and store in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble the cookies!)

Coconut Cookies

Next up is the cookie dough! This dough recipe is pretty straight forward with creaming the cream cheese, butter, and sugar, adding the eggs and vanilla and coconut extracts, mixing in the dry ingredients, and folding in the coconut.

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For larger cookies like the photos, use a 1/3 cup (2.2 oz ish) scoop. I’ve also made these using a 1.4 oz (2 heaping tbsp size) scoop and they turn out great but fair warning, the smaller cookies have less room for toppings which would just be a shame!

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 13-16 minutes until the bottoms of the cookies are just starting to get golden, and the centers are less shiny and not squishy when pressed with a gentle touch. Rotate trays halfway through the bake time to ensure even baking.

For perfectly round cookies, use the cookie scoot technique by using a cup/bowl/or round cookie cutter just larger than the cookies to swirl around the cookies when they’re fresh out of the oven! I also used the flat bottom of a glass to gently flatten the tops of the cookies just a bit since we’re adding toppings.

Allow cookies to fully cool before assembling.

Toasted Coconut

Next, toast the coconut by spreading it in a thin layer on a baking sheet, and baking at 350 until golden brown. Toss/stir halfway through once the edges have browned. This happens pretty quickly so keep a close eye on it to avoid over toasting! Set aside to cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Oh the delicious tang of cream cheese frosting! Cream the room temperature butter in an electric mixer until smooth, and then beat in the cream cheese, scraping down the bowl as needed to ensure all the lumps get worked out.

Next, add in the coconut extract, and gradually add in the powdered sugar and whip until combined. Do not over whip or it may become soupy!

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Adjust at this point to your sweetness/consistency preference by adding more powdered sugar if you want a stiffer/sweeter frosting. Cream cheese frosting is softer than most in general, but this frosting definitely runs on the softer/less powdered sugar side because I wanted to avoid it being too sweet for personal preference.

If the frosting is too soft to pipe, you may need to pop it in the fridge for a bit before assembling.

Assembly

Once all components are cool, fit a piping bag with a #32 piping tip, and fill the bag with the cream cheese frosting. Pipe a ring of buttercream using a rope technique (essentially piping in a corkscrew/repeated swirl shape) around each cookie, leaving about 1/2-3/4 inches of space from the sides. (If you want to skip the rope piping feel free to just pipe a regular ring!)

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Tip: If you want to create a circle “guide” to pipe along, press a metal cookie cutter onto the top of the cookie in the desired size just enough to create an indent.

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Press the toasted coconut against the outer edge of the cream cheese buttercream to garnish.

Honestly the cookies would be delicious just like this, but we’ve got blackberry filling to add!

Using a piping bag (or ziplock type bag with the corner cut off), pipe or spread a layer of the blackberry filling into the center of the cookies. Evenly distribute the filling between the cookies.

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Last but not least, enjoy! I hope you love this recipe. I definitely ate my fill of them because they were SO delicious!! Make sure to store it in the fridge since it’s cream cheese frosting and not a shelf stable fruit filling.

Just a little tip, it’s actually REALLY good served chilled, so skip letting it come to room temp out of the fridge and go for it!

Blackberry Coconut Cookies

Thick and chewy coconut cookies topped with tangy coconut cream cheese frosting and bright blackberry filling, and garnished with toasted coconut. These two summer flavors were meant to be together!

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Prep Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Chill Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 45 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Ingredients

  

Blackberry Filling

• 1½ cups fresh or frozen blackberries
• ¼ cup granulated sugar (plus an optional additional few tbsp to taste depending on the sweetness of the berries)
• ½ tbsp lemon zest (about 1/2 lemon worth)
• ½ tbsp lemon juice (about 1/4 lemon)
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 2 tsp water

Coconut Cookies

• 2 oz cream cheese (1/4 cup)
• 6 oz room temperature salted butter (3/4 cup) *If using unsalted butter add an additional heaping 1/4 tsp of salt
• 10.5 oz granulated sugar (1.5 cups)
• 1 egg plus 1 yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp coconut extract
• 14.8 oz all purpose flour (3.5 cups measured correctly, see notes)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1½ cups sweetened shredded coconut

Toasted Coconut

• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

• 4 oz cream cheese (1/2 cup)
• 3 oz salted butter (6 tbsp)
• 4.25 oz confectioner's sugar (1 cup)
• 1 tsp coconut extract
• fine salt (to taste) (optional)

Instructions

 

Blackberry Filling

• Place blackberries, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the berries have broken down. Mash and stir with a wooden spatula as you go.
• Once berries have broken down, taste to see if additional sugar needs to be added. Add 1-2 additional tablespoons if desired.
• In a small bowl, stir cornstarch and water together until completely combined.
• Add cornstarch slurry to the berries while stirring, and continue to stir.
• Bring mixture to a low simmer while stirring frequently. Be sure to fully scrape the bottom and sides of your pan as you go. Continue to cook until the filling has thickened.
• Remove filling from heat. Place in the fridge to chill.

Coconut Sugar Cookie

• Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit, and line 2 baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper.
• In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
• Cream the butter and cream cheese together in a large sized bowl using an electric mixer until well combined. Scrape down the bowl, and repeat.
• Add in granulated sugar, and continue creaming ingredients together until light and fluffy.
• Mix in the egg and the yolk, and beat until incorporated. Add in extracts and mix them in as well, once again scraping the bowl to ensure even mixing.
• With the mixer on a low speed, slowly add in the flour mixture, and allow dough to come together until just a few dry ingredient streaks are remaining.
• Add in the shredded coconut and mix on a low speed just until combined. Scrape down the bowl and mix a few more seconds.
• Using a 1/3 cup size cookie scoop, place no more than 8 cookies per tray. Press down the tops of the dough balls and flatten the sides to create a tall hockey puck shape. This will help the cookies bake more flat.
• Bake each tray for 12-15 minutes rotating halfway through. Bake until the bottom edges of the cookie are just beginning to turn golden brown, and the center is no longer shiny and doughy.
• Allow the cookies to cool completely before frosting/assembling. (Keep oven on for toasted coconut!)

Toasted Coconut

• Preheat (or keep) the oven at 350℉
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper, and spread the shredded coconut in an even layer.
• Bake for 2-3 minutes, or until the edges of the coconut have begun to brown.
• Stir the coconut, and bake for an additional few minutes until the coconut has achieved the desired level of toasteness.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

• *Note: This is a softer cream cheese frosting. It is pipeable and will work fine for the cookies if chilled and not overmixed/soupy. If you prefer a sweeter/stiffer cream cheese frosting, you can add in more powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time.
• Beat room temperature butter in a mixing bowl until smooth.
• Add cream cheese into the mixing bowl with your butter, and beat until thoroughly combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl down as you go.
• Mix in the coconut extract and mix briefly.
• With the mixer on low, slowly add in the powdered sugar, stopping to scrape down the sides here and there to fully incorporate all ingredients.
• Beat until just combined. Do not over mix or it will become soupy.
• Add more powdered sugar to taste at this point if you'd like your frosting stiffer or sweeter. Chill in the fridge until assembly.

Assembly

• Once all components are fully cooled, fit a piping bag with a #32 piping tip and fill with the cream cheese frosting.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!