Here's an old recipe from way back when that I revised and refreshed for the year 2020! Pistachio Coconut Corn Flake Cookies are made with pistachios ground in the food processor with unsweetened coconut and Corn Flakes cereal. They also have chocolate chunks and dried cherries, so they lack nothing. In addition to lots of flavors, they have a light and crumbly texture thanks to the cereal/nut mixture and the ⅓ cup of cornstarch in the dough, and they do bake up into nice rounds even though shaping the crumbly dough is kind of a drag.
Yes, this dough is fairly dry and not the easiest to scoop. You may have to use your hands to shape it, in which case you have to really mash all the crumbly stuff into the balls of dough.
This recipe will give you about 42 cookies. If you want to try the recipe but don't need quite so many, you can halve the recipe. To halve the egg, just crack it into a little cup, mix with a fork and measure out 2 tablespoons.
I should also add that these cookies keep well, so you can mail them or keep them around in a tin rather than in the freezer.
If you are not in a pistachio mood and just want a good cookie made with Corn Flakes, I recommend Ultimate Corn Flake Cookies.
Recipe
Pistachio Coconut Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar 225 grams
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 175 grams
- 1 large or extra large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose very lightly spooned and swept (260 grams)***
- ⅓ cup cornstarch 45 grams
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup roasted unsalted shelled pistachios
- 2 cups loosely packed unsweetened shredded coconut 2 oz
- 2 cups Corn Flakes cereal
- 1 cup dried cherries
- ¾ cup chopped dark or milk chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat oven heat to 325 degrees F.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and both sugars until creamy, scraping the side of the bowl often. Add the egg and vanilla and beat just until blended.
- In a separate bowl, thoroughly stir together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture.
- Put the pistachios and coconut in a food processor and pulse until pistachios are chopped. Add Corn Flakes and pulse 5 more times to crush cereal.
- Dump pistachio/coconut/cereal mixture into cookie batter and stir until batter comes together. It will be very thick, so it’s best to use your hands or paddle attachment of a stand mixer.
- Shape dough into ¾ to 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheets. Press balls down slightly so that tops are flat. Bake one sheet at a time for about 15 minutes or until cookies start to brown around the edges. Let cool for about 3 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to wire rack to cool. Let cool completely before serving.
- Makes about 42 cookies.
Sue says
I made these today and they’re very good! I really like the combo of flavors and textures from the pistachios, cornflakes, coconut and chocolate chips. As the first tray was baking and I was putting away ingredients I realized I forgot the cornstarch! Without the cornstarch they’re a little flat but in a good way and have a bit of crispness. I can’t decide if I’ll add the cornstarch to the remaining dough or not. Right now it’s in the fridge.
Sue says
In the ingredient list the coconut is listed as “2 cups loosely packed unsweetened shredded sweetened coconut 2 oz“. Do you mean unsweetened?
Do you think dried cranberries would be an acceptable sub for the dried cherries? I have some to use up.
Anna says
Please try them. And thanks for providing the link to the Congo Bar recipe on your blog!
Scarlet | Family Focus Blog says
I have never heard of anything quite like these cookies but pistachio and coconut and corn flakes sound like they would be a party in my mouth. Plus, such pretty cookies!
Sue says
These sound like they have lots of flavor and texture! Yum!