Toasted Coconut Butter Cookies

Hey y’all. Remember me? Jess, the girl who allegedly has a food blog?

It’s been… a while, I know.

But real life has been, well, ‘Real Lifing’ this year (in a good, productive kind of way), and that forced me to make some difficult decisions as to where I would direct my attention.

Food blogging, as anyone who does it will tell, is a somewhat time-consuming process. There’s the actual preparation of the food, the photography, then post-editing, then the writing of the actual posts themselves.

It all may sound pretty straightforward and quick but believe you me: it’s not. Now, is it a labor of love? Yes, absolutely. But so are other things I have going on in RL that just won’t can’t be put off.

Thus, a five month hiatus. But the cool thing about hiatuses is that in the end, they’re temporary.

And now that I’ve blathered on with excuses, let’s just get to the actual reason you’re all here reading this: the food.

Butter cookies are what I like to think of as Blank Canvas recipes, meaning, they taste perfectly delicious all on their own, but the ingredients are versatile and simple enough to where you can do a lot of experimentation in the way of adding different flavors that can give them a totally different and even better twist on the original without a whole lot of extra effort or difficult.

I’ve experimented with butter cookies plenty of times ont he blog over the years, to really wonderful results. Check out the recipes below for a glimpse at just how versatile and customizable a basic butter cookie recipe. I guarantee you, there’s one out there to suit any and everybody’s tastes:

Biscoff Dipped Butter Cookies , Spiced Spritz Butter Cookies, Cardamom Butter Cookies, Slice & Bake Almond Cookies, Cranberry Noel Cookies, Chocolate Cinnamon Butter Cookies, Cider-Cinnamon Spritz Cookies, Browned Butter Sandwich Cookies, Coffee Cookies

When you’re finished looking through all of these, head right back here, cause I’ve got yet another one to add to this little bag of tricks.

I first discovered toasted coconut was a thing–and as it turns out, a pretty friggin delicious thing–a little over a year ago. Up until then, I had a very strong aversion to coconut and believed it was something that just wasn’t for me. I was wrong. The only thing I needed to do was try it toasted. See, as it turns out, toasting coconut transform its flimsy, wet paper texture and bland taste into a new and improved ingredient with a warm, nutty and rich flavor and an equally pleasant and durable texture. Toasted coconut is also extremely versatile as an ingredient that you can add to just about anything with delicious results. I tried it before with both cake and tarts. Now, we’re adding cookies to the list.

Like all butter cookie recipes, these are extremely easy to make, and the dough comes together in minutes. Like all butter cookies, they are best when allowed to have a rest in the fridge (preferably overnight) so that they will not spread too much while baking. Like all butter cookies, they have a crisp and short crumb. The coconut is really the star here, and gets worked in through both coconut emulsion/extract, and a healthy portion of toasted coconut that gives it both flavor and added texture. They’re pretty addicting to be honest, I had to give some away after I made them to keep from going a little overboard on the taste-testing duties I have as a food blogger.

Enjoy!

Toasted Coconut Butter Cookies

Recipe Adapted from Taste of the South

Ingredients

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup powdered (confectioner’s sugar)
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut emulsion or extract
1 cup toasted unsweetened flaked or grated coconut (It NEEDS to be toasted, the toasting really does matter here. If you need instructions as to how to toast coconut, see here)
2 cups all purpose flour

Directions

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, confectioners’ sugar, salt, vanilla and coconut extract at medium speed until creamy, 2 to 3 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl.

Beat in coconut. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, beating until combined, 2 to 3 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. Divide dough in half.

On a cutting board, sprinkle remaining coconut. Roll each portion of dough in coconut into a 6-inch log. Tightly wrap in parchment paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Wrap dough in decorative paper as desired. (You can refrigerate the unbaked cookie dough for up to 1 week.)

preheat oven to 350°. Line large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Let dough stand at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes before slicing. (If the dough is too cold, it will crumble when cutting.) Trim ends of dough logs, if desired. Using a serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, cut logs into ¼-inch slices. Place 1 inch apart on prepared pans.

Bake until lightly browned, 16 to 18 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week.