another cookie post. i can't help myself. i'm over the moon about this batch. so excited in fact, that i went ahead and named them after myself. how's that for vain awesome? whenever i go off the rails of a recipe, i am usually regretful. thus i am thrilled these chocolatey, thunderous babies worked out beautifully. the dark chocolate is nicely matched with the sweet coconut and rice krispies consistently make a cookie taste better, if i do say so myself. (i even sifted the dry ingredients. how's that for effort. am a new convert to sifting. thank you, miranda.) dan is toting them to work today; our introductory batch with the new firm. fingers crossed.
dan's favorite holiday (aside from thanksgiving) is pioneer day. pioneer day is utah's awesome official holiday wherein people shut down their offices, head to the parades, and celebrate the pioneers who pureed this land into farms, towns and, eventually, the city i love so much. i love the rich heritage in my hometown. i love being here for the 24th. (i love getting more use out of fourth of july paraphernalia.) dan requested utah sugar cookies for the office. (we have a utah shaped cookie cutter; it landed itself in dan's stocking one year and he was overtly enthusiastic about it.) but i had to decline. first, i have no idea where that cookie cutter is at the moment and more importantly, sugar cookies usually become a disastrous kitchen event. there are sides of my sugar cookies that my in-laws just don't need to see.
so, as wives often do, i talked dan into a dark chocolate chunk experiment. i found the bag of dark chocolate chunks at whole foods, which is where my mother shops. i hope that means they are more healthy / wholesome for the family. he was game. he goes ga ga for dark chocolate. also, i recently figured out how to attach the bowl and beater to shanna's vintage bosch mixer. all systems a go.
Marta's Coconut Krispie Chocolate Chunk Cookies
adapted from Martha Stewart's chocolate chip cookie recipe
this recipe makes a whopping 6 dozen (minus the one you will eat)
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/8 tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups rice krispies (my favorite secret ingredient)
1 3/4 cups chocolate chunks (preferably dark)
1 1/2 cups sweetened coconut flakes
Preheat oven to 350. Sift flour, soda and salt into a bowl and set aside. In mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium-high until fluffy, about 3 minutes. On low speed, beat eggs one at a time. Add flour and vanilla, careful not to over-beat the batter. Mix in rice krispies, chocolate chunks and coconut on low speed just until well dispersed. Eye ball it and see if you need any more of the marvelous mix-ins.
Roll dough into balls, a bit smaller than ping pong ball size. (I am a big fan of smaller bite-size cookies, but I liked these a bit bigger. It helps pack a punch, which aids the wow-factor of this special ingredient combination. I am starting to sound practically scientific. That's what happens when you name cookies after yourself. And yes, I think scientists use the term wow-factor all the time.)
Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 12 minutes, just at the golden softly set up stage. Let them cool on the sheet for one minute or two and transfer to wire racks. You are required to pour yourself a mini mug of milk and indulge in a warm cookie while baking the rest of the batch. This is your duty. Make those pioneers proud.
enjoy.