Oatmeal Lemon Coconut Cookies

I’ve done a lot of baking this week, but I haven’t had a lot of baking successes. I was making the monthly birthday cake to take to work and this month’s cake needed to be dairy free. I usually do ok with substituting dairy, but this week that wasn’t the case at all. I tried a layer cake, but the frosting didn’t work out. I made two Bundt cakes and they didn’t come out of the pan cleanly. I just decided to step away for the time being and rethink the cake I was making.

So what cookies should I make? I made some cookies for another event at work, but it was a repeat recipe and I was more hopeful they would turn out (and they did). I was thinking of something classic, and I recalled making a cookie called a lemon oat lacy. I hadn’t made them since I was in grad school, but I recall they were great. They also used a pound of butter. I looked and found a slightly different recipe, still a thin oat cookie, but only ½ a pound of butter. Downright healthy! This recipe was a oat/coconut cookie, and I also added lemon zest so it is reminiscent of the lemon oat lacy.

These are basically a “cream the butter and sugar then dump everything else in the bowl” type of cookie, which is quick and easy to make. I made one sheet of cookies using my larger cookie scoop (1 tablespoon) and the cookies were a little too big after they had spread. I switched to my 2 teaspoon cookie scoop and that seemed to be the right size. They are very thin and very buttery!  I love the lemon flavor of these, as it helps the cookies be not quite so rich.

Oatmeal Lemon Coconut Cookies

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

Zest of one lemon

2 cups flour

2 cups old-fashioned oats

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup shredded coconut

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

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat on medium until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla and lemon zest and mix again on medium to combine. Add the flour, oats, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and coconut. Stir on low until the dough comes together. Do not over mix.

Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, using a medium cookie scoop. The cookies spread, so don’t place them too close together on the baking sheet. 

Bake for 9-11 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. The cookies will be slightly browned around the edges but may seem under baked; they will set as they cool. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Recipe from Lil’ Luna