Chunky Lola Cookies

Let’s first acknowledge tonight’s little victory. I am writing this post before 11pm. Yesterday’s victory was when I encountered my first real homeowner problem, where my washing machine wouldn’t fill because the pipes were frozen. First I did the girl thing and tried using my hot pink hair dryer to thaw out the pipes. Then my Dad suggested getting a space heater (more effective) so I went to the sketchy part of town and finally found one after two other stores were sold out (little victory) and didn’t get shot (big victory). After two hours of heating up the alcove where the washer is, the pipes thawed out and it worked. Boom. Take that Boston weather. I guess you can consider the big victory from last week was not freezing to death. Honestly, when it starts geting to the negative double digits below zero with the windchill, if you stand still for more than a second you freeze in place. There are few things that will get me outside in this arctic weather. But one of them is the Chunky Lola cookie from Flour Bakery.

If you haven’t been to Flour Bakery in Boston, you haven’t lived. There is one in the Fort Point area of Boston near my last job, and we would go there almost every afternoon for a raspberry seltzer and a homemade oreo, or my favorite, this Chunky Lola cookie. So I was like a kid on Christmas last week when another Flour Bakery location opened one block behind my current office. See ya later New Years Resolutions. Flour Bakery was founded by Joanne Chang, who used to be a management consultant. So she’s basically my bakery idol. So much so, that I got giddy last week when I braved the cold to go grab a sandwich and chunky lola cookie and Joanne Chang was there. Look how cute the motto on their take out bags is ” Make Life Sweeter, Eat Dessert First.”

Ingredients:

• 1 3/8 sticks of butter, softened
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 9 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 1/4 cups pecan halves, toasted and chopped
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Step 1: Cream together butter and sugars for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla for about 3 minutes. In between steps, make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure everything is evenly incorporated.

Step 2: In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and mix on a low speed.

Step 3: Chop up the bittersweet chocolate into about 1/2 inch chunks. I had bought one Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate bar and then a bag of Ghirardelli bittersweet chips, and added in the one bar and about 3/4 the bag of chips.

Step 4: To toast the pecans, I just put them on a baking sheet with non-stick spray at 375 degrees for about 12 minutes stirring a few times. At least this week I didnt burn the nuts like last week, but I did burn the bejesus out of my hand when I was making banana bread muffins the day before. #bakerprobz Coarsely chop the pecans.

Step 5: Add the chocolate, pecans, and coconut and mix until incorporated. Refrigerate the dough for 3-4 hours in an airtight container. This is a pain, I know, but it’s definitely worth to make sure these cookies turn out right.

Step 6: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a cookie scoop, place even-size balls of dough on a parchment or sil-pat-lined baking sheet. I used an ice cream scoop for the first batch, but those were big and I knew I’d need a lot for coworkers tomorrow, so the rest I used the smaller cookie scoop. Bake for about 13-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Let them cool on a wire rack.

These didn’t get a chance to cool completely before the roomie and I had to taste test. I’d like to think these taste just as good as the ones from Flour Bakery, but I might have to do a side by side taste test tomorrow at work.

These gel manicures are really worth it in the winter. I got this one today just so these pictures would look good.

I’d like to leave you with some witty commentary, but Downton Abbey is on, so that’s all I’ve got for tonight. I’ll leave you with a picture of my  new breakfast fad — Green Monster spinach smoothies. They look disgusting, but they taste really good. And it’s just like when Popeye eats a can of spinach, when I drink one muscles pop out of my arms. Well kind of. I went to Kickboxing yesterday and still can’t move my arms above my shoulders, but close enough.