These dark chocolate coconut blondies are by far the chewiest, softest blonde brownies you’ll ever make. They’re ultra buttery, studded with dark chocolate chips, and full of sweet coconut flavor. No mixer required for this easy bar recipe!
Homemade dark chocolate coconut blondies are one of the best desserts to recently come out of my kitchen. Each blondie is super soft, decadent with dark chocolate, full of brown sugar, coconut, and buttery flavors. They’re chewy on the edges and oh-so-soft in the centers. And I can’t wait for you to experience them!
Why These Blondies Are Better Than Brownies
I have something you’re going to love more than any brownie you’ve ever tasted. I’m talking about dark chocolate coconut blondies, where dark chocolate and brown sugar and butter and coconut and vanilla meet like they never have before. We use the same base recipe as my butterscotch blondies, but bake them in a 9×13-inch pan instead of a square 9-inch pan. Each bite is a texture lover’s dream—a little bit buttery, dense, and chewy all in one.
Overview: How to Make Dark Chocolate Coconut Blondies
You only need 2 bowls, a whisk, a spatula, and some basic baking ingredients to make these blondies.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together. This includes all-purpose flour for structure, baking powder to help the blondies rise, and salt for flavor.
- Whisk the wet ingredients together. Begin by combining the melted butter and brown sugar. Whisk in the egg and egg yolk, then the vanilla extract.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients together. Gently mix the two together, then fold in the coconut and chocolate chips. The batter will be pretty thick.
- Bake. These blondies take about 35 minutes in the oven, or until a toothpick comes out *mostly* clean. If the edges are browning too quickly, cover the bars with foil about halfway through baking.
This Is My Favorite Basic Blondie Recipe
For today’s chocolate coconut blondies, I took my basic blondie recipe (here are the original candy bar blondies) and doubled it to make a family-style batch. I switched a few ingredients around and added plenty of dark chocolate and sweetened coconut. You can bake today’s blondies in a 9-inch square pan (thicker blondies) or a 9×13-inch rectangle pan (thinner blondies). I used a 9×13-inch pan for the photos in this post.
The first time I made these, the blondies were pretty cakey. They were tasty, yes, but not at all dense. I like blondies to be quite dense—somewhere in between crumbly cookie bars and fudgy brownies. To get there, we’ll use melted butter. Melted butter also makes a super chewy blondie. Also, use 1 egg + an extra egg yolk. As you know from my chocolate chip cookies, egg yolks are the secret to rich, moist, tender, and chewy cookies—and they do just the same in blondies. Using 2 full eggs was part of the initial cakey blondie problem, so leave 1 egg white out.
All brown sugar adds incredible flavor. Did you know that blondies get their distinctive and unique molasses/butterscotch flavor from brown sugar? I like to use dark brown sugar for the deepest flavor, but light brown sugar works just as well.
1 cup each of dark chocolate chips and sweetened shredded coconut rounds it all out. The shredded coconut makes the blondies even chewier than they already are. I was extra generous with the chocolate chips in these. Anywhere around 1 cup is perfect.
Best part of all: You don’t need a mixer for this recipe!
If you love the decadence of dark chocolate, you’ll enjoy these dark chocolate cranberry blondies, too.
More Favorite Bar Recipes
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Pumpkin Bars
- Rice Krispie Treats
- Peanut Butter Blondies
- Lemon Bars
- Apple Pie Bars
- Scotcheroos
- Salted Caramel Pretzel Crunch Bars
Dark Chocolate Coconut Blondies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
- Yield: 18 large blondies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These dark chocolate coconut blondies are by far the chewiest, softest blonde brownies you’ll ever make! Full of texture, flavor, and super easy too.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 and 3/4 cup (350g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (80g) sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup (180g) dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a 9×13-inch pan or line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides to lift the finished blondies out (makes cutting easier!). Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter and brown sugar together. Once completely combined, whisk in the whole egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently whisk until combined. Fold in the coconut and chocolate chips.
- Evenly spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out *mostly* clean. Remove from the oven and allow the blondies to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack before cutting.
- Cover and store leftover blondies at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Blondies freeze well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then bring to room temperature before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×13-inch Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Rubber Spatula | Cooling Rack
Keywords: dark chocolate coconut blondies, chocolate coconut blondies
Hi Sally.
Do you think i could add a little coconut extract?
Absolutely. You can add 1 teaspoon of coconut extract to the batter. Feel free to leave the vanilla extract amount the same or reduce it down to 2 teaspoons.
