Hello, Dolly! Chocolate Chip Cookies are caramel-sweet and full of graham crackers, chocolate, pecans and coconut. This may be the best cookie I have ever made. In our house, we call those layered chocolate, pecan and coconut squares "Hello, Dollys!" Other people call them 7-Layer Bars or Magic Bars. My family loves them, so I took all that good stuff and stuffed it into a cookie.
My mom is famous for her Hello, Dolly! bars. A Hello, Dolly! is a snack bar with a graham cracker crust layered with coconut, pecans and chocolate chips and baked together with sweetened condensed milk. You might also know them as Magic Bars or 7-Layer Bars.
This has always been our all-time favourite treat. And Grandma knows it! I would bet my house that on our next visit to Grandma's, there will be a small plate of the little chocolatey squares sitting on the counter, probably still frozen and freshly pulled from her stash in the freezer.
Knowing that I can't compete with Grandma's Hello, Dolly! squares, I decided to pack all the good things that make a Hello, Dolly! a Hello, Dolly! into a cookie. And let me tell you, it works! This is now our favourite cookie.
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Ingredients for Hello, Dolly! Chocolate Chip Cookies
To make this cookie "Hello, Dolly!" like, I started with a sweet and chewy chocolate chip cookie base - so lots of sugar ๐ Using a combination of brown and white sugar, this cookie has a chewy, almost caramel-like texture reminiscent of the baked condensed milk in a Hello, Dolly! bar.
Graham crackers A Hello, Dolly! would not be a Hello, Dolly! without graham crackers. So I added some graham cracker crumbs to the base. Their flavour and texture perfectly shine through. This is a necessary ingredient.
Chocolate chips. Lots of chocolate. I used a combination of cream cheese chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips and dark chocolate chunks. Use your favourite combination. White-chocolate chips or caramel chips also work nicely.
I use Hershey's Dark Chocolate Chunks 70% Cacao in most chocolate chip cookie recipes. Rich and not too sweet these chocolate chunks are my secret for the best chocolate chip cookie. The chunks are slightly bigger than a chip and add a nice texture. These pumpkin butter chocolate chunk cookies use the same chips.
Coconut and Pecans- for that authentic Hello, Dolly! flavour. There are no substitutions.
TIP: For best results, chill the dough at least 30 minutes before baking. These cookies will spread as they bake, even when the dough is chilled. To be most efficient and ensure all the cookies bake evenly, measure and roll cookies all at once. Place the cookie balls on a cookie sheet. All of them - and stick the whole tray in the refrigerator. Chill the dough balls for 30 minutes. To bake, simply take out just the dough balls needed to fill another lined cookie sheet for baking. Leave the rest to keep chill in the refrigerator between batches
I bake about 9 cookies at a time on my 12x16 inch cookie sheet.
For best baking results
Use room temperature ingredients. This tip refers to the butter and eggs. Using room temperature butter will ensure the butter whips and incorporates with the other ingredients. See below tip. Don't try to melt the butter, or soften it in the microwave. While not disastrous, I find cookies will end up a bit greasy.
See this post for tips on how to measure flour for baking cookies, muffins and quick breads. How to measure flour....
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. I use my standmixer when I make cookies. You can also use a handheld mixer as well. Use room temperature butter - fully softened but not melted. This way you can incorporate the sugar into the butter until the mixture is light, fluffy and creamy. Get that nice creamy texture before adding anything else.
A digital kitchen scale. I'm devoted to my kitchen scale. Not only do I use my scale to measure ingredients (ie flour and sugar) I also use it to measure my cookies. Evenly sized cookies = evenly baked cookies. So dust off your scale and use it to weigh your cookie dough balls.
If you don't have one, they are very much affordable. Look for a rechargeable scale like this one so you don't have to worry about batteries.
A cookie scoop. Okay maybe not necessary if you have a scale, but I still use mine. And even with a scoop, the weight of each scoop can vary 10-15 grams if you are not careful. But I still like my cookie scoop for getting a basic cookie shape. Pop the dough out of the scoop onto the scale, adjust, roll it into a ball and place it on the cookie sheet. I used a 3-tablespoon cookie scoop for these cookies or measured each cookie to be 42 grams. I find these scoops incredibly convenient whenever I am baking.
Parchment paper sheets. I found premeasured parchment paper pieces on Amazon several years ago and haven't looked back. Cut exactly to fit my cookie sheets, they lay flat and ready to go. I always have a package of these on hand. Just check sizing so you get the right size for your cookie sheets.
Storage
Cookies will keep for about 5 days in an air-tight container at room temperature. These cookies also freeze well and will keep for about 3 months in the freezer.
Top Tip
Use a kitchen scale when measuring cookie dough into balls for evenly sized cookies. This helps all the cookies to bake consistently.
More cookies
Looking for more of our favourite cookie recipes? Try these:
๐ Recipe
Hello, Dolly! Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ยฝ cup graham cracker crumbs
- ยพ cup all purpose flour
- ยฝ teaspoon salt
- ยผ teaspoon baking soda
- ยผ teaspoon baking powder
- ยฝ cup brown sugar
- ยผ cup white sugar
- ยฝ cup butter soften at room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ยพ cup coconut
- ยพ cup chopped pecans
- ยฝ cup cream cheese chips use white chocolate or caramel chips
- ยฝ cup dark chocolate chunk
- ยฝ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or more dark chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375
- In a small bowl whisk together dry ingredients - graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking soda, baking powder and saltยฝ cup graham cracker crumbs, ยพ cup all purpose flour, ยฝ teaspoon salt, ยผ teaspoon baking soda, ยผ teaspoon baking powder
- In a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together sugars and butter until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, mixing until well blendedยฝ cup brown sugar, ยผ cup white sugar, ยฝ cup butter, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Then add chocolate chips, pecans and coconut. Again mix until just blended.ยพ cup coconut, ยพ cup chopped pecans, ยฝ cup cream cheese chips, ยฝ cup dark chocolate chunk, ยฝ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Measure and shape dough into same-sized cookie balls. Chill the dough before baking. So see notes for more tips. I like to shape the cookie dough balls, line them all up on a parchment-lined baking tray and place the whole tray in the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes before baking. I use a kitchen scale to get my cookies the same size. For this recipe, I like 30-32 grams each.
- To bake, place about 9 cookie balls on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, evenly spaced about two inches apart. Bake at 375 for 10-11 minutes. Bake one tray at a time for even baking results.
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