We love baking; we bake just when we can and we bake when we can not. The baking is usually slower in summer because we like cooler things like smoothies and trifles to beat the heat, but we make sure that there is always a jar of home-baked cookies in the pantry, regardless of the season.
By the way when I say we, it myself and my little ones.
They just need a go ahead from mommy to start, even when one cant stand the oven heat in the house.
I accept I would totally do that in search of a good, sweet cookie.
Though I baked a lot of cakes when I used to bake professionally, but I am not really a cake person. I am a cookie person, I love cookies.
This recipe is the first one for cookies that I tried. I found it online many years ago and kept a printout in my recipe book. Then I misplaced that recipe book. Even frantically searching online out of my cravings, I could not find the same recipe. I tried few other recipes but they were all either too floury or not sweet enough.
Until two years ago, I found that recipe book and I found this lost treasure of a recipe.
We bake these cookies around Christmas and Eid to send to our friends and family. And these are loved by everyone.
These are rich, buttery and sweet, with just enough tang of the raspberry jam. The coconut adds more texture and a little crunch in the flour base.
PS: I would love to give credit for this so if you do know/find the link, please reply in the comments section
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
- 3/4 c. shredded unsweetened coconut
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 stick unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 c. sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- raspberry jam
DIRECTIONS:
1- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the coconut, baking soda, and salt. In a standing electric mixer fitted with a paddle, or using a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter with the sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla, scraping the side and bottom of the bowl. Beat in the dry ingredients at medium-low speed. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
2- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and bake for 12 minutes. Make a dent in the cookies; fill with jam and bake for about 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.
RECIPE NOTES:
Though the recipe calls for a total of 22 minutes of baking time, I bake for 8 minutes, then make dents, fill in jam and then I bake an additonal 5 minutes. Once the cookies cool down, the texture is perfectly balanced between soft and chewy. These tend to get hard if over-baked, so as always less is better.
These cookies never lasted in the pantry for more than a week so I am unable to tell you how long these will stay good.
The dough seems to get difficult to handle and the cookies flatten out when it stays on room temperature for a while. I take out in portions, roll while it is still cold and hard and then take out more.
