Coconut on the brain

Last Wednesday, I met up with a friend, P., for a mid-week mid-day meal. After hot lunch at the Argo Café*, we took advantage of the sun and a slow work schedule to amble over to Terra Breads for dessert and an espresso.

A hem and a haw later, I settled on orange shortbread—an underwhelming choice in the end. A bite of P.'s chocolate macaroon was redemptive, however, and left me with coconut on the brain. I'd like to try recreating that macaroon at some point, but in the meantime I settled on revisiting a happy toasted coconut accident from a few years ago.

This time, there's a recipe.



Toasted Coconut & Chocolate Chunk Cookies

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups chocolate chunks (I mixed semi-sweet and milk chocolate)
2 cups unsweetened coconut, toasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Dump the coconut onto an ungreased, unlined baking sheet and toast for 3 minutes. Shake the coconut around on the pan and return to the oven for a few more minutes, until the coconut is golden. Scoop the toasted coconut into a bowl and set it aside. Keep the oven on.

In a large bowl, whip the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Add these dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix just until combined.

Stir in the chocolate and toasted coconut.

Drop spoonfuls of the (fairly sticky) dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving room for the cookies to expand during baking. I usually aim for 8-12 per pan.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes before moving them to a rack to cool completely.

* For Vancouver readers, the Argo Café is an odd, but worthwhile, little place in an area of the city where good eats are few and far between.

Source: A riff on my favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Dad's cookies on mom's day

These are the kind of cookies that hold little appeal when you're a kid. They're more crunchy than chewy, full of oats and chocolate-free. Just between you and me though, that's some of the tastiest cookie batter going.

In honour of J., who has been baking me good cookies from scratch my entire life.



And we wonder why we turn out the way we do.
Like mother, like daughter.

Dad's Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups rolled oats, old-fashioned
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir to combine.

Form the dough into walnut-sized balls, leaving lots of space between cookies (about 12 per sheet). Press down each ball with your hand or a fork.

Bake until golden brown (about 10-15 minutes). The longer you bake them, the crunchier they will be. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yields about 4 dozen cookies.

Source: Mom's recipe file, with a few minor tweaks.