The Delightful (Almost) Perfect Cookie

I'm heading out of town for a few days to visit my family and have some meetings in Atlanta, my home town, so I decided to leave my husband something sweet (read: food). Since we already have plans for sushi for dinner tonight, that left dessert as the only option.

Now, I am a generally terrible baker, as in - really, really bad. When my husband and I were dating long-distance, I decided to make French bread from scratch as a surprise for his first night in town. I had gone to a baking class and thought it was easy enough to replicate, so I bought the correct pan and had the recipe from the class. It should be easy enough. When the loaves came out of the oven, I was so excited! They looked perfect. They had that gorgeous golden brown crust and hollow sound that you want from a loaf of French bread. When my husband (then boyfriend) arrived, I proudly showed them off. We both cut slices to try with some dipping oil. Even cutting the loaves, they had a great texture - perfect crumb. It wasn't until I took the first bite that I realized (and it became abundantly clear) that I had forgotten to salt. Needless to say, I haven't lived that one down, but I have tried repeatedly to improve my baking skills!

Instead of attempting to leave him bread, I decided to go with cookies. I can do a pretty solid chocolate chip cookie, but I wanted to make something a little bit special. I've also been a bit obsessed with tropical flavors. I'm attempting to channel summer through my taste buds, so I decided to add coconut. Making cookies gave me a chance to use some of this homemade Vanilla Extract that I bottle in December.

I also only had 1 stick of butter and just over 2 cups of flour, so I improvised, which is what generally makes me a terrible baker. Luckily, these coconut substitutions worked beautifully. The cookies are balanced, sweet, salty and incredibly perfect looking! They didn't flatten out at all and magically taste like cookie dough. The next time I make these, I might try them with macadamia nuts instead of walnuts, but the walnuts were delicious.

The (Almost) Perfect Cookie

• 1/2 c butter
• 1/2 c coconut oil
• 1 c light brown sugar
• 1/2 c granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 c flour
• 1/2 c coconut flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 c shredded, unsweetened coconut
• 1 1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 c chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375F. Cream butter, coconut oil, light sugar, brown sugar and vanilla together using a mixer.

Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. 

Add both types of flour, salt, baking soda and powder. Mix well. Batter should be fairly stiff and should not stick to your fingers when you grab a pinch. Add shredded coconut, chocolate chips and walnuts. Mix well. 

The batter will be quite dry. Form into balls and place on greased cookie sheet. You may want to tightly pack the balls to ensure you use all of the good mix-ins. Bake for approximately 9 minutes, until the peaks are just starting to turn golden brown. 

Cool and devour.