Coconut Cookies!

If you can host Christmas in July, you most assuredly can invite tropical flavors to baked goods in December. Having a few leftover bags of sweetened coconut flakes from my kids' cooking program at the library (posted here--the spooooky Banana Ghosts) I decided to experiment with making a cookie that I could easily bring in to work around the holiday season and also satisfy my own craving for coconut. This is a love that only recently developed within the past few years when I discovered how wonderful coconut and dark chocolate pair in candy boxes (I couldn't stand "that shredded stuff" as a kid). Instead of going with chocolate in my cookies, however, I opted to put a twist on traditional chocolate chip cookie recipes, using the same basic dough, but adding coconut instead of chips. First found here (a recipe by N. Hoff on AllRecipes.com), I again made a couple of changes for my own personal tastes--basically whole wheat pastry flour and a whole teaspoon of vanilla extract. The results? Such compliments as "awesome & oh so yummy!!" and "the best coconut cookies I've ever had!" Much thanks to N. Hoff for the idea and to my coworkers for their kind words! I now plan to repeat Coconut Cookies whenever I can!

Ingredients:

1 and 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 and 1/3 cups sweetened coconut flakes

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spread a piece of parchment (NOT wax) paper on a baking sheet.

2.) Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and stir together. In a separate bowl, combine the soft butter with both sugars and beat until the mixture is smooth (you can use an electric mixer, but I just used a fork and stirred really hard!). Add the egg and vanilla to the butter mixture and continue to beat until everything is well combined.

3.) Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until no more flour is visible. Then stir in the coconut.

4.) Form the dough into small Tablespoon-sized balls, slightly flattened, and place on the parchment paper (or if you don't have parchment paper, just an ungreased cookie sheet).

5.) Bake for about 10 minutes until the cookies are golden brown around the edges. Allow them to cool slightly, but you can eat them while they're still warm!

I love cookie season! But lots of chocolate is coming up next!