White Chocolate Coconut Cookies

I don't have a great name for these cookies, but once you eat one, you won't care what they are called!  In fact, I just made a double batch of these to share and several people asked for the recipe.  So I figured I might as well share it here as well!  I took some pictures but didn't figure you needed pictures of measuring ingredients or mixing.  (Mainly because I didn't remember to take pictures until I had already done the mixing...)

White Chocolate Coconut Cookies
   A light vanilla-flavored sugar cookie with lots of coconut punch, accented with a good dose of white chocolate chips. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Ingredients:
  - 2 3/4 cups flour
  - 1 tsp. baking soda
  - 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  - 1 cup butter, softened
  - 1 1/2 cups sugar
  - 1 egg
  - 1/2 vanilla bean (or 3/4 tsp. vanilla bean paste or 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract)
  - 1 tsp. coconut extract
  - 1 1/2 cup coconut flakes
  - 1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
  - 1 T. shortening (or 1 T. vegetable oil)

Directions:
     1)  Preheat oven to 375 degrees
     2)  In a small or medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and baking powder.  Whisk to remove any lumps if you do not sift your flour.  (I rarely bother sifting - whisking works great!)  Set aside.
     3)  In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.  (Please don't melt your butter in the microwave - let it sit out to soften or carefully soften in the microwave.  If your butter is melted, your cookies will be flat.)
     4)  Beat in the egg, vanilla, and coconut extract.  (Please note - vanilla bean gives the best flavor, but I know it's expensive; vanilla bean paste is a great alternative and much cheaper.  If you don't have either, vanilla extract will do.)
     5)  Stir in coconut flakes.
     6)  Gradually add in the dry ingredients until it is all well blended.
     7)  Add in 1 cup of the white chocolate chips.
     8)  Roll rounded tablespoons of dough into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets.

     9)  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until the edges are golden brown. 

    10)  Let cool for a few minutes before removing to cool on paper towels or wire racks.

    11)  When cookies are at least mostly cool, melt the remaining 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips and the shortening (or vegetable oil) in the microwave for 30 seconds.  (If you don't have shortening, or if you're like me and you didn't realize your shortening was outdated, vegetable oil will do the trick.  You just need to thin the chocolate a bit.  Paraffin or paramount crystals work too, but you don't need to waste the money on them or waste the expensive ingredients when the cheap ones work fine.)  If the chips are not completely melted, keep microwaving for 15 second increments and stirring in between.  Drizzle over the cookies.  (I recommend pouring it into a Zip-lock baggie, cutting off a corner, and drizzling that way.  Also, I cool my cookies on paper towels so I don't worry about the excess drizzle.  If you cool on wire racks, put some paper towels under the racks or you'll have a mess).

As you can see, I barely made it through the drizzling step before someone came by and had a few.  I won't name names but my husband sure does love these cookies! ;o)  Also, be sure to melt enough white chocolate chips - I almost ran out this time and that would have been sad!

 

 Now it's time to ENJOY!  And for the cookies that don't get eaten immediately, put them in a sealed container to keep them fresh.  My favorite cookie trick that I learned from my mom was to put a small piece of bread into the container - the bread gets hard and the cookies stay soft!  Always put your piece of bread onto a napkin or paper towel or else the cookie that the bread is sitting on will get super soft and mushy.

I've easily the cookies last for two to three weeks this way - they usually disappear before they can go bad! Now you can have some delicious cookies that will keep for quite some time so you can keep enjoying them!