Chocolate Butternut Cookies

These Chocolate Butternut Cookies are soft,  fudgy, chewy and coconutty. Easy to make and very delicious! I adopted the ingredients for the cookie base on my Choco Crinkles recipe. It's a recipe that has been tried by many of my followers and a guaranteed fail-proof.
The coating is made from dessicated coconut, icing sugar, a bit of powdered milk is optional but great to have if available and I also added some nutmeg. This coating tinted with orange  is perfect with these chocolate cookies.
​So pretty!

When making these cookies, the key is to refrigerate the batter before shaping. This technique will make it easy to roll and will avoid flat cookies. Also, another important note is do not over-bake them or else they will become hard and super dry. 10-12 minutes at 350F is the maximum time you can bake this. They should still be soft when touched and should look slightly under-baked but that's fine. They will continue to bake out in the oven while cooling. I have more tips below and make sure to read them before baking these. Enjoy! 

Choco BUtternut Cookies Recipe

​Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup cocoa powder 
• 1  3/4 cups granulated sugar 
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs, room temperature  
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Butternut Coating:

• 1 cup unsweetened dessicated coconut
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup powdered milk
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• orange food color

​Video

Procedure:​

• Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
• On a separate bowl, mix together cocoa powder, sugar and vegetable oil.
• Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla. 
• Add in half of flour mixture. Mix until well combined. Add remaining flour mixture and continue mixing until well incorporated. Cover the dough and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Prepare the butternut coating by combining dessicated coconut, powdered sugar, powdered milk and nutmeg in a blender or food processor. Stir until incorporated.
• Add oil and food color. Continue pulsing until just combined.  
• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Grease your hands with some oil. Scoop about 1 1/2 tbsp of dough and shape into balls by rolling in between your palm. 
• Coat with butternut and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper spacing them 2-inches apart.
• Bake in a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Do not overbake.
• Remove from oven and allow to cool for a  minute or two on the sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Serve and enjoy!
• Make sure to read my tips and notes below.

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tips and notes:

• If blender is not available to make the coating, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and use gloves after adding the food color. Manually mix with your hands to blend completely. You can also use a zip bag to do this if gloves are not available. 
• Greasing your hands during shaping avoids the batter from sticking and easy rolling. It also makes the butternut to stick to the dough balls during coating.
• I suggest to take half only of the refrigerated batter and place the rest inside the fridge when shaping. This will keep the batter from melting while working with the other batter.
• To avoid flat cookies, refrigeration is required. 4 hours at least but overnight is way better. To speed uop the process and if you are really in a hurry, you can freeze the mixture for at least 1 hour.
• Do not over-bake.  The cookies should still be soft when touched and should appear slightly under-baked. They will continue to bake during cooling.
• Store the cookies in an airtight container. 

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