Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

When I pick cookies for each week, I try to vary the type of cookies that I make. I made brownies last week, and lemon cookies the week before, so this week I knew I didn’t want a bar cookies, nor did I want a citrus cookie. With this in mind, I will sometimes think of an ingredient or a flavor combination and then start hunting for cookies. That was the case this week, I wanted to make something with coconut and started looking.

I think coconut is one of those flavors that you either like or you don’t like. I like coconut quite a bit, and I especially love it paired with brown sugar. I like the crispiness/chewiness that coconut adds. This recipe uses both butter and vegetable shortening. Some folks don’t like to use shortening, but it does add a chewiness to the cookies that butter just can’t replicate.

The original recipe for these cookies says that it will make 2 dozen, which is ridiculous considering there’s a cup of butter/shortening and 3-1/2 cups of flour/oats. That’s a lot of ingredients for 2 dozen cookies. My regular-sized cookies made 5 dozen cookies, which is a fairly big batch. These baked up nicely, but I did take them out of the oven before they looked completely done. If I baked them any longer, they would have over baked, so you just have to trust yourself that the will be fine once they have cooled.

Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups old fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, shortening, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla on medium until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. With a spatula scrape down the sides of the mixer bowl. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and stir on low. Just before the flour is incorporated into the dough, add the oats and coconut and stir, again on low, until the dough comes together.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 10-11 minutes. The cookies may look slightly under cooked, but will set as they cool. Cool on the baking sheets for at least 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from A Thrifty Mom