Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Coconut Cookies

I mentioned my growing collection of different types of flour the other day, and now there’s one more variety in the bin. Coconut flour joined the party as soon as I saw these cookies in Good to the Grain. I bought Bob’s Red Mill coconut flour which is made from ground, organic coconuts, and it has the same sweet, warm smell of fresh coconut. I was thinking this flour would be good in pancakes, and as luck would have it, there’s a buttermilk coconut pancake recipe on the back of the flour package. But, about these cookies, they’re made with just coconut flour and barley flour with no all-purpose or wheat flour included. There’s also coconut milk in them, and each ball of dough was rolled in shredded, unsweetened coconut before being placed on a cookie sheet. Three sources of coconut was a sure sign that Kurt was going to be happy with these. They were tender, cakey cookies full of coconut flavor. Warm from the oven, they were melt-in-your-mouth good, but I also liked them after they’d been refrigerated overnight. I usually don’t go for cold cookies, but these were an exception to the rule. Once cold, they were a little firmer, and for whatever reason, I like shredded coconut when it’s cold.

Making this dough was just a little different from most other cookie recipes. The dry ingredients were sifted together, and those were barley flour, coconut flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Then, eggs were beaten in a stand mixer and then granulated and brown sugars were added and mixed with the eggs. Next, the dry ingredients were added and mixed until combined before room temperature butter was added. I felt a little uncomfortable adding the butter after the dry ingredients, but following the butter, coconut milk and vanilla were added. Last, some of the shredded unsweetened coconut was mixed into the dough which came together just fine. I used a scoop to make balls of dough which were rolled in more shredded coconut, and the cookies baked for about 20 minutes.

When I asked Kurt if he liked the cookies, his response was: of course, they’re made with coconut. So, if you like coconut, you’ll like these cookies. I liked these cookies for the true coconut flavor, for the just-right level of sweetness, and for the tender, cakey texture. Now, I’m off to attempt coconut pancakes and experiment with other ways to use this flour.



24 comments:

  1. Great cookies! I bet they taste heavenly.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  2. I've never even heard of coconut flour!

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  3. I'm drooling. My husband doesn't like shredded coconut. It's a texture thing since he likes coconut flavor obtained through coconut milk. Do you think I could skip rolling them in the shredded coconut to make coconut cookies that we both can enjoy? Thanks!

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  4. Christine: You definitely could skip rolling the dough in the shredded coconut, but the shredded coconut that's mixed into the dough is needed. Without the shredded coconut in the dough, I think it would be too loose. However, since unsweetened shredded coconut is so small, it blends into the dough and really isn't noticeable inside the cookies.

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  5. Okay I am grabbing some coconut flour next time I hit Whole Foods. I am currently obsessed with grains of all kinds, so why not venture into flour? These look delish Lisa!!

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  6. My daughter adores anything coconut! I'll be making this delight for her the next time she comes home. Hopefully, I can find coconut flour at Whole Foods.

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  7. I actually have coconut flour. I bought it when i was in my macaron phase and thought I'd try it in place of the almond flour. That never happened, but these look amazing. I loooooooooooove coconut.
    *kisses* HH

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  8. Have never tried that coconut flour...That is about to change!!! These look scrumptious!

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  9. Just had a bun (filled with taro paste), topped with toasted coconut this morning. The coconut definitely is a plus point to the soft bun. So I bet these coconut cookies smell and taste heavenly. I did not bake it of course. Bought it from a Chinese bakery.

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  10. These look so scrumptious! Very neat that they are made with barley and coconut flour!

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  11. Oh, Lisa...these look divine! No one loves coconut more than me--cannot wait to make these. Already have the coconut flour...and, am *so* ordering that book asap! Great post.

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  12. Coconut flour? How cool is that! So if you used the flour in anything, would you end up with a coconut flavor no matter what? Like if you made shortbread cookies or used it to dust chicken with? Hmmm, the possibilities are very intriguing.

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  13. This looks really, really good. I'm a big snacker too and I often want to snack on a variety of things instead of having a

    big meal. Especially for lunch!

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  14. Wow these look amazing. I love coconut but didn't know that there is coconut flour.

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  15. We love coconuts and Im sure I would love these cookies and my husband would love them too :)

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  16. Carolyn: With just coconut flour, the flavor would be very subtle. Also, for cookies, it needs to be mixed with another type of flour to prevent the final product from being gummy. I like the idea of dusting chicken with it though.

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  17. Now I know what to make with my leftover coconut! (just made some coconut balls! (savory)

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  18. Wow, these look super delicious! I love everything coconut (especially in sweet dishes), but I've never tried coconut flour. Great idea. :-)

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  19. oh my goodness! this looks absolutely delicious! thank you for sharing this with us and have a great weekend.

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  20. how interesting that the butter was added last--i've certainly never seen that in a recipe before! these look like perfect little noshes. :)

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  21. Oh wow, I love the thought of trying coconut flour. If I had more room, I'd have a variety of flours too. I bet these would be super tasty. The only think I might change is a bit of contact with chocolate, but there is nothing wrong with pure coconut.

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  22. I love coconut but Tom doesn't seem to be as fond of the flavor as I am. Hmm, I think I will just try and see if I can get him to like these!

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  23. I love coconut and these look delightful! wondering it dried coconut can be ground at home to make the flour.

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  24. OMG

    these look so delicios i LOVE coconut !!!!

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