Oatmeal-Trail Mix Cookies

Last week was my friend Victor's birthday so a bunch of us got together for a dinner celebrate to this milestone. I don't dare say which milestone, but it was significant enough for me to make a special batch of cookies just for him. These cookies needed to be not just good, but great. I remember asking him some time ago what type of cookies he liked. His reply went something like, "simple cookies, chocolate chip, butter. Nothing overly sweet." Victor is right. He's sweet enough already.

So I hit the cookbooks in search of a simple, not-so-sweet cookie and found this recipe for Oatmeal-Trail Mix Cookies. I neglected to mention that Victor watches what he eats and rarely has dessert. But cookies are his weakness and these just might fool him into thinking he's eating something healthy.

These cookies turned out very well. I'm not sure they qualify as simple (nuts, chocolate chips, coconut, raisins, and oats), but they were easy. The roasted peanuts added both great flavor and texture to the cookie. I used unsweetened coconut, but it was finely ground and was undetectable in the finished product. Next time I may also substitute M&M's for the chocolate chips to make them what I think is a true trail mix cookie.

Baker's note: The dough was very soft, so I popped it in the fridge and went out for a couple of hours until it firmed up.

This recipe is from The Gourmet Cookbook. Long live Gourmet, which closed last year, a victim of the recession.

I'll have to ask Victor if he liked the cookies. I bet they're already gone.

Oatmeal-Trail Mix Cookies

1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in 1 tablespoon warm water
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup salted roasted peanuts
1/2 cup raisins

Place rack in middle of oven and preheat to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment or lightly butter.

Beat together butter, shortening, and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Beat in egg, baking soda mixture, flour, salt, and vanilla until just combined. Sire in oats, coconut, chocolate chips, peanuts, and raisins until well combined.

Drop rounded tablespoons of dough about 4 inches apart onto buttered baking sheets, then flatten and spread each mound into a 3-inch round with a fork. Bake cookies in batches until golden, 8 to 10 minutes per batch. Transfer to racks to cool.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Coconut Pyramids

I love cookies that form interesting shapes. So when I received this cookie recipe from a friend's mom (thanks Mrs. Jarossy!), I was totally intrigued by the look of these miniature pyramid cookies. How cool!

These are a new interpretation of classic macaroons. They take more time to shape than simply dumping a mound of coconut onto cookie sheets, but for presentation purposes these are much more elegant. Serve these at a Egyptian-themed party or make them with your kids after you've been to the King Tut exhibit.

A few hints on shaping these cookies. The original recipe shaped the cookies into 3 sided pyramids. I found that more difficult than making a 4 sided pyramid. I suggest you try both and see which you like better. I tried several different spatulas to shape the cookies. A larger, very rigid plastic spatula worked best. A regular spatula seemed too pliable. I held the sides of the cookie with my fingers and placed the spatula on one side of the cookie and tilted it at a 45 degree angle. This worked best. You will likely need to go around the cookie several times before you get the shape looking like a pyramid.

Dipping the tops in chocolate seemed superfluous. I would forgo that step completely and get right down to the business of eating them. When I tried to dip more of the cookie in the chocolate, they fell apart or looked like a chocolate blob. Yes, definitely skip the chocolate.

Coconut Pyramids

1 3/4 cups sugar
5 1/4 cups unsweetened, shredded coconut
7 large egg whites
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/2 teaspoon pure vegetable shortening

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, using your hands, mix together sugar, coconut, egg whites, and salt. Add butter and extracts, and combine well. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Moisten palms with cold water. Roll 1 tablespoon of coconut mixture in palms, squeezing tightly together 2 or 3 times to form a compact ball. Place ball on a clean surface, and using a spatula, flatten one side at a time to form a 4-sided pyramid shape.

Place pyramids onto prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart, and bake until edges are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Leave the baking sheet on a wire rack to cool completely. As the cookies cool, with your fingers, gently reshape any that have lost the point on the tops.

Place chocolate and shortening in a small heatproof bowl, and set pan over another pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted. Do not let water come in contact with the chocolate (even a drop!). Dip top 1/2 inch of each pyramid in the melted chocolate. Set each dipped cookie on baking sheet and allow chocolate to harden.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Yield: approximately 45 cookies

Coconut Macaroons

I'm trying to eat healthy these days and still satisfy my sweet tooth. Coconut macaroons answer the call because they are simple to make, delicious (if you like coconut), and relatively healthy as compared to most other cookies. There is no flour, no butter, no granulated sugar, and very little measuring which makes them an ideal treat when you're in a hurry and don't want to make a huge mess in the kitchen.


This recipe is from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Family Style cookbook.

Coconut Macaroons

14 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1 t pure vanilla extract
2 extra large egg whites, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine the coconut, condensed milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. Separate the eggs and whip the egg whites and salt on high speed in the bowl of a mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Whip until egg white form medium peaks. Carefully fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture.

Drop the batter onto sheet pans lined with parchment paper using a 1 3/4 inch ice cream scoop or two teaspoons.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown. Cool and serve.

These cookies are best eaten they day they are made, but will stay fresh and moist for approximately three days in an airtight container at room temperature.

Cookie Press Review

Seems to me this is an all or nothing cookie. Either you love them or you hate them. My tasters were split down the middle. Luckily, those who loved them, really loved them and came back for seconds. As I mentioned above, these cookies are best the day they are made, but will last a few days if kept at room temperature. What I love about them is that I didn't have to dirty measuring cups or spend time wiping spilled flour off of the counter top. The coconut is pre-measured. Just dump two small bags into a bowl and add the sweetened condensed milk into the coconut. Easy Peezy as chef Jamie Oliver says!

Cookie press rating: 3.5 cookies (out of five)

Lime-Glazed Coconut Snowballs

Whenever I ask friends and relatives what their favorite Christmas cookie is, I always hear Snowballs (or Russian Tea Cakes if you want to be hoitytoity) mentioned in the top three. When I saw this recipe for Lime-Glazed Snowballs, I figured I'd give them a try. After all it's March and holiday cookie season is just ten months away and I need to be ready with a few new cookies in the lineup. Could this be a contender? Time would tell.

This recipe is from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, or the "Red Bible" as I like to call it.

Cookie Dough

2 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
3/4 Cup Superfine Sugar (grind up regular sugar in a food processor to make superfine sugar or just by a box)
1/4 t Salt
2 Sticks Unsalted Butter, softened and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 T Cream Cheese, Softened
2 t Vanilla Extract

Whisk flour, salt, and sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Beat butter into the flour mixture, one piece at a time, on medium-low speed. Continue to beat until the mixture looks crumbly and slightly wet, about 2 minutes longer. Beat in softened cream cheese and vanilla until the dough begins to hold together, forming large clumps.

Knead the dough in the bowl by hand a few times until it forms a large ball. Turn the dough out onto a clean counter top, divide into two equal pieces and form two discs, each approximately four inches wide. Chill for 20 to 30 minutes or longer.

Lime Glaze

While dough is chilling, whisk 2 tablespoons of lime juice and 1 tablespoon of cream cheese together in a bowl until smooth. Add confectioners' sugar and whisk until smooth. You may add more lime juice if needed to thin the glaze. Glaze should be thin enough to spread easily, but not too runny.

In a separate bowl, place 1 to 1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut (unsweetened coconut is more difficult to find, but health food stores carry it), chopped fine.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using your hands, roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on parchment-lined baking sheets 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until cookies are light brown, about 12 minutes, rotating pans from upper to lower shelf if baking two pans.

Let cookies cool on sheets for 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.

When cookies are completely cool, dip tops in the glaze, scrape away excess, and dip into the coconut. Set cookies back on wire rack to cool. Glaze will set in about 20 minutes.

Cookie Press Review

Let me start by saying that these are nothing like traditional snowballs that are rolled in powdered sugar. These are quite different but delicious nonetheless. The dough is a delicate butter cookie with a fine crumb. The lime glaze offers a subtle citrus flavor without being overpowering. I'd like a bit more lime flavor now that I think about it. The coconut adds a nice texture and flavor as well.
Overall, these are very good cookies. They look like you slaved away in the kitchen for hours, but really you didn't. And best of all, they are bite size so you can eat them by the dozen. I had to stop myself. Really I did.

Cookie press rating: 4 cookies (out of five)