Coconut made quite a few guest appearances in my childhood. In 2nd grade, my teacher brought in a coconut, a hammer, and a nail and proceeded to mercilessly beat on the poor things shell until it cracked open. Let me tell you, that was quite a lesson. By the time it was finally opened we were all slightly traumatized and quietly ate our samples of fresh coconut in silence. Then we proceeded to behave like perfect angels for the rest of the day. No one dared to break rank in case the new punishment for getting your name on the board involved carpentry tools.

We rarely baked with coconut when I was growing up, with the exception of using bags of it to cover our annual Easter Bunny Cake. I’m sure I promptly and very indiscreetly scraped the coconut off my slice of bunny, because coconut was”weird” and “gross” and looked pretty but it couldn’t compare to purple sprinkles or jelly beans so “get it away from me!”

I did eventually learn to like coconut thanks to a samples person at Shaw’s Supermarket who gave me a Dixie Cup full of Bacardi Mixers Pina Colada mix (obviously without the rum). Now that was tasty! I bugged my mother all through the frozen foods aisle until she agreed to buy some. I suppose that was my first “cocktail.” I definitely thought I was totally posh drinking what was essentilly a Pina Colada flavored sugar filled milkshake. Ahh…to be 11 again. I would have been much better off had someone just made me some of these addictive mini coconut laden treats.

Coconut Sandwich Cookies (Originally published in the December 2007 issue of Everyday Food: A Martha Stewart Magazine)

2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package (7 ounces) sweetened shredded coconut (about 2 1/4 cups)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Creamy Vanilla Filling (see below)

Preheat oven to 350, with racks set in upper and lower thirds. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Place 1/2 cup coconut into a small bowl; set aside. Place remaining coconut in a food processor; pulse until coarsely ground. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter with sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture and ground coconut; mix just until combined.

Drop dough by level tablespoons onto two baking sheets, 1 to 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly golden around the edges, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Dividing evenly, spread filling on flat side of half the cookies; sandwich with remaining cookies. Roll edges in reserved coconut, and chill until ready to serve.

Creamy Vanilla Filling

Using an electric mixer, beat 1/2 cup (1 stick) room-temperature unsalted butter until light and fluffy. With mixer on medium, beat in 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down bowl as necessary. Add 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (Note: I also added 1 tablespoon milk); increase speed to high, and beat until filling is light and fluffy, 5 minutes. Makes about 1 cup.

I picked up Amanda Hesser’s book Cooking for Mr. Latte after the holidays at the Harvard Book Store. I honestly had no idea who she was. In reality I thought that it was a new book since it was marked as a staff pick. Later in the evening Google revealed the truth to me. It seems Hesser writes for The New York Times and that her book actually came out in 2004. Apparently, she’s a fairly famous foodie in her own right, albeit at times a controversial one.

In the end I really enjoyed my selection. The short story format was fast paced and I loved how each chapter ended with an array of delicious recipes to try at home. I found myself dogearing page after page while reading on the T, which is a total sin and completely against my usual book etiquette but I didn’t want to forget to try anything. Those folded tabs have since been replaced by colorful mini post-its so you can all relax now.

It was difficult but I finally chose something simple to test. A cookie recipe with an obscene amount of chocolate — two entire bags to be exact (although Hesser used chocolate bars). When I told my cousin and her fiancé what kind of cookies they were eating the response was, “Wow…could you fit anything else in there!?”

Toast the Pecans	Mix the Batter
Chop, Chop, Chop	Fold
Scoop	Cool

Chocolate Chip, Toasted Pecan, Coconut Cookies (Inspired by Amanda Hesser’s recipe in Cooking for Mr. Latte)
Makes 4 dozen large cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of sea salt
24 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups toasted chopped pecans
1 cup shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 325°F

In a mixer cream the butter and sugars until fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat until smooth.

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixer, beating on low until blended.

Pour in the chocolate, pecans, and coconut. Fold them in by hand with a spatula.

Chill the dough for 30 minutes.

Using an ice cream scoop, drop the dough onto a well greased baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned on the edges and cooked in the center. Cool on a rack.