These no-bake chocolate coconut haystacks are the easiest holiday cookie recipe ever. Even better, they’re vegan and gluten-free!
I won’t lie to you, I kept meaning to photograph these coconut haystack cookies a few days ago. But then a nap happened, then laundry had to be done, and a cat that had a belly to be scratched. In the meantime, these coconut nuggets of goodness started disappearing one by one, leaving a tray half full of coconut haystacks and thoughts of “um how the heck am I going to mask the fact that I ate almost half of these??”.
So I’m just going to be real with you , I ate a good amount of these and with good reason—they are hella good. Also, get on the no-bake train, because these are the best throw together dessert sans oven. Even though the weather has been on the cooler side here, I’m all for exchanging turning on the oven for popping desserts in the freezer and trying to distract myself with cleaning until they are done.
I prefer my coconut desserts on the meaty side (does that make sense?) with a lot of heft to them and not as much liquid/squishy stuff. The amount of coconut to chocolate ratio may be a bit much for some, but I love the contrast of the crunchy coconut with the chocolate mixture in these coconut haystacks.
These quell the craving for a super quick chocolate dessert when you don’t have any chocolate chips left because a certain boy in your house ate them all by the handful. It’s fine though, I’ll be basking in these last days (noooo!) of summer and no-bake desserts until we start seeing explosions of pumpkin and apple everything.
How to make coconut haystack cookies
To make these coconut haystacks, you simply have to mix together cocoa powder, vanilla, your favorite non-dairy milk, powdered sugar, salt, and a lot of shredded coconut. Because there’s no flour in this no-bake cookie recipe, feel free to really mix everything up properly. Once the coconut pieces are evenly coated in the yummy cocoa mixture, use a tablespoon or small ice cream scoop to portion out the haystack cookies. (I made mine about the size of two tablespoons, but you can make these however big or small you’d like!).
Place the cookies onto a lined baking sheet, and then freeze until fully set. These cookies keep in the fridge for about a week, or you can stash them in your freezer to make them last for longer. Just pop them onto a plate on your counter about 20 minutes before you plan on eating them!
More no-bake recipes on Heart of a Baker:
- 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Vegan Chocolate Fudge
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Vegan Cereal Bars
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Treats
- Dark Chocolate Coconut Macaroon Cups
- Peanut Butter Vegan S’mores Parfaits
No-Bake Chocolate Coconut Haystacks
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 12-16 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Mixed
- Cuisine: American
Description
These no-bake chocolate coconut haystacks are the easiest holiday cookie recipe ever. Even better, they’re vegan and gluten-free!
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup non-dairy milk
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine cocoa powder, vanilla extract, non dairy milk, powdered sugar, and salt, mixing until combined. Add shredded coconut and thoroughly combine into the chocolate mixture.
- Scoop into 1-2 tablespoon sized balls, placing onto a lined cookie sheet.
- Freeze for 3-4 hours, or until firm.
Keywords: coconut haystacks, haystack cookies
mewinebrenner says
Isn’t that funny how samples for recipe posts disappear before you get to photograph them? That happens ALL the time at my house. I just don’t know where all my food goes?! 🙂
The Frosted Vegan says
Glad I’m not the only one!
Ari @ Ari's Menu says
Yummm! LOVE chocolate and coconut!
The Frosted Vegan says
Same here: )
✈ veganmiam.com (@veganmiam) says
Aren’t no-bake desserts delish and easy to make? I love these kinds of desserts that don’t require baking and monitoring especially on a busy schedule. I also love the contrast of the crunchy coconut with the chocolate mixture, too. Both marries perfectly well together. Do you use unsweetened or sweetened shredded coconut? Happy Friday!
✈ veganmiam.com (@veganmiam) says
And what a coincidence! I also made no-bake nanaimo bars and the base is also a chocolate biscuit mixture with coconut 😉 I always eat the base, b/c it tastes so good!
The Frosted Vegan says
Those sound amazing!
The Frosted Vegan says
I so agree! : )
Warm Vanilla Sugar says
I love simple, no bake, treats like this! These look awesome!
Shashi @ http://runninsrilankan.com says
These look so good!
I, too, love my coconut dishes on the “meaty side” – I don’t think I would feel guilty eating a haf dozen of these 🙂
Shashi @ http://runninsrilankan.com
The Frosted Vegan says
Glad we are on the same page with coconut desserts!
Victoria Dodge says
oooohhhhh these look delicious!
come check out my health magazine and website!
http://www.nourishmentnow.com
Anna {Herbivore Triathlete} says
I definitely like my coconut desserts “meaty”, ha ha ha. I too have the same issue with eating half my recipes before I can photograph them. It’s hard as well to keep the kids from eating my treats at times too, I think they get frustrated hearing, “I’ve gotta take picture first!” every time I make something sweet.
The Frosted Vegan says
Same here! People just don’t understand when I tell them I made something and am going to bring it to them, but I have to photograph it first!
Jenn says
Hello, do you use sweetened or unsweetened coconut? Also, what do you mean by powdered sugar? Would this be icing sugar? Thank you!
The Frosted Vegan says
Hi Jenn,
For this recipe I used sweetened coconut and you are correct, powdered sugar is the same as icing sugar!
Jenn says
Thank you so much! I look forward to making these for our charity walk this Sunday 🙂 We are raising funds for rescue pups!
The Frosted Vegan says
Hooray! Best of luck, let me know how it goes : )
Maria says
I’ve tried these twice & both times the mixture is really difficult to form into balls, they just crumble. The 2nd time I doubled the milk & still too dry. Would it help to place the coconut in the fridge ahead of time? Also I noticed your coconut flakes in the pic look much larger. I bought organic flakes at Whole Foods that r look smaller than the flakes in your pic. I bought,
Let’s Do Organic unsweetened shredded coconut reduced fat, 8. 8 oz, bag.
Could the problem be it’s reduced fat?
Flakes r too small?
I used hemp milk?
Used stevia powder instead of powdered sugar? It has the same consistency.
Used Equal Exchange organic
Balking Cocoa powder, it came in an 8 oz. can. Is it the brand?
Whole Foods didn’t have organic coconut in a larger flake.
Help!
Thanks