Chocolate Almond Joy Cookies

If you love coconut, then these Chocolate Almond Joy Cookies are perfect for you! They have all the elements of a classic Almond Joy candy, which are even better when added to a cookie. These have a rich, soft chocolate cookie base that’s loaded with chocolate chips, and have a delicious coconut topping, roasted almonds, and melted chocolate on top.

I’m a big fan of cookies, and I have lots of cookie recipe here at All You Can Eats! Here are a few of my other favorites that I recommend trying:

Frosted Chocolate Oreo Cookies

Reese’s Stuffed Double Chocolate Cookies

German Chocolate Cake Cookies

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Unsalted Butter: Make sure to use unsalted butter, rather than salted. Every brand of salted butter uses a different amount of salt, so it’s hard to control the amount of salt that goes into the dough. However, if you only have salted butter on hand, just use about 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt instead of an entire teaspoon.
• Dutch Process Cocoa Powder: Dutch process cocoa powder (specifically the Ghirardelli brand) has a richer, deeper flavor than normal cocoa powder. However, if you don’t have any on hand you can use normal unsweetened cocoa powder.
• Cornstarch: This ingredient may surprise you, but I include cornstarch in almost all of my cookie recipes! It softens the proteins in the flour, giving you a soft but sturdy cookie that will practically melt in your mouth.
• Vanilla Extract: I will always choose vanilla extract over imitation vanilla, but imitation vanilla will work fine in this recipe as well. Vanilla extract is more expensive, but it has a far superior flavor! 
• Sweetened Shredded Coconut: I don’t recommend using unsweetened coconut. You’ll want the sweetened kind, even with the sugar added from the corn syrup.
• Light Corn Syrup: Don’t use dark corn syrup–you want the flavor and color of light corn syrup for the coconut topping. It’ll taste just like the filling in an Almond Joy!
• Roasted Almonds: Use unsalted, roasted almonds. If you only have raw almonds, you can roast them in the oven. Preheat the oven to 325° F, and place the almonds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake them for about 10-12 minutes, and then let them cool before putting them on the cookies.

How to Make Chocolate Almond Joy Cookies

Make the Dough

First, preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Spray two baking sheets with cooking spray and set them aside. You can also use parchment paper instead of cooking spray.

In a standing mixer, mix together the softened butter, brown sugar, and cane sugar on high until creamy (about 3-4 minutes). Make sure the butter is softened (room temperature), not melted, to get the right consistency of dough. Halfway through mixing, scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure it’s all thoroughly mixed. You’ll know the butter and sugar are done mixing when it’s slightly lighter in color.

In a separate bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk it all together and set the bowl aside. Whisking the dry ingredients beforehand will ensure that all the ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the dough without over-mixing it.

Next, add the vanilla extract and eggs to the standing mixer, and mix on medium speed until it’s all thoroughly combined. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl halfway through. Add the flour mixture to the standing mixer and mix it in on the lowest setting until just combined. Add chocolate chips while the flour is still mixing in–this minimizes the risk of overworking the cookie dough.

Bake the Almond Joy Cookies

Roll the cookie dough into twelve large balls and spread out six on each pan. Press down on each cookie with two fingers to flatten them slightly, otherwise they won’t flatten enough while baking. Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until they start cracking on the edges.

Flatten the cookies slightly with a spatula if they’re still not flat enough to put on the topping. You can also use a large round cookie cutter to perfectly round out the cookies. Just make sure that the cookie cutter is larger than the cookie, and move it in a circular motion on the pan around the cookie immediately after taking them out of the oven. You’ll want to do this quickly, because the cookies solidify as they cool, making it hard to mold the edges.

Make the Topping and Decorate the Cookies

While the cookies are cooling, make the coconut topping. Mix together the shredded coconut and the corn syrup in a small bowl. When the cookies are cool, evenly distribute the coconut topping on each of the cookies and spread out the coconut. The coconut is sticky, so it’s easiest to spread the coconut with slightly wet fingers.

Melt the melting chocolate in the microwave. Stir after the first 30 seconds, and then every 15 seconds after that. This will keep it from burning. Once melted (it should only take a minute or less), drizzle the melted chocolate on top of each cookie.

Place three almonds on the top of each cookie, as pictured.

If you try out these Chocolate Almond Joy Cookies, I’d LOVE to hear about it. You can leave a comment below the recipe, or if you post a picture on Instagram, be sure to tag me! Getting any feedback on my recipes is both rewarding AND helpful as I write and edit recipes in the future.

Now get baking, and enjoy!