Bird's Nest Cookies

Bird's Nest Cookies

Bird's Nest Cookies

This Coconut Cookie recipe from Glorious Treats is really yummy. I used this recipe last year for Valentine's Coconut Heart Cookies using toasted coconut in the dough and they were a hit. This year, I opted for plain coconut flakes and chopped them in small pieces. I doubled the recipe and saved half of the dough for Easter Cookies. I adjusted the recipe and added 1 teaspoon of coconut milk (Silk), and 1/8 teaspoon coarse salt. I suggest buying unsweetened coconut flakes to control the sugar content of the cookie. The texture of this coconut cookie is chewy and full of coconut flavor in every bite. If you love coconut, this is a great cookie for you to try. See recipe below.

Yield: 18-20 3 inch cookies

Bird's Nest Cookies

Ingredients
1 cups (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, softened and each stick cut into 8 cubes

1 cup Granulated Sugar

1 Large Egg

1 teaspoon Coconut  Milk (Silk)

1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

½ teaspoon Coconut Extract

2 ½ cups All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/8 teaspoon Coarse Salt

1 cup finely chopped Unsweetened Coconut (I use Let's Do Organic 100% Organic Unsweetened Coconut Flakes)

Bird's Nest Cookies

Directions
Chop coconut into small pieces; set aside.

Cut each stick of butter into 8 pieces.

Using a whisk, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and chopped coconut in large bowl; set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment on low to medium speed. Mix until incorporated, about 1-2 minutes.

Scrape sides of bowl with spatula and mix again for 5-10 seconds more.

Add egg one at a time. Scrape down bowl with spatula and mix again for another 10 seconds.

Add coconut milk, coconut and vanilla extracts, and mix for 1 minute.

Slowly add coconut flour mixture to bowl, and mix on low speed for 1-2 minutes. When dough clumps around paddle attachment, it is ready.

Form dough into a ball, cut in half, and cover with plastic wrap, and cool in fridge for 1-2 hours or overnight.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cadbury Mini Eggs, Coconut Grass

Take 1/2 of the dough, use rolling pin and roll out between 2 sheets of parchment paper until desired thickness is reached.

Press a lightly floured round cutter into the dough to make shapes.

Repeat rolling the dough and cutting shapes until you have used it all.

Place cookie shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and space 2 inches apart.

Place cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking. They hold their shape when you do this.

Bake cookies for 9-13 minutes, or until center of cookie no longer looks wet. My cookies baked in 13 minutes.

Let cookies cool in baking sheets for 5 minutes and transfer to wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.

Let cookie sheets cool completely before you bake again. I put the cookie sheets in the freezer for 5 minutes. Repeat until you have baked all the cookies.

To make Royal Icing, go to Joy of Baking for the recipe and video tutorial:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/RoyalIcing.html

Green Royal Icing, Coconut Grass, Cadbury Mini Eggs

Coconut Grass
Directions
1 bag Cadbury Mini Eggs

2 cups Sweetened Coconut Flakes

5-6 drops AmeriColor Soft Gel Paste in Green

1 tablespoon Water

1 Resealable Bag

Close-up of one Bird's Nest Cookie

Directions
Add coconut flakes in a resealable bag.

Add drops of Green color and water.

Seal bag and shake vigorously until coconut flakes turn green.

Add coconut grass over wet green royal icing.

Immediately press 3 Cadbury Mini Eggs in different colors over the coconut grass.

Let the cookies set for 2-3 hours or overnight.

For the Coconut Cookies recipe, visit Glorious Treats:
http://www.glorioustreats.com/2015/04/coconut-cut-out-cookies.html

For the Coconut Cookies using Toasted Coconut, please visit my Coconut Heart Cookies post:
https://twofrys.blogspot.com/2016/02/coconut-heart-cookies.html

-Enjoy!

Sophia/Two Frys