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, Iโve 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

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: ยผ 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 Valentineโs Day.
Video

Tried these over the weekend, and the cookies are absolutely delicious. If you want to try something other than chocolate chip cookies, this is the recipe for you.
Looks totally irresistible! I’m excited to make this!
Looks amazingly delicious! This needs to happen soon!
Looks amazingly delicious1 I would love to make this!
Looks totally irresistible! I wanna make a basket of this!
These cookies are so tasty! The German flavor is my favorite one! Yum!
Wow, make the cookies instead of the cake.I appreciate you sharing.
For the icing, just wondering if itโs icing sugar or caster sugar?
Thanks…
Caster Sugar.
WoW, forget the cake, make the cookiesโฆ
Thanks…
These cookies seems truly delicious and unique, I was actually looking for same. Thanks for sharing with us.
Thank you Sandra for your cookie recipe. I tried this recipe for my cafe. Everyone is loving it.
“Indulge in the decadence of German chocolate cake, now in bite-sized perfection! These cookies are a delightful treat for any occasion.”
These are one of my favorite treats!!!
These are one of my favorite things on earth. I could bathe in the frosting
It’s now been TEN years since my best friend sent me this recipe and requested I make them. German chocolate cake is her favorite. I now try to make these cookies at least once a year, but it is an absolute labor of love because I have to make a double batch and cover every surface of my kitchen in cooling cookies so no one gets jealous. Everyone devours them and they never last longer than 2 days. The chocolate cookie itself is awesome too. Always have to sneak one or two while they’re still warm! Thank you so much for sharing the best cookies in history, or as we all say, “THE cookies!”
This made my week, thank you for sharing 10 years – wow, that flew by. xo
These are one of my favorite things on earth. I could bathe in the frosting
These are one of my favorite treats!!!
Loved these cookies! I will be making these again.
These German Chocolate Cake Cookies look absolutely delicious! Can’t wait to try this recipeโlove the combination of rich chocolate and coconut!
Super amazing
Wow! This recipe looks absolutely delicious!