Mom of Boys

Last night I hosted a Christmas Cookie Exchange with some girls from my play group.  We had a lot of fun and we got to taste a bunch of different cookies!  I made Gingerbread Men and Snickerdoodle cookies.  I made the dough for the Gingerbread the night before since it needed to be in the fridge and since I didn’t have to bake anything yet… (and didn’t taste any…)  I just felt like I just needed to make some other cookies! 

So everyone got here and we played a little game.  I had them all take the number of Ingredients, the number of kids they had, the amount of time they had to bake and add that up.  Then I had them add 5 points if they worked part time, 10 points if they worked full time and 5 minutes if they had to refridgerate the dough.  The winner was a girl who made lemon bars, which… to me were WAY too sweet!  They were good, I just couldn’t eat a whole one! 

There were also sugar cookies, chewy coconut cookies (YUUUUMMM!) and some Buttermilk Cookies that were so soft and melted in my mouth!  I forgot to grab a copy of that recipe, but I will have to get it!  Anyways, we have a few more then that but these were my favorite.  I happened to get left with MORE then my share of cookies, which is ok for the cookies that I’ve already eaten tons of!  I do have a whole plate full of those lemon bars though.  Ack!

Loaded with coconut and butter, these chewy cookies are bound to become family favorites.

Preparation time: 30 min Baking time: 9 min
Yield: 5 dozen cookies

1 cup LAND O LAKES Butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut 

Heat oven to 350°F. Combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add flour, baking powder and baking soda. Beat until well mixed. Stir in coconut by hand.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 9 to 13 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Remove from cookie sheets.

Recipe Tip
Proper storing keeps cookies at their best. If you will not be eating your cookies within three days, freeze them. Make sure the cookies are completely cool before placing them in storage containers. Otherwise, they?re likely to stick together. Keep soft or chewy cookies separate from crisp ones.