The first time I made this recipe I screwed it up. I didn’t allow the toasted coconut and pecans to cool before adding them to the batter. The chocolate chunks ended up melting into the batter so I had more of a chocolate cookie than a chocolate chunk cookie.

This time I made sure to allow the toasted items time to cool. But I think I actually liked the cookie a little better the other way.

On the other hand, my office mate loved them, as did Michael’s co-workers. So it could just be that I’ve never been a huge fan of chocolate chips, and I’d always rather have chocolate, instead.

Chocolate Chunk Coconut Pecan Chews
2 1/2 cups sweetened coconut
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
3 tbsp melted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour + 2 tbs flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 oz bittersweet chocolate chunks (I measured out 3 ounces, and then just dumped in the rest)

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Toast the coconut and the pecans for 9 to 12 minutes (recipe says 9 minutes, but mine needed 12), stirring frequently.

Set aside toasted coconut and pecans to cool.

In mixer bowl, stir together milk, sugar, butter, egg, salt, egg, and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda.

Add the flour mixture to the batter.

Remove 1 cup of the toasted coconut and pecan mixture.

Mix in coconut pecan mixture and chocolate. The recipe said to refrigerate the mixture for ten minutes, but the batter was not at all thin, so I moved right along.

Scoop 1 tbsp of dough onto parchment paper covered baking sheets. (You can substitute foil.)

Sprinkle remaining coconut and pecan mixture over the cookies.

Bake, one sheet at a time, 12 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

Recipe is from
The All-American Dessert Book by Nancy Baggett, which is one of my favorite cookbooks.

Lemon Jumbles

Michael wanted lemon cookies, and the other recipe I love required refrigeration, so I decided to try lemon jumbles again.

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Homemade Oreos

Think they look good? They are!

The recipe can be found at Smitten Kitchen, and is very very easy. I use a ziploc freezer bag with a corner cut off to disperse the filling.

So as I mentioned last week, I was on a baking binge before Christmas. I love to bake, and Christmas is a good excuse for me to go hog wild.

For this weeks Tasty Tuesday, here are my two favorite cookies from this year, Cranberry Caramel Bars and Cranberry Oatmeal cookies.

Cranberry-Caramel Bars
1 heaping cup fresh cranberries
2 tbsp sugar
2 cups flour (240 grams)
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups uncooked oats
1/2 cup sugar (100 grams)
1/2 cup brown sugar (114 grams)
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup chopped pecans
~10 ounces chopped dates
~12 ounces of caramel sauce
13 x 9″ pan

Preheat oven to 350.

Coarsely chop cranberries (I gave ’em a spin or two in the food processor). Mix with 2 tbsp sugar and set aside.

Combine flour, baking soda, oats, and sugars in a bowl. Stir in melted butter and mix until crumbly. Set aside 1 cup of this mixture (NOTE: I never remember to do this). Press the flour mixture into the bottom of a greased 13 x 9″ pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Remove dish from the oven. Sprinkle with dates, pecans, and cranberries. Drizzle caramel sauce over everything. If you remembered to set it aside, sprinkle with remaining flour mixture. (I think it looks nicer with the cranberries on top anyway.)

Bake 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Cool pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Eat.

Modified from Christmas Cookies. I received this book as a gift and do not recommend it, for I found the recipes to be poorly written, but after modification this recipe is a gem.

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar (100 grams)
1/2 cup light brown sugar (114 grams)
1 large egg, room temperature
1 tbsp light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour (210 grams)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup craisins
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup pecan pieces, slightly toasted
1/2 cup coconut flakes, slightly toasted
4 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 325.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Beat butter and sugars until light. Add egg, corn syrup, and vanilla. Beat about a minute.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture in two stages. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Scoop out 2 tbsp balls of dough, and place 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through.

I baked about half the cookies, and froze the rest in 2 tbsp balls to bake later. I also made part of the recipe without pecans for my grandmother, and they turned out fine, although I of course prefer the pecans.