These are just too good to be true! Yum! I thought I had ruined it when I took it out of the pan after resting it a while because the middle did sink and somewhat fell apart…but still was delicious. Also, the consistency of the cookie literally changed every day as it sat, the cookie became harder and after three days it was actually perfect, the best thing on earth❤ Thank you
Thank you AGAIN for another amazing recipe! I have made this a couple times now and swapped out the chips and coconut for different types. I really appreciate your tips! I tend to have trouble telling when it is done as I typically over bake. I love your tips! This is amazing with your salted caramel! Thank you so much! Best cookie bar recipe yet!
★★★★★
Had this recipe going on repeat. Damn so good. I add extra chocolate coz why not.. also mixed milk and white but dark is deff the way to go coz its so sweet. Best served fresh and warm.. goes pretty hard after being in the fridge. Its literally divine MAKE IT!
★★★★★
YUMMY!
★★★★★
I just made these today & they’re pretty good. I was hoping to replicate a dessert that used to be served at Chili’s called Paradise Pie…it’s served warm topped with vanilla ice cream. This recipe was similar but it turned out a bit hard as I baked it for 35 minutes while trying to take care of a sick infant. ☹️ I also added a 1/4 c more coconut since it seemed to literally disappear in the dough.8 was wondering if there was a way to make the outcome softer? And although I definitely don’t want it to be cake-like, would it be a little more crumbly & fluffy if I creamed the sugar instead of using melted butter?
Btw tangent: I love your Apple muffin recipe! It’s my son’s favorite!
★★★★
Hi Yumi! I recommend following the recipe as written, including the amount of coconut, and baking for a few minutes less to obtain a softer texture. Make sure you’re baking it on the center rack.
These are delicious! Had to adjust oven time cause first batches came out too dry, but now they turn out chewy and dense! I only have one problem, every time I make blondies (any recipe, not just this one), the middle of the batter sinks a lot, so even if they are still delicious, they dont look nice… how can I avoid this?
★★★★★
Hi Pamela! So glad you tried these blondies. Unfortunately that happens with big batches of bar recipes because the center doesn’t cook as fast (or as much) as the edges. The only thing that slightly helps is baking them at a lower temperature with foil on top for longer. This helps them bake more evenly.
Can this recipe be made vegan?
Hi Sue! I’m not the best one to ask about vegan baking– I have every little experience with substitutions. Sorry! I do have a category of vegan recipes- you can find them here: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/category/vegan/ 🙂
Mine turned into a cookie dough as well! I had to press it down into the pan – there was no pouring it in. I noticed browning along the edges by 10 minutes, and when it browned all over the top by 15 minutes I took it out. The edge pieces were quite dry, but I took it out in time to still have some chewiness in the middle pieces. I did substitute melted butter with melted salted margarine (I use margarine in my baking since we are lactose intolerant, and I only had salted at the time so I used that and skipped adding the extra salt in the recipe). Mixing the melted margarine and sugar together made a molasses consistency, which when mixed with the dry ingredients just made it like a cookie dough. It was still delicious! I would just advise anyone else whose turned into a cookie dough texture before baking to only place in the oven for about 12 minutes.
I just had the exact same issue (cookie dough texture mix) but unfortunately didn’t read your comment first 🙁 baked for 30 minutes and they’re most like crumbly biscuits. Will re-try tomorrow with a shorter baking time!
Could I add shredded coconut to the top and at what point would you add it.
Yes – that would be delicious! I would pour the batter into the pan and then sprinkle the top with coconut before baking. Enjoy!
I made these for the second time this week. The only change that I make is to substitute coconut extract for half of the vanilla extract to REALLY boost the coconut flavor. A friend asked me to make them AGAIN tomorrow. This time, I’m going to substitute white chocolate chips for the dark chocolate chips AND I’m going to add lime zest and macadamia nuts. A tropical take on your dark chocolate coconut blondies, Sally!
★★★★★
Another winner! I did sub a quarter of the butter with apple sauce, and used a little less sugar (didn’t pack it down when measuring). But other than that, kept everything as is, and they came out perfect! Made these for an Easter event at church and it worked out great! Thanks again, Sally 🙂
Is it possible to add some nuts? Like walnuts?
Absolutely! I suggest 3/4 cup chopped nuts.
I LOVE these! I ran out of dark choc chips, so used milk chocolate chips as well. The dark chocolate is my fav though. Each time I make these, people ask for the recipe. Thanks Sally – you make me look good!
Made these exactly as the recipe said, except added a handful of butterscotch chips and then some sea salt on top after baking…..YUM. Will definitely be making again!!!
These are hands down the best blondies i’ve ever had or made. “Mmmmm,and these are sooo good!” could be heard through the house as the first bites were taken,lol
I use to just search on line when I wanted to try a new recipe,now I just snoop in your recipes since I know I won’t have to modify it after I make it the first time.
Thanks for all of the excellent 5 star recipes that include measurements in grams!
This is a new favorite recipe in our house! The texture is out-of-this-world amazing.
These were a hit! I made these three nights ago and brought them into work and just had another bite – I think they keep getting better and better each day. When I make them again, I’ll be sure to do so at least a day in advance of whatever I’m making them for. FYI, I used foil to line the pan and they were ready at 25 minutes – I find when I line a pan with foil, things tend to bake quicker, and this was certainly the case here.
Hi Sally – I just baked these for the first time, and found that I barely had enough dough to cover a 9 x 13 pan, so I kind of “created” a smaller pan by making a wall of aluminum foil on one end where there was just no batter. I measured the flour by spooning it into the measuring cup (as you suggested) and wonder if you have thoughts as to adjusting cooking time for a 9 x 9 pan instead? Thanks so much!
Hi Margot! The bake time for a 9×9 will be about the same, maybe a few minutes longer 🙂
So recently I had told my boyfriend about blondies, because he doesn’t like chocolate so he also doesn’t like brownies (weird I know). But coconut is like his favourite sent and taste, so when I stumbled upon this recipe I was like OMG blondies with coconut that sounds amazing and I just had to try it. I left out the chocolate chips ofcourse and my coconut wasn’t sweetened but I think I like them better a little less sweet. So point is, these blondies are amazing, I mean even the raw dough is amazing and I couldn’t stop eating it. Thanks a lot for this great recipe 🙂
Hi Sally, thank you so much for all your amazing recipes. Love your blog, your recipe books, your stories, enthusiasm and for sharing the “science” with your recipe. You are the positive in every day.
Today I made the coconut, chocolate blondies for a tailgate party. The bars disappeared very quickly- everyone loved them.
Would dessicated coconut work on these?
Sure would!
I just wanted to tell you these blondies are absolutely amazing! I made them and brought them into work and they were gobbled right up. People stopped me in the hall to tell me how awesome they were! And then I was sad when I got home and hadn’t kept any for myself 🙂
I love your blog – I have made dozens of your recipes and they always come out amazing! Thank you!
Holy smokes these are good!! I baked them because I’m not a huge coconut fan so I figured I wouldn’t eat too many. Wrong!!
Made these yesterday, they are AMAZING! 🙂 Moist, flavorful and delicious!
I made these the day that the recipe came out because I already had all of the ingredients on hand, so I figured, why not? We bakers don’t need much encouragement to try something new, do we? They required about 10 mins extra baking time but they were moist, chewy, dense and just DELISH! I used brown butter because baked goods take on an extra special yumminess with it and since it called for melted butter it was a no-brainer! I don’t know if it was because of the brown butter but these came out tasting a lot like butterscotch. This recipe is a keeper.
If I don’t have quite enough brown sugar what do you recommend as a substitute??
Thanks!
As long as you have most of the brown sugar, you can compensate the rest with granulated sugar. You can also reduce down to a total of 1 and 1/2 cups of brown sugar total. (Or 1 cup brown, 1/2 cup white)
What cooking time would you suggest for a 9×9 pan? I just moved and that’s all I have available. They look delicious.
The blondies will be very thick, so make sure your 9×9 pan is deep dish style. I’m unsure of the exact bake time, but use a toothpick to test for doneness. If it comes out clean, the blondies are done.
Made these tonight-delish… These turned out perfect even though I had a mishap.. As I was setting the timer I somehow accidentally turned off my oven..Went to check on these halfway through and noticed that my temperature was slowly declining…Oops..Was able to save them though… I did have to omit the coconut just because I have 3 picky girls but they were still delish!
Hi Sally! Oh my gosh these look amazing! I need to try these out. Just one quick question since I’m allergic to coconut. If I leave out the coconut does anything else change?
Not really! The blondies may not be as chewy, but you won’t be missing out on much besides flavor. You can add chopped nuts, butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, or more chocolate chips in its place if you’d like!