These chunky ube cookies have crispy outsides, gooey centers, and are full of ube flavor. The purple yam pairs perfectly with the white chocolate chips and coconut—a combination you’ll be sure to love.
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💜 Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- This has been a top 3 recipe on my blog since 2021. The cookies aren’t too sweet and perfectly salted. The ube goes SO well with the shredded coconut & white chocolate chips.
- The cookies are full of real ube flavor. My recipe uses ½ cup of homemade ube jam and 1½ ube extract, so you can really taste the purple yam!
Want to learn more about ube? Check out my ultimate ube guide, where I talk about different types of ube ingredients, where to buy them, and more!
Ingredients
To make these white chocolate coconut ube cookies, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- You will need to use unsalted butter cut into tablespoons. It will be creamed with the brown sugar until smooth.
- Using cake flour in addition to all-purpose flour yields a fluffier cookie. But if you don’t have cake flour, you can just replace it 1:1 with all-purpose flour.
- Cornstarch helps prevent the cookies from spreading too much when being baked, keeping them fluffy!
- For ultimate ube flavor, both ube jam (homemade halaya or store-bought halaya) and ube extract are used. The extract already includes red and blue coloring, which gives the cookies their vibrant purple color. You can find these ingredients in the baking aisle of your local Asian or Filipino grocery store, or online at Weee!/Amazon.
- The white chocolate chips and unsweetened coconut enhance these cookies with added sweetness, texture, and flavor.
- After baking, flaky sea salt (not pictured) is sprinkled on top of the purple cookies to balance all of the flavors.
For the full list of ingredients and measurements, see the recipe card below.
Substitutions & Variations
- In place of ube halaya, you can use an equal amount of rehydrated ube powder or freshly mashed ube. Since they are not sweetened, you will need to adjust the sugar levels. See recipe card for more details.
- For the unsweetened coconut, you can use unsweetened coconut flakes, dessicated coconut, or shredded coconut.
- Other mix-ins like chopped nuts, regular chocolate chips, or Oreos would be absolutely delicious in these cookies.
- You can swap out the ube flavor by omitting the ube extract and halaya. You can use vanilla extract, add other powders, or warming spices. You can also follow my chunky matcha cookie recipe. 🙂
How To Make Chunky Ube Cookies
Step 1: In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until smooth, about 2-4 minutes.
Step 2: Mix in the egg, ube jam, and ube extract until smooth.
Step 3: In a medium bowl, stir together the flours, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and table salt. Add this flour mixture into the mixing bowl, followed by the white chocolate chips and shredded coconut. Fold the batter until no dry spots remain.
Step 4: Divide the cookie dough into 5 tall-ish mounds, about 5-6 oz each. Freeze for about 1 hour, then place on lined cookie sheet, 3-4 inches apart. Bake at 350°F/177°C for 10-13 minutes, or until edges are set and slightly brown. Immediately sprinkle flaky sea salt and top with extra white chocolate chips. Let cool for 10 minutes on pan to fully set, then enjoy!
If you want warm cookies, you can heat them back up in the oven at 350°F for 3-5 minutes or microwave for 10 seconds. For full instructions, see the recipe card below.
💡 Baking Tips
- Weigh your ingredients! One of my favorite kitchen tools is a kitchen scale because it’s more accurate than measuring by volume. If you use cups, spoon the flour in gently, then level it with a knife or spatula.
- Invest in an oven thermometer: If you find that your purple yam cookies are still spreading a lot after using a kitchen scale and freezing the dough, try verifying your oven temperature! Years ago, my housemate and I found out that our oven used to run ~75-100°F lower by using a thermometer… which helped us ask our landlord to get a new oven, LOL.
- Let the cookies set: The cookies will be super gooey after baking. They will continue cooking on the cookie sheet and fully set around 10 minutes. But if you’d like warmer cookies, you can heat them back in the oven at 350°F for 3-5 minutes or pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds.
Chunky Ube Cookie FAQs
If you’re not familiar with ube (pronunciation: oo-beh), it is a purple yam native to the Philippines. Ube is sometimes confused with another vegetable called taro, which has an earthier flavor and is used in both savory + sweet dishes.