This recipe was modified from The Best of Fine Cooking: Cookies Vol 23, which had some excellent (and well-written) recipes. If you can still find it on the shelves, snag it. You won’t be sorry.

And it’s time to start baking!

Well, it’s Sunday night (you didn’t really think I wrote all those 8:00 AM posts that early did you?!) and I’m still tired and cranky.

Despite a long nap on Saturday and sleeping in on Sunday.

Not sure what this means for work on Monday (or today when you’re reading this) but I doubt it’s good. if it wasn’t so hot I’d go make some cookies, but it’s almost 9:00 PM and it’s 79 F outside, which means it’s really too hot to turn on the oven. I spent all summer looking at countertop toaster/convection ovens, and think I’d really like one, but we spent enough this summer that I couldn’t justify the expense.

But I think I will get one before next summer, because it would be really nice to be able to make a single batch of cookies without heating up the entire house. Especially since I tend to keep frozen cookie dough balls in the freezer. So if anyone has one or has any recommendations, let me know.

Now I think I’m going to curl up and think of all the chocolate baked desserts I’m going to make once it gets cooler.

This was my Dad’s requested recipe this Christmas. It originally came from one of his aunts (all long dead), so I feel perfectly safe posting it.

This is half the recipe. Last year I made the whole recipe and I thought we’d never get rid of all the cookies–my Dad’s favorite or not. I also made a few modifications regarding the amount of rum, as in I increased the amount of rum. I also can think of no reason why I’d need to dissolve the baking soda in warm water, but with half a pound of walnuts at stake, I decided not to risk it and followed the recipe. (But if I can’t find any rhyme or reason for this I’m going to skip it in the future.) Additionally, as they were no directions, I just did the obvious.

Walnut Cookies

1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar (217 grams) (I used light, since it didn’t specify)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour, sifted (180 grams)
nutmeg (it says a pinch, but I just grated some until it looked like a decent amount)
1/2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 2 tbsp warm water
2 tbsp rum (I used dark rum, because that’s what I have on hand)
8 oz raisins
8 oz walnuts

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

Cream butter. Add sugar. Add eggs. Sift together flour and nutmeg. Add flour and nutmeg to butter mixture with soda solution and rum. Mix until incorporated. Add raisins and walnuts.
Scoop teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet covered in parchment paper.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking.

Today’s accomplishments:

Peanut Butter Blossoms
M&M Cookies (with and without walnuts)
Pumpkin Spice Cookies (with and without walnuts)
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies*
Sugar Cookies

* Actually made and taste-tested

Those are added to:
Lemon Sugar Coins
Spice Cookies
Nutmeg Sour Cream Cookies
Sugar Cookies

Plus, for my Mom’s birthday I made:
Carrot Cake cupcakes (with and without pecans)
No-bake Lemon Cheesecake

What I have left:
Bar cookies of multiple types
Walnut cookies
Rugelach
Anything else I decide looks good

What I am doing differently this year is making all the dough, scooping out balls for those cookies that are not shaped cookies, and the freezing the uncooked balls. This way, I can simply bake cookies as needed, giving me fresh cookies for the entire holiday season, instead of a freezer full of cookies that become more and more damaged as the holiday season progresses. (I scooped out the cookies, froze them on a cookie try, and then put them into ziplock bags.)

Of course I finished making all this cookie dough, and then decided that I was really in the mood for oreos. I did not, however, make any oreos.

For obvious reasons, (like the fact that we had six visitors Saturday before the party) I haven’t started my Christmas baking. So tonight I made dough for cookies that needed to be refrigerated. That’s be rugelach, sugar cookies, and a new cookie–sour cream nutmeg cookie. I’ve also branched out and decided to try fresh nutmeg this year. Even bought myself a new Microplane grater. (Finer grating size than the one I already have.)

We’ll see how they turn out.

As far as the fine grater and the nutmeg, I have to say that it wasn’t really very difficult to grate the nutmeg–added maybe a minute onto the prep time. So as with the Microplane zester/grater I got, I definitely recommend this one. I’ll let you know whether grating nutmeg is really that much better.