It’s cookie time.  Awwww, yeah.

I haven’t posted all that many coconut recipes on here yet, which is ironic considering that I do love coconut.  Usually when I make cookies, I go for something with chocolate and/or peanut butter.  But, in a recent effort to clean out my baking shelf in the pantry, the half bag of sweetened coconut caught my eye.  And the leftover jar of raspberry preserves (from these cupcakes) also caught my eye when I attempted to clean out the fridge.  Cleaning out the kitchen is a bonus. Making cookies with these ingredients equals a win-win situation.

These cookies are great for a couple of reasons.  They are simple to throw together-one bowl, a little mixing, and a relatively short baking time.  Another good reason?  Just the idea of toasted coconut makes me think of tropical, sunny weather (a much needed respite from the gray un-wintery winter here in New England).  And one more reason?  While I used raspberry jam (and baked the jam into the cookies), you could probably put anything chocolate or nutty in there (Nutella, what?) after you bake them if you wanted to avoid the jam thing.  Who doesn’t love thumbprint-style cookies?  The possibilities are endless.

So what lesson did I learn here?  Breaking out of the usual cookie shell can be a totally good thing.

Coconut Jam Cookies

Servings: 12 cookies

Ingredients

1 large egg

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons lemon zest

2 and 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

3. In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg on medium-high speed until light yellow and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.

4. Switch to the paddle attachment, and, on medium speed, add the sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest.  Beat for 5 minutes.

5. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the shredded coconut, mixing until thoroughly combined.

6. Drop the batter in 1-2 tablespoon mounds onto the parchment-lined baking sheets, about 2 inches apart from one another.

7. Using the back of a spoon or your fingers, gently make an indentation in the center of each cookie mound.

8.  Place about 1 teaspoon of the raspberry jam into the center of each cookie mound.

9. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, or until slightly golden brown.

10.  Immediately turn off the oven, crack the oven door open slightly, and let dry in the (still warm) oven for a few more minutes.  (The original recipe states another 15 minutes, but I had to rescue my cookies after about 7 minutes because they were still continuing to brown a lot.  Use your best judgement here-oven heats can vary significantly.)

Source: Slightly adapted from Williams-Sonoma.

The other day I was getting ready to head over to my friend Jill’s house to watch a movie.  She’s a huge fan of cookies and red velvet, so I figured I should whip something up before I headed over (to eat cookies).  Since Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching, I wanted to try my hand at something a little festive and appropriate for the holiday.  These little guys fit the bill.  I took them over, still warm from the oven, and they were quickly and repeatedly snacked on.  Nothing beats good red velvet, right?

So, before you make this recipe, there are a few things you should know.  Some things that I may have had a few issues with.  But the end result turned out so good that I had to share them with you.

The cookie dough is VERY thick, so if you don’t happen to have an electric or (preferably) standing mixer, I would give these a pass.  The dough would probably be way too tough to combine by hand.  As far as the red food coloring goes, I used the standard Wilton red food coloring gel….but I had to use an awful lot of it (almost the entire larger vial) to get the cookies to turn a red shade.  Perhaps a liquid food coloring would work better with this recipe in the future (it might also help with the thickness of the cookie dough, too.)  When you are ready to bake them, flatten them down a little with your fingers or the back of a spoon-they are very cake-like and won’t flatten out like regular (less delicious) cookies.

The fact that Jill continues to talk about how delicious these cookies over a week later says a lot.  That’s music to my ears.

Red Velvet White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Servings: approximately 20 cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup cocoa powder

Red food coloring liquid or gel

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.

2. In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

3. Add the food coloring gel or liquid until you reach the desired color.

4. Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and add the egg and vanilla, mixing well until combined.

5. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder, mixing until thoroughly combined.**I had to add  more food coloring gel at this point because the addition of the cocoa powder really changed the color.

6. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the white chocolate chips until incorporated.

7. Using a cookie dough scoop or a tablespoon, drop the dough into mounds about two inches apart from one another.  Lightly flatten each cookie dough mound with your fingers or the back of a spoon.

8. Bake until slightly golden and crisp around the edges, about 10-12 minutes.  Enjoy.

Source: Barely adapted from How Sweet It Is.

The other night, I was out at a restaurant/bar with some fantastic friends.  All of a sudden, a Frangelico on the rocks appeared.  Subsequently, it was passed around the table and everyone began professing their love for all things flavored hazelnut.  I have to admit, I haven’t done too much with them in the way of cooking/baking, but when I do, I always wonder why I haven’t played a little bit more with them.

The following night, I was going to spend some time with the same set of friends to begrudgingly watch the Patriots beat the Broncos….(remember, I am originally from Indiana and therefore have blue/white blood running through my veins for the Colts…even if they had a terrible season.)  I wanted to surprise my friends with a little hazelnut love since they had expressed it the night before.  It also was mighty convenient that I had these little treats bookmarked for a pre-Valentines Day post.  Perfect timing.

I find the raspberries completely seductive.  Yes.  I just said that.  But you could sub in any kind of (less seductive) fruit.  I had the raspberry preserves on hand, so it just seemed fitting that I used raspberries for the top.  You could really do anything: blueberries, orange, even candied hazelnuts.  Anything works.

Looking for some more hazelnut love?  Try these.  Or this.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Tartlets

Servings: 24 tartlets

Ingredients

For the shells:

1 and 1/2 cups whole hazelnuts

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

For the ganache:

2 cups high-quality chocolate (use your choice: bittersweet, semisweet, whatever…), chopped

1 cup heavy cream

For the assembly:

1/2 cup seedless raspberry preserves

1 pint fresh raspberries

Instructions

1. For the shells: In the bowl of your food processor, process the hazelnuts until they reach the consistency of coarse sand.

2. In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and brown sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

3.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and carefully add the flour and chopped hazelnuts, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

4. Once the dough comes together, roll it into a ball and wrap tightly with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

5. For the ganache: In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the cream to a gentle simmer.  Meanwhile, place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl.

6. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let sit for about 2 minutes; then whisk until smooth and uniform in color.

7. Refrigerate the ganache until ready to use.***This will help firm it up so it can be easily piped.

8. For baking the shells:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Generously butter a mini muffin pan.

9. Place about 2 teaspoons of dough into each muffin cup and, using your finger,  gently make an indentation in the center of each one to form the tart shape.

10.  Bake the tartlets until golden, about 10-12 minutes.  Let cool completely. ***Check them frequently.  The nuts will bake quickly.

11. To assemble:  Heat the raspberry preserves (either in a small saucepan over medium-low heat or in a heatproof bowl in the microwave at 10-second intervals) and stir until smooth.

12.  Spoon or pipe about 1/2 teaspoon of preserves into the center indentation of each tartlet.

13.  Using a piping bag and the pastry tip of your choice, pipe the chocolate ganache over the raspberry preserves.  **I found that I had to chill my still-warm ganache a little bit more before I could get a stiffer consistency to pipe.

14. Top each tartlet with a fresh raspberry.  Enjoy.

Source: Barely adapted from Yankee Magazine.