Sunday, October 7, 2007

Sometimes you feel like a Nut

I love to bake, as you may have guessed by my blogname! On Friday I whipped up a few batches of cookie dough, formed into balls using my Pampered Chef medium sized icecream scoop (LOVE IT, if you don't have one, you need to buy this item), chilled and stored in tupperware in the freezer so I can bake them up at my leisure.

This first batch combines several of my favorite ingredients in baked goods: nuts, chocolate and coconut. The higher ratio of brown to white sugar ensures these cookies (if not overbaked) stay slightly chewy even after cooling. They bake up rather thin and not puffy, but I prefer them that way. The brown sugar also provides the finished cookie a slight "toffee" taste similar to that of my beloved Basic Blondies. While the nuts are optional, I would highly recommend adding them, substituting your favorite nut in place of the walnuts is fine, but the nuts really do play off of the "toffee" taste of these cookies nicely!




Coconut Nut Chipsters
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
1 egg
1 2/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup Milk Chocolate Chips (could sub semi-sweet if desired)
1/2 cup White Chocolate Chips (could sub a different flavor chip or use all chocolate)
1 1/3 cup Coconut (lightly toasting is optional)
1 cup Walnut pieces (or other fave nut)

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugars and vanilla until light and creamy. Beat in egg. Slowly add flour mixture and mix just until combined. Gently fold in chips, coconut and nuts by hand just until combined.
Form dough into balls using medium scoop and place on parchement lined baking sheets.

(At this point I chilled and then transferred to tupperware containers to freeze once the balls had set. ) *I would recommend chilling balls for a few minutes before baking to prevent overspreading.

Bake for 8-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on sheets for 2 minutes and transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

*Next time I might substitute butterscotch chips for the white chocolate chips, I think the butterscotch and nuts will be awesome with the brown sugar flavor of theese cookies!

1 comment:

Jaime said...

these cookies look great! i love white chocolate chips :)