German Chocolate Cake Cookies – Soft, chewy chocolate cookies with rich caramel, coconut, and pecan frosting won’t last long on the cookie plate.
These German Chocolate Cake cookies are a delicious household staple. They make a perfect snack year-round but are an incredibly excellent holiday gift! They’re a great addition to any dessert table, but they won’t last long as they’re deliciously addictive!
Today, I am featuring one of the best cookies you will ever eat! A cookie that will become so addictive you will make them in large quantities and freeze them to have them for a week or two.
My Favorite Kitchen Tools To Make This Recipe
From trusty pots and pans to handy gadgets, I’ve curated a list of products I use and love.
Making one of the traditional cakes, German Chocolate cake, into a cookie was one of the best recipes I have ever made. How can you go wrong with caramel, pecans, and chocolate?
My favorite thing about this recipe is that everything is from scratch. This chocolate cookie is so chewy and moist, making it the best platform for the frosting. Bake them today, as they are hands down amazing, delicious, unbelievable, out of this world, and the best cookie ever, as quoted by my friends and family who tried them.
Recipe Tips
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter softened
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Eggs beaten
- All-purpose flour
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
How do you make German Chocolate Cake Cookies?
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Blend the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla, and eggs in a medium bowl.
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend until combined.
Drop the dough by tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheets, 12 cookies per sheet, and bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
Cool on a baking rack.
Add evaporated milk, sugar, egg yolks, butter, and vanilla to a large pan and place on the stovetop over medium heat to make the frosting. Stir so that it becomes well combined.
Continue stirring until thickened; this takes approximately 11-12 minutes.
Once thickened, remove from heat and add coconut and pecans. Beat until thick enough to spread.
Spread frosting over the tops of cooled cookies.
More German Chocolate Cake inspired recipes
What brings me the most joy when making this cookie is my husband. He loves these; had I made these when we were dating, I think we would have married even earlier. He loves them so much it would have created an instant proposal.
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German Chocolate Cake Cookies
Video
Ingredients
Chocolate Cookies
- 1 cup salted butter softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt
Coconut Pecan Frosting
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- Optional: ¼ cup chocolate candy coating melted for drizzle
Instructions
Chocolate Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a stand mixer or large bowl using a hand mixer, blend the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla, and eggs. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and blend until combined.
- Drop the dough by tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheets, 12 cookies per sheet, and bake 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on a baking rack.
Coconut Pecan Frosting
- Add evaporated milk, sugar, egg yolks, butter and vanilla to a large pan and place on stovetop over medium heat.
- Stir so that it becomes well combined. Continue stirring until thickened, this takes approximately 11-12 minutes. I set my timer for 11 minutes and 30 seconds, this seems to work every time.
- Once thickened remove from heat and add coconut and pecans. Beat until thick enough to spread.
- Spread frosting over the tops of cooled cookies.
- Optional: Drizzle with melted candy coating and let set up. Top with a white chocolate heart. See note.
- Note: I melted some pink chocolate candy coating, put it into a Ziplock lunch baggie, snipped off a small corner. Then on some wax paper drew hearts with the chocolate. I let them harden, then gently placed them on top of the cookies. A great decoration for upcoming Valentine’s Day.
Oh I figured it out lol I didn’t dbl the eggs. . Lol
I’m going to make these tomorrow. Can you come up with an Italuan Cream Cake Cookie recipe now? I would truly be in heaven
Hello Sandra,
These are the best cookies I have ever tried in my 31 years of marriage. Thank You for allowing me to try one of your prized possessions !!
Hey I really want to make these but my daughter is severely allergic to nuts. Any ideas on what I could use instead?
Trying the recipe tomorrow. Looks great. One question: Ingredients for the cookies asks for 2 sticks of butter. For the frosting it asks for 1/2 cup of butter. Used to be a stick was a cup. Now when you buy the butter the sticks are 1/2 cup. Does the cookie recipe require 2 cups butter or 2 sticks (1 cup)?
Thanks
Hi! I’m making these for a picnic tomorrow afternoon. Should I refrigerate them for tomorrow or will that harden the cookie? Is it better to leave them on the counter in an air tight container? So excited thank you!!!
My husband is currently deployed and I know he would LOVE these. Any suggestions on shipping these and being able to keep them tummy and not moldy or gross lol
I would like to make these for my husband’s birthday. We are going to be stuck in a hotel that day so I’ll have to make them ahead of time. At what point should I freeze them? Just the cookie base or will they freeze and thaw OK completely assembled? Thanks for this recipe; I can’t wait!
Hola muero por probar esta receta más q nada por mi hija q le encanta el chocolate, pero hay una cosa q no entendi de la receta la primera parte para preparar la galleta, aq te refieres con 2 paladas de mantequilla podrías aclararme ese detalle y yo lista para empezar a preparar.
Saludos y gracias por tus recetas
I was wondering what the measurement are for the two sticks of butter. By the way I love german chocolate cake so it will be neat to try the cookie form of the cake.
Looks like a good recipe but could you ease up on the video ads? They were screaming through my speakers so loud and I can’t find a way to turn off the ads so I had to mute my speakers! So annoying and makes me not want to look at the rest of your site! 🙁
Had to scroll down a country mile to reply, so I know these cookies are going to be great, just so you know, you have made one 6’2″tall biker very happy. Yes Guys bake too. Finally I’ll have something between my teeth (besides bugs) to smile about when Im out riding, the only bad thing is.. Ill have to stash a bunch for the brothers in my saddel bags.
Thanks Sandra.. your aces
Hunter C.
I’m going to make this this weekend for the first time…if they’re as good as they look, I’ll take them to my corporate Christmas Party in December! Fingers crossed.
Sorry, but these aren’t German Chocolate Cake Cookies – they are chocolate cookies with the frosting from a German Chocolate Cake. German chocolate cake gets its name from an ingredient it uses: German’s Sweet Chocolate. This chocolate was originated by the Baker’s Chocolate Company (now a subsidiary of Kraft Foods) in the mid 1850s and was named after it’s creator, Sam German. The story of the chocolate says that a misprint in a newspaper that included the recipe for the first German Chocolate Cake simply left out the “s” on the name, and this is why the chocolate is often known simply as “German.” The chocolate is similar to a semisweet chocolate, but has a higher sugar content to it. This means that recipes that use it tend to be a little bit sweeter than ones that don’t.
Is it possible to use canned German Chocolate frosting that is in a can?. I don’t have all the ingredients on
hand and the Pecans here cost around $8.00 for 4 oz. I wasn’t sure if it would be too runny. I have tried
it before and good substitute has coconut, nuts etc. I want to make these for the Senior Pot Luck Dinner.
Thank You, Bea
These do look amazing, BUT if the recipe only makes 24 cookies, that means each one has 2 tablespoons of sugar. Yikes! Just wondering if there are any other options which do NOT include artificial sweeteners?
Made the cookies this weekend, and my husband said they were amazing. He asked…we don’t have to share these right? Awesome Cookie!
Ty my dad bday is on the 1st i wanted to know if these will come out if i make them as cupcakes. ..
I made these a couple of months ago and brought some to work. I’ve had multiple requests from co-workers for more. Thanks for a great recipe!
Glad you enjoyed them, as well as all your co-workers. xo San