Toasted Coconut Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

I drove for about 10 hours yesterday. Crazy. I slept in this morning, I woke up to these damn cookies on the counter. Thank.good.ness. I am a little hungover from the road. Cookies helped.

Cookies always help.

I drove a bazillion miles, crossed the Cascades, plowed through thunderstorms all to have lunch.

Gas is four dollars a gallon. It was an expensive trip.

It was a totally worthwhile trip.

I saw one of my best friends, ate molten hot tofu soup, bought a spice organizer, talked about climbing and biking with one of my favorite gal play pals then talked our way out of a parking ticket and filled my car up with smelly Asian food. If I would have gotten pulled over (for the speeding that did not occur)  the trooper would of let me go for fear of the smell emanating from my car - kimchi, fresh herbs, seaweed make a car smell really awful.

That is what you do. You keep good friends. You do what it takes.

The next day you recover with toasted coconut - whole wheat - dark chocolate chip cookies for breakfast.

It is so easy to let friends slip through your fingers with busy schedules, distance, time. Hold on to good friends, they are happiness, they are what makes us better people. Friends make you smile. Hold on to good friends. Be a great friend.

Thank you for being my friends.

I am blessed to be surrounded by wonderful people.


Toasted Coconut Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
 
Adapted from Good to the Grain, by Kim Boyce
Yield: about 20 cookies

I like my cookies a bit thick rather than thin. I made half a batch straight from the mixer to the oven and they were nice and crisp, the second go around sat in the fridge for about a day and were baked cold producing a thicker cookie. I enjoyed the latter with a chewy interior and crisp edges.

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. kosher salt
2 sticks (8 oz.) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp. molasses
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup toasted coconut
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into ¼- and ½-inch pieces, or bittersweet chips

Place a rack in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  On one baking sheet, spread out shredded coconut.  Toast coconut for about 6 minutes, until browned and fragrant.  Remove from the oven, place in a small bowl and let cool.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, and whisk to blend.

Put the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low speed, mix until the butter and sugars are blended, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and molasses. Add the flour mixture to the bowl, and blend on low speed until the flour is just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the chocolate and coconut, mix on low speed until evenly combined. (If you have no stand mixer, you can do all of this with handheld electric beaters and/or a large, sturdy spoon.) Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then use your hands to turn and gently massage the dough, making sure all the flour is absorbed.

Scoop mounds of dough about 3 tablespoons in size onto the baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each cookie.

Bake the cookies for 16 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the cookies are evenly browned. Transfer the cookies, still on parchment, to a rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough.