AND YET MORE COOKIES!!!

You must think that all I do is bake cookies. Indeed, sometimes I feel that way. Having escaped the tyranny of the Xmas cookie bake, you'd think I'd leave it alone. Well, not this year. It does seem that the cookies went over extremely well - so well, in fact, that I'm making some of them over again. Hence the chocolate cookie recipe yesterday. And now, another one.

One of the puppies loves chocolate. The other, like me, could leave it alone with a frown. I made these cookies as filler for the cookie tins. He saw them, and essentially cradled the tin in his arms for about an hour before I pried them loose. I don't think of them as anything fancy, but y ou know, they ARE good.

Coconut is one of those ingredients that seems to inspire very strong love/hate feelings in people. The texture bothers a lot of people, and there may be a coconut allergy out there. Me? I could eat it everyday. So could Guy. And so could my pup. So, now that they're home (I JUST SPOKE WITH THEM. I AM ON CLOUD TEN), I can offer the chocolate cookies, and these.

You're going to need a cup and a half of sweetened, shredded coconut. I've only found one brand that does this, so you know what you're getting. Heap the container high. You won't regret it.

You also need a bit more than a cup of flour, so heap it high. Mix it with a teaspoon of baking soda and a half teaspoon of salt.

You then need a stick and two tablespoons of softened unsalted butter. Also, half a cup of light brown sugar, and a quarter cup of white sugar. Finally, an egg, a large one, and a teaspoon of vanilla.

Before you make the cookies, you have to toast the coconut. Now, you can do this in a skillet on the stove top, but it's hard. You can do it in the oven, and it's easier, but you have to watch the coconut, because it goes from toasted to burned in a blink. You spread it out on a baking sheet, on a sheet of parchment, and put it in the oven for about 5 minutes, at 375. Keep an eye on it. If it begins to brown on the edges, take it out. It's done. If you leave it too long, you will go from brown to black, even when it's out of the oven. Really, all you're trying to do is bring the oils out for flavoring. Let that mass of coconut cool, while you get to work on the cookies.

Get all of those flour type ingredients mixed together in a bowl, and then put the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl, and whip it HARD. You want it very light and fluffy. This will take about 6 minutes, which is about as long as it will take for the coconut to cool. When the butter mass is fluffy, add the egg, and then the vanilla (and I reiterate: push the mass down as you need to). Then add the flour and the coconut, at lower speed. You'll have a very shaggy looking mess, from the coconut.

These cookies are small. Measure a heaping teaspoon of dough, and roll it into a ball. Once you do that, it will be easier to do it with your hands. Lay these out, about 20 or so, on a baking sheet. You're going to get about 80 small cookies, so have plenty of sheets and parchment ready.

Bake them, one sheet at a time, for about 8 minutes. Push it to ten if you like them REALLY dark, but be careful. They burn easily. I like them slightly underdone and chewy. And if you make and bake one sheet, while you are preparing the second sheet, this will move along much faster than you think.

These are a great cookie with ice cream - ANY kind. Also, if you have any left over and they go stale, you can make a great crust for a cake, or coconut custard pie, or just crumble them over ice cream, or pudding, or something like that.

Make 'em. I want everyone to make more cookies in 2009