I'll Share a Recipe Instead of Doing Laundry!

I've been stalling on housework all day so I was thrilled when a friend asked for a recipe!  An excuse to put off the housework for a while AND a reason to dig out my old friends!  I made these cookies a while back for a fellow at church and I think he ended up sharing and not getting to take any home.  The great thing about these cookies are they can be altered to your taste so easily.  If you don't like coconut don't automatically toss out this recipe.  You really don't taste the coconut, it just makes the cookie extra chewy.

Ranger Cookies

1/2 C butter, softened

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 egg

1tsp vanilla

1 1/4 C flour

1 C quick oats

1C coconut

1 C raisins, dried cherries, dried cranberries, or mixed dried fruit bits.

Beat butter with mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add both sugars, baking powder, and baking soda.  Beat until combined.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Beat in flour.  Beat in oats, coconut and raisins.  (if your mixer plays out, mix in by hand)

Drop by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8 minutes or until edges are golden.

Happy Baking!

It's Been A While..... But Worth The Wait!!!!

So, I hadn't realized how long it had been since I had blogged until I logged on to share this recipe.  Goodness if you were depending on me for your meal ideas you would either have starved by now or have gotten VERY tired of meatloaf and green beans!  But I can assure you after you try this awesome new cookie recipe you will forgive me. 

I ran across this recipe online quite some time ago and 'bookmarked' it for another day.  Last night my sweet tooth was really giving me fits and I happened to see it again and decided to give it a try.  I haven't been baking many sweets lately.  I've been trying to cut down on the amount of sweets in the house because no one in this house needs them as badly as we think.  But this recipe will definately be going into the 'bake again soon' stack.  Since coconut is a main ingredient I knew Gerald and I would be able to enjoy these babies all by ourselves.  Boy was I wrong!  The girls enjoyed them as much as we did and I think we ate a quarter of the dough before it was even baked.  I didn't snap a photo of mine ( I think I was too busy 'protecting' my stack of cookies lol) so I'm going to share the the photo from the original blog. 

Coconut Cream Cheese Cookies

2 cups plus 3 TB all-purpose flour
1/2 ts baking soda
1/2 ts salt
12 TB (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled until room temp
5-6 oz. cream cheese softened (I used 8 oz)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 ts vanilla extract
2 cups coconut toasted (I used 2 & 1/2 cups)

Adjust oven racks to upper & lower -middle positions & heat oven to 325. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread coconut evenly on baking sheet.

Once oven is preheated place coconut in oven. Bake for 10-20 minutes stirring every 5minutes for even toasting. Remove from oven when light brown. Do NOT burn. Remove from oven. Allow to cool completely before adding to dough.

Re-line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk dry ingredients together; set aside.

 With electric mixer, or by hand mix butter and cream cheese together with a mixer until smooth. Add sugars and beat until thoroughly combined.

Beat in vanilla until combined.

Add dry ingredients & beat at low speed just until combined.

Stir in cooled coconut.
Chill dough overnight.

When ready to bake cookies preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Drop dough onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 12-14 minutes or until edges are set and bottoms are light brown. Do NOT overbake!

Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking and place on wire rack to cool.

*Note:  I was too anxious to try these puppies so I didn't chill overnight and they turned out just fine.  Also you can crowd them on the pan because they don't spread. 

Grab a mug of milk and enjoy a warm cookie!