Day 12 of the 12 Days of Cookies is here! I can’t believe we have baked our way through 12 days! That was so much fun…and delicious too!! We froze half of the cookies each day whether they were placed in the freezer raw or baked which will make a wonderful cookie platter for the holidays! You could also have a 12 Days of Cookies with friends for a cookie exchange — such a great way to bake only a few and end up with a bunch!
Today’s cookie is Newfoundland Purity Coconut Cookies. I remember eating these crispy, toasted coconut cookies when I was a kid! I loved them because I adore coconut and the light cinnamon flavor.
These homemade scrumptious cookies are a bit crispy (especially if over baked), but light, buttery and flaky too and absolutely delicious!! I think they look (and taste) pretty close to the real thing! These yummy cookies go great with a cup of tea or a mug of hot cocoa.
Let’s get started!
First, place butter and sugar in the bowl and cream together well. It should be light in color.
Add egg and vanilla and beat well once again.
Add cinnamon and stir. I like adding the cinnamon to the butter mixture so I can be sure it gets incorporated throughout evenly. Sometimes adding the spices to flour, I find some spots have more cinnamon than others.
Toast coconut and let cool before adding to the dough. I may have over toasted the coconut, but it tasted just fine, so I used it anyways. Be sure to keep an eye on it because it can burn fast from the natural oils in coconut. Stir well after adding the coconut.
Add flour, salt and baking powder. Stir well.
The dough should be quite thick because we will have to roll it out. If it is too sticky, add a bit more flour to the dough.
Divide the dough in half and work with half at a time. Roll the dough to about 1/4″ thick between two pieces of parchment. Use a rectangular-shaped cookie cutter, or cut into rectangles. Use a fork and lightly drag the tines of the fork several times down the length of the cookie to create ridges in the dough. Place on cookie sheet. I pressed the tines of the fork lightly along the cookie to get these imprints. We found cutting the cookie out and placing on the cookie sheet before making the ridges was much easier.
Re-roll the dough and continue until all the dough is done. Extra dough we cut into different shapes, or to square the dough and then placed them on the cookie sheet. Some of the “scraps” we did not put ridges into.
Bake at 350F for 8 to 10 minutes or until a light golden brown. Initially I baked them for 12 minutes, but as you can see, they were a bit over cooked but still tasted great and did not taste burned at all. Loosen from cookie sheet and let cool.
Store cookies in an airtight container so the cookies stay crisp. These cookies freeze well.
12 Days of Cookies… Day 12 — Newfoundland Purity Coconut Cookies
2 cups toasted coconut
3/4 cup salted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Place coconut on a baking pan and place on 350F oven. Stir often and check every 2 minutes so the coconut does not burn, Once golden, remove from oven and let cool completely.
Beat the butter and brown sugar together until they are well combined. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add cinnamon and stir well. Add toasted coconut and stir gently. Add the flour and baking powder and stir well. Dough should not be sticky, so add more flour if needed.
Divide the cookie dough into two halves. Working with one half at a time, roll the dough to 1/4 inch thickness between two sheets of parchment paper.
Using a rectangular-shaped cookie cutter, press it into the dough to cut out the shape. Leave the cookie cutter pressed into the dough. Use a fork and lightly drag the tines of the fork down the length of the cookie several times, if needed, to create scores in the dough. Continue to do this until you have used up all of the space on the rolled dough.
Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheet.
Re-roll the dough as needed to get as many cookies as possible.
Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, or until the cookie is lightly golden brown in color.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for 3-5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
The 12 Days of Cookies make a delicious platter for the holidays…or any time of the year! Here’s our lovely platter. We were missing a few of the cookies, but had the majority of them on this platter. Yummy!
