Wintery Coconut Cookies

Wintery Coconut Cookies

I bought a large penguin cookie from Ann Clark Cutters and a new igloo cutter from an Etsy seller for these wintery coconut cookies. When I make winter theme cookies I try to buy at least one new cookie cutter to add something new. Living in New York, winter is still going strong here but we have not had any snow of late, so making these cookies cheered me up. I love snow and hope we get a snowstorm or two before the spring season and my allergies arrive. With each bite, you get a chewy texture full of coconut flavor from the dessicated coconut, coconut sugar, coconut milk, and coconut extract. If you cannot find dessicated coconut, just pulse coconut flakes in your processor or blender until it reaches a fine texture. Unsweetened works best in this recipe to control the sugar content.

Yield: 2 Dozen Cookies (depending on cutter size and thickness of dough)

Wintery Coconut Cookies

Ingredients
2 ½ cups All Purpose Flour

1/2 teaspoon Coarse Salt

1 cup Coconut Sugar (or Granulated)

1 cup, 2 sticks Unsalted Butter, softened

1 Large Egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon Coconut Milk

2 teaspoons Coconut Extract

1 cup Unsweetened Dessicated Coconut

Big snowman and 2 polar bears

Directions
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and dessicated coconut; set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment on 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 and combine.

Scrape down bowl with spatula and mix again for another 10 seconds.

Add coconut milk, and coconut extract, and mix for 1 minute.

Turn the mixer off, and add the coconut flour mixture, and then cover with a large kitchen towel and on low speed incorporate.

The dough is ready when it begins to clump around the paddle attachment.

Igloo and polar bears

Roll the dough into a disk shape, cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours or overnight.

Take half of the dough leaving covered unused dough in the fridge until ready to use.

Heat oven to 350°F.

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

Press cutters into the dough to make desired shapes and repeat until you use all the dough.

If needed, lightly dip the cutters into flour and shake off excess.

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

Polar bears

Place cookies in the freezer for 20 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.

Oven temps vary so check the cookies at the 9 minute mark.

Let cookies cool in baking sheets for 5 minutes and transfer to wire racks 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.

Royal Icing
Ingredients
1/3 cup Meringue Powder (I use Genie's Dream Meringue Powder)

1/2 cup Warm Water

1 tablespoon Clear Vanilla Extract

7 1/2 cups, 2 lbs. Powdered Sugar, sifted

Panda 

Directions
In a bowl, whisk together the meringue powder, and warm water until frothy.

Transfer to a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and mix for 3 minutes. Do not over mix.

Turn off the mixer and add the powdered sugar, and cover with a kitchen towel. On low speed incorporate and then turn to high speed and mix for 3 minutes.

Add the vanilla extract and mix for 15-20 seconds.

This icing is thick and perfect for detail and stencil work.

Penguins

I transfer the icing into plastic containers with lids according to the amount of color and how much of each one I need.

I use Gel Paste Food Color in various colors. Start with 1-2 drops at a time until you have the color you need and stir with spatula until combined.

I place the thick icing I need of each color and immediately transfer to tipless bags and/or icing bottles.

For the remaining icing color, I take a spritz bottle filled with room temperature water and spritz 1-2 times (or as needed)* until the desired consistency is reach. I do this with each container and transfer to tipless bags and/or icing bottles. I repeat until I am done.

Cute oval shape penguins

*Be careful adding water as too much can cause the color to bleed, and you do not want the icing runny.

Keep the other containers covered.

I do a border on each cookie and immediately fill it.

I use a cookie stick to reach edges and to pop any air bubbles.

Cookie drying

Add sprinkles: sanding sugar, coarse sugar, jimmies, confetti, quins, sugar pearls, nonpareils, dragees, etc... over wet icing.

If you plan to use food decorating pens, stencils, airbrush, or add a second layer of icing designs/piping work, let the cookies dry overnight. For this, I use the thick icing.

If it is humid, you may need more time for the cookies to dry. A fan will help dry the icing.

To order Genie's Dream Premiun Meringue Powder, visit The Cookie Countess:
https://www.thecookiecountess.com/collections/genies-dream-meringue-powder

The panda cookie was inspired by Sweet Ambs:
https://www.sweetambs.com/tutorial/valentines-day-panda-bear-cookies/

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys