WW Recipe of the Day: Wheaties Coconut Cookies
I came across this recipe for Old-Fashioned Wheaties Coconut Cookies in a little cookie recipe booklet from 1965. It's the first recipe in the book and is credited to Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson, wife of the President of United States, at the time.
WW Friendly Wheaties Coconut Cookies
It immediately caught my eye, because I love love love all things coconut, including coconut cookies.
I made these Wheaties coconut cookies lighter by cutting the butter and sugar called for in the original recipe in half.
They may never be considered diet food. But when you want something sweet, crispy, chewy and delicious, these cookies will definitely satisfy your craving!
Plate of Wheaties Coconut Cookies
I love old cookie recipes and have fun exploring ways to make cookies a little lighter and healthier without sacrificing flavor and texture.
One nice thing about old cookie recipes, like this one for Wheaties Coconut Cookies, is that the suggested cookie size is a lot smaller - perfect portion-control for those of us watching our weight and trying to eat better 🙂
How Many Calories and WW Points in these cookies?
According to my calculations each cookie has 70 calories and:
4 *SmartPoints (Green plan)
4 *SmartPoints (Blue plan)
4 *SmartPoints (Purple plan)
2 *PointsPlus (Old plan)
To see your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, Click here!
Wheaties Cookies Baking Notes and Recipe Variations
Like so many old cookie recipes, this one calls for a mixture of butter and other shortening. When old cookbooks say "shortening," they are referring to all fats including butter, margarine, lard and vegetable shortening. I prefer to use mostly butter in my cookies, but sometimes use a non-hydrogenated shortening - like the one from Spectrum. Use whatever you like best.
I think cornflakes, bran flakes, crisp rice cereal or some other kind of whole wheat flakes would all work well in place of the Wheaties.
Wheaties Coconut Cookies - 4 WW Freestyle SmartPoints
Substitute all, or part, of the all-purpose flour with white wheat or whole wheat pastry flour.
To turn these into Ranger Cookies, decrease the coconut to 1 cup and add 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats.
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Wheaties Coconut Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup butter or vegetable shortening
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups shredded coconut
- 2 cups Wheaties cereal
Instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to the center position and preheat oven to 375F degrees. Lightly grease your cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl (affiliate link) whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder until well blended.
- In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugars with an electric mixer (affiliate link) until creamy.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until well blended.
- Stir in the coconut until well distributed throughout the dough.
- Stir in the flour mixture just until well blended.
- Stir in the Wheaties cereal, mixing just until blended.
- Roll the dough into walnut sized balls spacing them at least 2 inches apart.
- Bake, one cookie sheet at a time, in the center of the oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until they're golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let cool on the cookie sheet for a minute and then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Repeat with the remaining dough, being sure to allow cookie sheets to cool completely before using them again. (I often rinse the backsides under cool water to speed up the process.)
Recipe Notes
*Points® calculated by WW. *PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT each plan's ZeroPoint Foods (Green plan, Blue plan, Purple plan) using the WW Recipe Builder.
If you like Wheaties Coconut Cookies you might also like:
-
Coconut Almond Cookies
- Low-Fat Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies
- Easy Trail Mix Cookies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal No-Bake Cookies
- Betty Crocker Brown Sugar Drop Cookies
- Plain and Simple Sugar Cookie Recipe
- Nana's Crunchy Jumble Cookies
Martha is the founder and main content writer for Simple-Nourished-Living.
A longtime lifetime WW at goal, she is committed to balancing her love of food and desire to stay slim while savoring life and helping others do the same.
She is the author of the Smart Start 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
A huge fan of the slow cooker and confessed cookbook addict, when she's not experimenting in the kitchen, you're likely to find Martha on her yoga mat.
This post contains affiliate links to products I like. When you buy something through one of my Amazon links or other (affiliate links), I receive a small commission that helps support this site. Thank you for your purchase!
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Mary D
Taste great! I got 60 cookies out of the recipe. My cookies didn’t spread, they stayed in the shape of a walnut sized ball, but it didn’t effect the taste. I used vegetable shortening instead of butter, maybe that’s why. I could always flatten them next time I make them.