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I've made this recipe for Chewy Vegan Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies and they are indeed chewy and delicious.

I never used refined coconut oil before so I did some research. I saw a lot of recipes claiming "chewy" when they called for refined coconut oil. But I haven't found anything that explained why.

What is it about this oil that produces chewy-ness? What is the science behind refined coconut oil producing this texture?

J007B
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    I think the melting point of coconut oil (24C) should be relevant. How does the texture change if your substitute butter? – Mark Wildon Jul 02 '20 at 10:48
  • +1 to Mark's point about melting point making coconut oil literally "melt in your mouth" like butter. It's also almost entirely SATURATED fat, making it fairly unique from most cooking oil. Coconut oil, palm oil, and cocoa butter are all high in saturated fat, which makes them very common in commercial baked goods sold as "chewy" – AMtwo Jul 02 '20 at 11:59
  • I noticed this also has cornstarch which makes cookies chewier. It might be another variable to look into. – kitukwfyer Jul 02 '20 at 16:06

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I believe that the key here is the fat content, to achieve a truly chewy texture you need to have the right amount of saturated fat. In this case, chewiness comes from coconut oil's high saturated fatty acid content. As a comparison, coconut oil is 100% fat, 80-90% of which is saturated fat while butter has almost twice less (50-60%).

Katja Skafar
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  • The fat content (as mentioned in this answer) + the type of sugar used (brown makes chewier cookies than white) are the two main factors I'd heard about. There's this interesting piece I read on cookie chemistry here: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2016/03/14/cookie-chemistry-2 – mfox Jul 02 '20 at 11:50