Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Now we're talking. Although I would have been dead silent as a kid. Because I hated coconut. Well, the kids in the Peanuts cartoons hated it. I read; I hated. Sheesh. There's a lesson in there for a food writer, no? Anyway, I always blech-ed at coconut--until I met Bruce who made, oh, curries with coconut milk, macaroons, and a host of absolutely divine dishes. Now? Bring it on. I am post-Peanuts.
This morning, he made a batch of coconut chocolate chip cookies from THE ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE COOKIE BOOK to take to his knitting class tonight.
At least he claims he's taking them. Let's see how many get out the door at 2:00 this afternoon.
Here's how the whole thing goes down:
He started by positioning the racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and by cranking it up to 350F. He also lay two silicone baking sheets on two lipped baking trays--but you could lightly grease the trays with unsalted butter, too.
Then he beat 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter and 6 tablespoons trans-fat free solid vegetable shortening in a large mixer at medium speed until it was sort of smooth.
You know the trick of perfect cookies, right? The butter MUST be just slightly cooler than room temperature, somewhere around 65F. If the butter is too warm, even near room temperature (unless you really keep the thermostat down), it will not trap enough air bubbles when beaten and so will produce flatter, ickier cookies. Bruce always takes the butter out of the fridge, cuts however much he needs into 1-inch pieces, and leaves them on the counter while he gathers the other ingredients for the recipe.
Then he beat in 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar until fluffy and pale brown--all before adding 1 large egg, at room temperature and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.
Another baking secret: a room temperature egg. Basically, it needs to sit out on the counter for 20 minutes--or be immersed (in its shell, of course) in a bowl of lukewarm, not hot, water for a couple minutes. Cold eggs shock batters--and we're back to that icky cookie problem.
After that, he whisked 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a small bowl, then poured it in and let the mixer whomp it up a bit, until there were no floury bits anywhere.
Finally, he poured in 2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips and 1 3/4 cups unsweetened coconut chips.
Two ingredient notes: he used unsweetened coconut--sometimes called (not too attractively) "desiccated coconut flakes" in health-food stores. And he used really tiny chocolate chips because he intended to make tiny cookies.
Once everything was uniform in the batter, he scooped it out onto the lined baking sheets in 1-tablespoon increments, using a little ice cream scoop to get the job done. I, the less, um, professional type, would probably have just balled the batter up on a flatware tablespoon.
Into the oven they went, one tray on each rack. He baked them for 7 minutes before switching the trays top to bottom and rotating them as well. Another 6 minutes or so and they were done. (Have I ever told you how amused I am by this food writing cliche: "He baked the cookies 7 minutes"? Or "I baked a cake today"? Didn't the oven bake the cookies or cake? Or do you have really hot hands?)
He used a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool. We'll see how many last the day. They're crunchy. Really crisp. A definite hit of coconut and chocolate. Three or four bites each. How many calories can be in three bites? Maybe I better go get another one right now.
Mark Scarbrough | Posted on Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 10:34AM | in Chocolate, Cookies, Fabulously Empty Calories 
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (11)
You look like you have a lot of cookies there. And I sent you lemons.
You make the connection.
(Screw Bruce's knitters!)
Seriously, the cookies look terrific, and I'm so glad you came around. If a former coconut-loather is now a coconut-lover, I have hope for the state of our universe.
These look incredible. I'd like some perspective on how small they really are.
I'm with you on the coconut. I used to give away my mounds bars at Halloween, and don't think I actually tasted coconut until I was in college.
Cheryl: The cookies were in the car and gone before I could even blink. I'm blaming it on Dreydl. For some reason. But really, I wouldn't want to steal any away. Those knitters can be a snarling bunch.
Lisa: Not big. I'd say 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter. And they got ridiculously crunchy as they cooled.
Mark -
I can almost smell those cookies from here!! Wow!! And you didn't get ANY???? (Being a bit older than y'all, I was the same way with spinach for some reason -- BECAUSE Popeye loved it, I HATED it!! Go figure...but then children can be very odd...) The posts are incredible, and we are very much enjoying! Keep up the great work!
m
Margaret: OK, I didn't like coconut as a child, but I loved spinach, mustard greens, beef tongue, gizzards, and collard greens. I was an odd boy.
looks yummy. and more uniform rounds than i would ever bother to attempt!
i discovered that parchment paper lining my bake pans help me cover up any "errors" like cookies going too flat. a tough lesson learned while experimenting with non-white flour flours like oat flour and almond meal. can you explain how the parchment paper does its magic for cookies? i just know it works, but dunno why exactly.
Jen: Listen, I wouldn't have them as round as that. Mine would definitely be more, um, rustic. But there is something to be said for using a little ice cream scoop the way he did, the kind of scoop that makes those tiny balls of sorbet favored in foofy restaurants. He did get an even set of cookies for sure.
Re parchment: have you ever used it and taken a baking sheet out of the oven, removed the cookies, and then wadded up the parchment paper itself? Ever noticed that it's strangely cooler than the baking sheet, which may still be quite hot? Parchment paper is actually a poor conductor of heat--as, in fact, are those silicone baking mats Bruce used. And therein lies the secret: mitigating the otherwise hot surface of the baking sheet. In the end, that metal baking sheet gets too hot for a good cookie--and so you need a way to slow down the heat transfer so the cookies bake on the top without singeing on the bottom. You can do that with 1) parchment paper, 2) a silicone baking mat, 3) or fat on the sheet (aka, greasing it with butter). That last method is the least reliable because, of course, the fat will act as a slight barrier for a while--but will eventually heat up and zap the cookies, perhaps not as bad as the metal sheet, but nearly so. And that all said--there are just so many frickin' "howevers" in culinary science--some cookies and baked goods get a better crunch from being directly in contact with the baking sheet's metal. Oven-fried chicken or fish, for example. Or high flour-to-fat ratio cookies, like the standard Tollhouse cookies.
Oh my gosh, I now know why my last several batches of chocolate chip cookies have been dismayingly flat -- too warm butter. I love the suggestion and may well have to bake these this weekend to test it out!
(ps... in the realm of cooing fan noises, Mark, I have loved reading stuff you and bruce have written over the years in cooking light, eating well and other pubs. When I saw you posting on 5secondrule, I immediately thought that the blog had hit the big time. Glad to find your space. Great, more ways to waist time reading about food!)
Diana: First, welcome.
Second, it's absolutely the physics of batter. The fat has to be chilled enough--if, that is, it's a saturated fat--to trap air molecules. Try this tip on cake batter as well--your cakes will never know what hit them.
'Course, you have to have the big-ass stand mixer to do it. But listen, I've even done it with my mother's hand mixer, cut in cool butter--and while it's been a pain the neck (or other regions), it still works (after a long time).
And shoot, I think Cheryl's the big time. I LOVE her stuff.
Hi!
So i tried these cookies this past weekend and they were just what I've been looking for! I LOVE LOVE LOVE coconut and when you pair it with chocolate, just heaven!
Thanks for the recipe! I will for sure make this for the years to come!
Lisa
Lisa: I'm so glad you liked them. It's been a while since this post--and I think I'm hunkering for a batch myself.