Oatmeal Cocoanut Crisps

These oatmeal cookies bake up thin and crispy around the edges with a slightly chewy center, and the coconut toasts as it bakes, filling your kitchen with a buttery, tropical smell you’ll want to bottle.

This is a serious big-batch recipe. Expect 14 to 16 dozen cookies from one round, so clear your counter space and have plenty of baking sheets ready. The upside? These actually taste better after freezing. The butter flavor concentrates as they chill, so baking a huge batch and stashing most of it in the freezer is the smartest move.

Cream the butter and both sugars until genuinely fluffy, not just mixed. That extra air is what makes the cookies spread thin and crisp instead of staying thick and cakey.

Kitchen Tips

• Drop by the teaspoonful, not tablespoon. These spread significantly, and bigger scoops will merge into one giant cookie sheet.
• Space them a full 2 inches apart. They look small on the tray but they’ll surprise you.
• Pull them when just barely golden. They firm up on the rack as they cool, and overbaked oatmeal cookies turn brittle instead of crisp.

Variations

• Split the dough into thirds: add coconut to one, raisins to another, and chopped walnuts or pecans to the last for a cookie variety box from one batch.
• Skip the coconut entirely for a classic buttery oatmeal crisp.
• Fold in mini chocolate chips with the coconut for a chocolate-coconut oatmeal cookie.