Soft Coconut Cookies with Chocolate Drizzle

Cookies to me are a delight to bake. So to start the new year, I figured a cookie recipe would be nice to start it off. I made these for Christmas along with a ton of other cookies and cakes but these remained my favourite. Coconut is somewhat exotic in this part of the world unlike Asia where most of the coconut comes fresh. Here I had to depend on dried desiccated coconut to give me the texture and taste but the taste remains fantastically yummy! The original recipe, courtesy of 'The Golden Book of Cookies', given by a good friend not too long ago was the basis of it and then jazzed up with additional trimmings, i.e. the chocolate drizzle. And trust me...it wasn't too difficult to make. So what went into it?

Ingredients:

150g self-raising flour - sifted

1tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt (or a pinch would do)

125g butter - melted or softened

100g granulated sugar

1 medium or large egg

125g desiccated coconut

For the chocolate drizzle:

1 x 200g bar of dark or milk chocolate

Method:

1. Firstly heat up the oven to 190 Degree Celcius. Lay baking paper on flat baking trays or any baking tray you have just so you don't have to run out and buy cookie trays.
2. Then prepare the cookie dough. Beat the butter and sugar in a mixer or a mixing bowl with a whisk until light and fluffy. I tend not to wait so I beat it until both sugar and butter are mixed well before adding the egg in. Then, add in all the dry ingredients and stir until well mixed.
3. Next, use two teaspoons. One to scoop out the cookie dough, the other to scrape it from the first teaspoon onto the baking tray. As the cookie dough dough spread a little, remember not to scoop too much out and space it accordingly. Once the baking tray is full, place in the oven to bake for no longer than 10 minutes or until bottom of cookie is lightly brown. Remove and repeat the process until cookie dough is finished.
4. Let the baked cookies rest on the baking tray before removing onto a cooling rack. (see image 2)
5. Let the cookies rest for a further hour or so on the cooling rack before laying them flat on a baking tray laid with baking paper.
6. Next make your chocolate drizzle. In a bowl, break your chocolate into pieces. Then heat up some water in a small saucepot before placing the bowl in the pot. This is the bain-marie method. Then carefully stirring, making sure the chocolate doesn't split. Make sure to always keep the gas at its lowest. Once fully melted, take it out of the pot and onto the table next to the cookie tray.
7. Drizzle the melted chocolate with a spatula or a spoon any which way you want. (see image 3). This You can also try dipping the cookie into the chocolate instead and place on the baking tray. Don't worry, the baking paper is there for a purpose. When the chocolate dries, and you peel away the cookies, the chocolate goes with it. 
8. Then put all the cookies into a cookie tin or a cookie jar like what I did (see image 4), tie it with a ribbon and present it as a gift.

Image 2 - cookies on the cooling rack

Image 3 - cookies drizzled with melted chocolate

Image 4 - Cookies in a cookie jar

There you go! The cookies all good to go. This is also perfect for Chinese New Year. Chocolate is not a traditional flavour for Chinese New Year but you can still make the cookies nonetheless!

Happy baking peeps while I go try experimenting on red wine and chocolate cupcakes and Malaysian inspired shish kebab on a lemongrass stick!

Innovating once more,

The Innovative Baker