TOASTED COCONUT LIME COOKIESfeatured

I have one brother, Gregg,  and 9.9 times out of 10, he’s awesome. And we get a long great. Always have. But growing up with an older brother often meant that when the parents weren’t around, I was on the receiving end of a dare. How did I break my arm? I was dared to ride my bike straight down a hill without stopping or using my breaks. What do raw crawdads taste like? Disgusting. How do I know. A dare. When you are the younger sibling, saying no isn’t an option. Which brings me to today. Why do I have a massive addiction to all things lime? Yup. You guessed it. A dare.

Growing up in small town Nebraska, there was just one ice cream shop in our town named Scotty’s. It was a kids dream. I remember the menu was massive. Every flavor of shakes or malts you could images. In the summer, we went there after every baseball or softball game like clockwork. On one of these outings, my brother and I were in the back seat of the car reading the drive thru menu when he turned to me and said, I dare you to order the lime malt. Gross. Who eats lime malts. I wanted strawberry. I didn’t even see lime on the menu… so I looked again. Oh wait… there it is.. at the very bottom, missing the letter “e”. Lim. Wow. Gregg just stared at me waiting for my answer while my Dad ignored us and just kept listening to Willie Nelson on the 8-track. Ugh, fine. I’ll get the lime malt and I’ll totally lie and say I love it just to rub his face in it. Finally it was our turn to order; I crawled over my brother and shouted out the window: 1 LIME MALT PLEASE! Silence on the other end. A voice crackled back, did you say lime? Um, let me see if I can find our bottle of lime flavoring in the back. My brother just started to laugh while my Dad looked back at me and said, lime? You really want a lime malt?  I feebly nodded. What seemed like ages later, a voice shouted back over the speaker, we found the lime. We’re dusting off the bottle and can take care of that order for you. As our order passed through the window and into our car, I saw my malt. It was neon green. Like alien green. Not a color you want to eat kind of green. But I wasn’t going to let Gregg win. Nope dot com. He watched me take my first sip. And then my second. And third. What in the world is this deliciousness? It. Was. Faaaaaantastic. Ha! Suck on that Gregg. Backfired. I knew then and there that lime rules.

My love of lime is still large and in charge and I’ve been itching for awhile to work up really good tart, but sweet lime cookie. Throw in some toasted coconut for good measure and it’s like I’m back at Scotty’s drinking my laser green malt feeling pretty proud of myself.

Recipe: Toasted Coconut Lime Cookies  |  Soundtrack: Steve Miller Band

• COOKIE DOUGH
• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1 1/4 cup Sugar
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 eggs room temperature
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp cream
• 1/2 tsp cream of tarter
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup  unsweetened coconut (I tend to like the finer coconut found in the bulk bins)
• 5 1/2 cups flour
• FROSTING
• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter softened
• 4 tbsp lime juice
• 10 tbsp cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tbsp lime zest + more for topping (I would purchase 7-9 limes)
• 3/4 cup unsweetened toasted coconut

Directions for Cookie Dough:

Preheat oven to 350°

While oven is heating, toast the coconut. On medium heat, place the coconut in a large saucepan or skillet so it covers the bottom of the pan. Using a wooden spoon, stir the coconut around as it begins to brown. Keep stirring until the coconut is a nice even golden brown. Remove from heat and pour the coconut into a bowl. Divide in half. One cup will go into the batter and one cup will be used for the topping.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time beating well between each one. Add the oil and cream and mix until it’s all combined.

In a separate bowl, mix the baking soda, cream of tarter, salt, 1 cup of the toasted coconut and flour. Whisk together. Turn the mixer on low and gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet. The dough will be very thick and will not be very sticky like a traditional cookie dough.

Roll dough into large golf sized balls. Place evenly on a cookie sheet. Approx, 3 across. Pour some sugar onto a plate. Using a dish cloth, lightly wet the bottom of the glass, just so when pressed into the sugar, the sugar will stick to it. Take the sugared glass and press down to flatten the cookies and give them a rough edge. Repeat dipping the glass every other cookie (you will not need to re-wet the glass once you start pressing the cookies.

Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. Once done, remove from the oven. Let cool on the pan for a few minutes then remove and place onto a wire rack.

Directions for Frosting:

In a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment or a strong hand mixer, combine the powdered sugar, butter (make sure it really is soft so it will blend in), lime juice, cream and vanilla. Add in lime zest.

Frost the cookies once they have cooled and sprinkle with the extra toasted coconut and lime.

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