Chewy Coconut Cookies

In case you don't know yet, I like to try all sorts of cuisines, though vegetarian or fish based food items only and cook/bake all cuisine types too. Until I was India, my experiments were limited to cooking, due to lack of access to an oven and limited exposure to bakers.I don't think anyone in my family ever baked. So when I landed in the land of opportunities, out of many opportunities that came my way, baking was one of them ... Americans love to bake and they are good at it too.. At gap intelligence, there are so many amazing bakers. Cookies, cupcakes, brownies, cakes and so many other things! nom nom nom!

2 or 3 years ago, Sarina Dahukey was my secret santa and she gifted me a cookie baking set for beginners with a note that said " to get you started on a new hobby." Today, I love baking and have embraced it full on! I am not the best baker, but things like bundt cake, banana bread, muffins, and most recently cookies have come out of my kitchen!

Pineapple Curd Bundt cake

My first Bundt cake

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been trying my hand at different cookie types recently. Other than the sugar cookies that I baked for the first time (Sarina's kit had that cookie mix ), Chocolate chip cookies were the first ones I tried baking from scratch and were they delicious?! I am going to post recipe for those at some other time.

Today, I am sharing the recipe for Chewy Coconut cookies, which have been a hit with everyone - friends and gappers alike! I even gifted some of these to my friends and according to one, she was in cookie heaven when she ate one of these cookies :) Now thats a B.I.G compliment for a new baker in town!:)

Without further delay I will get to the recipe which has been borrowed from Betsylife who inturn got hers from All Recipes. Here is my version which is just slightly modified:

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
***1/2 teaspoon baking soda (I used baking powder, since that's what I had at hand)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
**1/2 cup white sugar ( I only used 1/4 cup of white sugar)
1 egg
***1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract ( both Allrecipes and Betsylife forget to mention this as an ingredient)
***1/2 teaspoon coconut extract (I did not use coconut extract)
***1 1/3 cups flaked coconut ( I only used 1 cup of flaked coconut - I did not have the fresh coconut so used the one found in freezer aisle)
***Betsy added one bag of white chocolate chips ( I added only 1 1/4 cups)

You will find everything you need for this recipe from Trader Joe's.. I love TJ's.

According to Allrecipes, this yields about 3 dozen cookies. I almost always end up between 25 and 30 cookies!

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C.). Cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually blend in the flour, baking soda, and salt mix. Add coconut and fold. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls or use a cookie scoop onto an ungreased cookie sheet. I use parchment paper on my baking sheet (makes life so simple). Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.