Ube is sweeter and often described as having vanilla and nutty notes. It’s commonly used in desserts, such as ice cream, cake, or jam. This recipe uses both ube extract and ube jam, but you can also rehydrate ube powder or use mashed ube in place of the jam. You can find these ingredients in some Asian markets, especially Filipino ones, but if all else fails, you can buy ube extract/halaya or powdered ube online!
Want to learn more about ube? Check out my ultimate ube guide!
Yes, this step really helps limit the amount the ube cookies spread in the oven! And if you really want to get that tall, chunky Levain-style cookie, you have to chill the dough.
See the section above, where I share tips!
TLDR: try using a kitchen scale, freeze the dough, and verify your oven temperature with an oven thermometer.
No, you can sub in regular all-purpose flour. They will be slightly less cakey, but will still taste delicious.
“Found your recipe a week ago and I’ve made this recipe 3 times since 😂 these cookings are amazing!!!” – @minaina13
“These Ube Cookies are Divine! I just replaced the shredded coconut to sliced almonds, perfect!! Use a couverture chocolate to get a gooey and melt in your mouth chocolate. No fail-easy to follow recipe! Really Super yum!!! Btw, it’s really chunky and huge like what I’ve always wanted. Thanks Ms Bianca!” – Trish, commenter
Storage
- Room temperature: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Freezing instructions: Store cooled cookies in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. You can also freeze raw cookie dough mounds for up to 3 months. Bake as usual, just add 2-3 minutes to the baking time.
- Reheating instructions: Allow frozen cookies to thaw at room temperature for about 30 minutes. You can also heat them back up in the oven at 350°F for 3-5 minutes or microwave for 10 seconds.
Did you try this recipe?
Please leave a review & share it with me on Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, or Pinterest!
Thank you so much! -Bianca ❤️
📖 Recipe
Chunky White Chocolate Coconut Ube Cookies
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Equipment
- medium bowl for dry ingredients
- large bowl or bowl of stand mixer for mixing cookie dough
- electric whisk or paddle attachment of stand mixer
- parchment paper or silicone mat
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- ½ cup (62.5 g) cake flour
- 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons (2 g) cornstarch
- ¾ teaspoon (3 g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (3 g) table salt
Wet ingredients:
- ½ cup (113.5 g) butter softened and cut into tablespoons
- ¼ or ½ cup (55 g) light or dark brown sugar packed, see steps
- 1 (1) egg
- ½ cup (118.29 g) ube halaya homemade/store-bought, can also sub rehydrated ube powder or mashed ube
- 1 ½ teaspoons (7.5 g) ube extract see notes
Mix-ins:
- ¾ cup (135 g) white chocolate chips plus more for topping
- ½ cup (40 g) shredded unsweetened coconut
Instructions
Make the chunky ube cookie dough:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients: ½ cup cake flour, 1 cup all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, ¾ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon table salt.
- *If you are using ube halaya, use lower amount of brown sugar because of how sweet ube halaya is. If using mashed or rehydrated ube powder, use higher amount of brown sugar.In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, mix the ½ cup butter and ¼ or ½ cup light or dark brown sugar on medium speed until completely smooth, about 2-4 minutes.
- Using your silicone spatula, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl in the stand mixer. Add 1 egg, ½ cup ube halaya, and 1 ½ teaspoons ube extract to the bowl. Mix until combined, about 10-20 seconds.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl again. Add all of the dry ingredients, ¾ cup white chocolate chips, and ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut. Mix until combined and no dry spots remain.
Shape and freeze cookie dough:
- Divide the dough into 5 pieces, about 5-6oz each. Roughly shape the dough into slightly tall mounds using your hands.
- Place ube cookie mounds on a lined baking sheet or plate, and freeze for at least 1 hour. Freezing ensures that they do not spread out while baking.Note: You can store the frozen dough in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can bake them right from the freezer, but you will have to increase the baking time by 2-3 minutes.
Bake ube cookies:
- Place oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F/177°C.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place each dough mound about 3 inches apart on one baking sheet. Bake for 10-13 minutes. They are done when the edges are a little brown and set.
- Remove baked cookies from oven. Immediately sprinkle with flaky sea salt and top with additional white chocolate chips. Allow them to cool completely on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes—they will continue cooking on the sheet! They are very soft/delicate right after baking and need to set.
- Enjoy! For warm cookies, you can reheat them by baking them at 350° for 2-4 minutes or popping them in the microwave for 10 seconds.
Notes
- Weigh your ingredients! One of my favorite kitchen tools is a kitchen scale because it’s more accurate than measuring by volume. If you use cups, spoon the flour in gently, then level it with a knife or spatula.
- Invest in an oven thermometer: If you find that your purple yam cookies are still spreading a lot after using a kitchen scale and freezing the dough, try verifying your oven temperature! Years ago, my housemate and I found out that our oven used to run ~75-100°F lower by using a thermometer… which helped us ask our landlord to get a new oven, LOL.
- Let the cookies set: The cookies will be super gooey after baking. They will continue cooking on the cookie sheet and fully set around 10 minutes. But if you’d like warmer cookies, you can heat them back in the oven at 350°F for 3-5 minutes or pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds.
- For the unsweetened coconut, you can use unsweetened coconut flakes, dessicated coconut, or shredded coconut.
- Other mix-ins like chopped nuts, regular chocolate chips, or Oreos would be absolutely delicious in these cookies.
- You can swap out the ube flavor by omitting the ube extract and halaya. You can use vanilla extract, add other powders, or warming spices. You can also follow my chunky matcha cookie recipe. 🙂
- Room temperature: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Freezing instructions: Store cooled cookies in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. You can also freeze raw cookie dough mounds for up to 3 months. Bake as usual, just add 2-3 minutes to the baking time.
- Reheating instructions: Allow frozen cookies to thaw at room temperature for about 30 minutes. You can also heat them back up in the oven at 350°F for 3-5 minutes or microwave for 10 seconds.
Made this after trying to find a thick, Levain like cookie for ube. I had my own chocolate chip recipe, but I didn’t know where to start incorporating ube or white chocolate.
I’ve brought these to a couple of social functions, and the reception has been outstanding! Everyone really loves them and they ask if they’re professionally made. I was worried at first that people might find them overly sugary due to the halaya (I just got the one in a jar at Seafood City) and white chocolate, but I was pleasantly surprised that it’s pretty well balanced and doesn’t really even need the sea salt. It has received the coveted stamp of approval for Asian desserts of, “not too sweet” from my friends!
Definitely a knock out of the park and will make your next party go Hala-lleu-ya!
Hi Joseph!!
ahahah love the pun! Thank you so much for commenting 🙂 It really means a lot to me.
I’m glad you & others have enjoyed them, so so awesome!!!
This recipe is so great! Easy to make and delicious
Hi Bianca,
I have the proper ube halaya from Phil’s! Can I use this the same way as ube jam? It is slightly harder and thicker! Would I just use less or the same as ube jam?
Thanks!
Hi Jeunesse! Thanks for your comment!! <3
Ube jam = ube halaya; I've tried a few different halaya brands for this recipe. So I would try using it the same way 🙂
These cookies are amazing! I made them 3 times in a week for friends and everyone raved about how great they were! Perfectly chewy in the center, and the coconut and white chocolate chips add the perfect texture and flavor elements
Mina! Thank you so much, that means a lot to me! I’m so glad you and your friends enjoyed them. :’)
Hi Bianca! We are trying to make these cookies in bulk for my Dad’s birthday. I was wondering if we make the cookie smaller than 5 to 6 ounces do we have to reduce the temperature of the oven or just the cooking time?
Hi Sara! I would reduce the temp by 2-3 minutes only. But I’d still make sure the edges are set and the tops look a bit brown.
Hi Bianca! I followed this recipe with temperature and time exact. The inside seems almost raw. Is this normal? Oven was at temp. The outside even browned but inside was raw.
Hi Jas! Thanks so much for commenting and trying out the recipe! Were they still raw after letting them cool on the pan for 20-30 minutes?
Do you happen to have an oven thermometer? It sounds like your oven may run hot, which is why they browned quickly. I would try dropping the temp 25 degrees lower and baking longer!
Hi Bianca! After about 30 mins, they settled. Turns out I was just impatient. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Hi Bianca, how did you get 5-6oz cookies? I followed the recipe exactly and 5 cookies were less than 5oz 🙁
Hi Eileen! Thanks for the comment 🙂
If you weigh everything using a kitchen scale, the recipe should yield a little over 710g of cookie dough, which equals ~25 oz. So you should get about 5 5-6oz cookies! However, if you measure using cups, the weight may be a little off.
The amount of oz per cookie is not that crucial, it’s just a suggestion to equally measure out 5 equally sized cookies. I have had some people message me saying they baked the recipe with 3-4oz cookies and they still came out great, just not huge! 🙂
I hope this helps, please let me know if you have further questions. <3
Hi Bianca! These cookies look delicious and I’m planning to make some for the cookie contest in our hospital unit. I don’t have a stand mixer though. Is it ok if I use a hand mixer? Thank you!
Hello… can i use powdered ube instead of rehydrated ube,.is it gonna be the same ratio?
Hi there 🙂 I actually rehydrate the ube powder so that it becomes a paste, then I incorporate it into batter. I linked it in my recipe, but here it is too!: https://whattocooktoday.com/rehydrate-ube-powder.html
These Ube Cookies are Divine! I just replaced the shredded coconut to sliced almonds, perfect!! Use a couverture chocolate to get a gooey and melt in your mouth chocolate. No fail-easy to follow recipe! Really Super yum!!! Btw, it’s really chunky and huge like what I’ve always wanted. Thanks Ms Bianca!
Hi Trisha!
Thank you for trying this recipe 🙂 So happy you enjoyed them!
Hi Bianca. Thanks for the recipe. Love the gooeyness and flavour. Is it normal to have the bottom to be green in colour after baking? If not, any tips on how to prevent it from happening?
Hi, Lani! Thank you so much for the feedback, and trying the recipe 🙂
I’m interested to know what brand of ube extract you used, and if it had any food coloring in it. My ube extract has blue and red dyes in it, which acts as purple food coloring for my bakes.
In my research when writing to you, I read that baking soda can actually turn purple yam green-ish ! However, the purple food coloring should over balance that. Let me know what you used, I’m happy to further troubleshoot!
do you know what the nutrition information is? per cookie?
Hi Heather! I am not sure, but the recipe ingredient weights can be entered into an app like MyFitnessPal with a serving of ~6 cookies to find out. 🙂
These were divine. Thank you for the recipe! I didn’t have rehydrated ube. I used ube jam spread instead (not sure if this is the same as halaya?).
I only had dessicated coconut and used this instead. Worked out fine.
I forgot to cut down on sugar since I used the jam spread. It turned out slightly sweeter than my liking.
Overall still an amazing recipe and definitely will be using it again. Thanks Bianca!
Hi Amanda,
Thanks for trying the recipe! Yes, ube jam is the same as halaya :). Happy baking! <3
Hi if i were to make 70g cookie dough balls, will the oven temp stay the same and just decrease the time?
Hi Angela! I know we messaged, but I still wanted to reply in case someone else has the same question. I would decrease the time and keep the oven temp the same 🙂
Hi, would like to love to try this but can i just use ube extract, no rehydrated ube?
Hi! Yes, you can omit the rehydrated ube and keep the recipe as is 🙂
Can I use dessicated coxonut instead of shredded coconut?
Yes you can! 🙂
Hi! What can be a replacement for shredded coconut? Is it fresh shredded coconut btw?
Hi Jude 🙂 I use dried unsweetened coconut. I have also used dessicated coconut and coconut flakes (but chopped it to smaller pieces). You can omit the coconut if you want and can add a bit more white chocolate chips.
Hi Bianca! You’re such a talented baker 🤩 These cookies look so yummy 😋
Hi Tita! Thank you so much 🙂