Toasted Coconut, Macademia Nut and Bittersweet Chocolate Cookies

Well that was officially the longest most emotionally exhausting week in Boston history. I have been watching the marathon every Monday for the past 10 years, and it will never be the same. It felt like we were all stuck in one very long bad episode of Homeland. It is amazing to see the city come together during the events of last week and really embody the new phrase circulating around of #BostonStrong. (you know I love a good hashtag too). My heart really goes out to all of the victims and their families. If you’re looking to donate to some of the victims, this is a great story of a fellow Boston College alum who was an orientation leader when I was a freshman at BC and definitely someone everyone on campus knew. Him and his wife were severely injured and people have raised over $500k in just a few days to help aid their recovery: https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/ygf1/helpforpatandjess

To donate to the OneFund that was set up by the city, you can donate here: http://onefundboston.org/

Hopefully tomorrow as Boylston street reopens life in Boston will slowly start what I imagine will be a long journey to get back to a sense of normal. And there’s no better way to start this week off than with these cookies that will hopefully brighten my coworkers’ Monday morning.

I love when a good flavor combination pops in my head and it comes to fruition in a delicious cookie. After I made those homemade caramel delights a few months  back, I have really been wanting to get toasted coconut into some new cookie recipes. And I think I can safely say I nailed it with this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 brown sugar
• 3/4 granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups toasted coconut
• 1 1/2 cups chopped bittersweet chocolate
• 1 cup macadamia nuts, toasted

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. To toast the coconut, spread it out on a sil-pat or parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, stirring every few minutes when you start to see it turning golden brown. Put it in a bowl to cool.

Step 2: To toast the macadamia nuts, spread them out on a sil-pat lined baking sheet and toast at 350 degrees for about 6 to 8 minutes, stirring every few minutes to make sure they do not burn. I did both the coconut and macadamia nuts at the same time.

Step 3: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream together the butter and sugars. Mix in the eggs and vanilla and beat for a few minutes. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the wet mixture and mix until well incorporated.

Step 4: Add in the coconut, nuts and chopped bittersweet chocolate. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. This will make it a lot easier to handle.

Step 5: Scoop even-size balls of dough onto parchment or sil-pat lined baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Boom. Literally nailed this recipe like a perfect hashtag. The toasted coconut has such a great texture and amazing flavor. Macadamia nuts and bittersweet chocolate really come together for a full flavor explosion with every bite. So so good. I can’t wait to bring them in to work tomorrow.

After being on lockdown Friday and not allowed to go outside, I spent as much time outside this weekend as possible. My mom came up today from Connecticut to help with some backyard work. Here are some photo highlights of our very productive day.
Birthday present grill was delivered! And we used some spare bricks from the backyard to build a little ghetto patio for it.

We started the lawn mower together and I actually mowed the lawn for the the first time in my life. Never thought this would be my idea of Sunday Funday.

Cleaned up the garden area in the back of the yard and installed the little black fence.

And the best addition to today … installing a flag mount to proudly fly the American flag over my backyard.

And then ending the day by breaking in the new grill with some kabobs. Yum. Everything tastes better on the grill.