Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

One of my good friends had a sweet tooth yesterday and specifically put in a request for oatmeal cookies. I whipped up
this recipe for her creating a traditional oatmeal cookie that would satisfy expectations but with a bit of a spin on it by adding in coconut and some winter spices.

In this recipe, I use both chocolate chips and dried cranberries ...truthfully, you can take 'em or leave 'em and it's still a pretty delicious cookie if you ask me.

My friend explicitly said "no chocolate." (And yes we are still friends. She has many other redeeming qualities : )) So I threw in the cranberries for her and did a separate batch with chocolate chips for the chocolate lovers.

Either way, you can make these cookies 3 ways:

• no cranberries/no chips
• split batch (as directed in recipe)
• cranberries and chips together
  

Your call.
Be sure to use rolled oats and not the instant ones. As for the sugar: rapadura, sucanat or raw cane sugar will do. Be sure to use whole wheat PASTRY flour and not just whole wheat flour. It does make a difference. Many of these items can be found in the bulk bins or natural foods section of your market.

These cookies will spread a little bit on the pan and they come out a little crispy around the egdes. They have the quality and flavor that come with using whole ingredients and of course the buttery finish you would expect from a homemade cookie. Well, that's what I expect in a cookie. B U T T E R. Amen to that.

______________________________________________________________

Oatmeal Coconut Cookies
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
2 1/4 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground coriander

2 sticks of butter, at room temperature
2 cups raw cane sugar or other unrefined sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup dried cranberries
¾ cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine flour, coconut, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices in a mixing bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, cream the butter using a mixer. In a spice/coffee grinder, partially grind the sugar, being careful not to grind it too fine. Add the sugar to the butter and blend for about a minute. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and give it one good final mix. Add in 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix using a fork. Mix in another third and then the final third. The dough will be thick. Split the dough in half and mix cranberries into one bowl and then the chocolate chips into the other half of the dough.

Scoop a heaping tablespoon of dough; with moist hands, roll into a ball and flatten just slightly. Place 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.


Preparation time: 45 minutes
Yields 3 dozen cookies

Copyright 2010, S. Nester, Original Recipe