coconut grove cookies

I made these cookies and I got thinking about cookie texture.

I am most drawn to a combo crispy/chewy texture, like in the cornflake, chocolate chip, marshmallow cookie.  I'm also a huge fan of crisp, buttery texture, like in a shortbread cookie. The ideal chocolate chip cookie, with crispy around the edges, giving way to a soft middle, is also a perennial favorite.



This bad boy, he's soft. Like Archway Oatmeal Raisin soft. It's the kind of soft that makes me think of grandmothers and down cushions on a dusty sofa, a musty, perfumed scent in the air, and a pot of tea with mismatched china cups.

That's all to say that I'm not used to soft cookies and in my mind, the cookie is a bit of a throwback to yesteryear. Of course, that's just a wildly imagined grandmom scenario, since what I got from my grandmother's house was Shrimp with Lobster Sauce and a Tahitian Treat.

I like the combination of chocolate and coconut (which has a hint of almond in it.) The cake flour in the chocolate dough makes for a fluffier, lighter cookie. It goes from a soft and cakey bottom,

 with hidden chunks of chocolate,

  through a pillowy meringue,

to just a bit of crispy edged coconut.

And I'm wondering, what kind of cookie texture do you like?

Coconut Grove Cookies
slightly adapted from Maida Heatter's Cookies

Chocolate Dough

2½ cups sifted cake flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, divided
4 ounces unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon instant coffee
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
2 egg yolks (reserve the whites for the meringue topping)
⅓ cup milk

Adjust two racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat oven to 375ºF. Line cookie sheets with parchment or Silpat.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside. Place 4 ounces of chocolate in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Stir occasionally until melted and smooth, then remove from heat and set aside to cool.

To cut the remaining 4 ounces of chocolate, use a heavy knife, work on a cutting board, and cut the chocolate into pieces measuring ¼ to ½ inch across. Set aside.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter. Add the vanilla and the instant coffee and both sugars, and beat well. Beat in the egg yolks, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in the melted chocolate. On low speed, gradually add half of the sifted dry ingredients, continuing to scrape the bowl with the spatula. Now gradually add the milk and the remaining dry ingredients and beat only until smooth. Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the cut chocolate pieces. Set the chocolate dough aside at room temperature and prepare the meringue topping.

Meringue Topping

2 egg whites
pinch of salt
½ cup granulated sugar
scant ¼ teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons sifted cake flour
7 ounces finely shredded coconut

Meringue Topping
In the small bowl of an electric mixer, with clean beaters, beat the egg whites together with the salt until the whites hold soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar, 1 to 2 spoonfuls at a time, and then beat at high speed until the meringue is very stiff. Toward the end of the beating, beat in the almond extract.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the flour and then the coconut.

To form the cookies: Use a rounded teaspoonful of the chocolate dough for each cookie and place them 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. Slightly flatten the tops. Then top each cookie with a slightly rounded teaspoonful of the meringue topping. In order to wind up even, use a tiny bit less of the topping than you use of the chocolate dough for each cookie. Try to place the topping carefully so that it won't run off the chocolate dough for each while it is baking.

Bake 11-13 minutes, until the topping is lightly browned. Reverse the cookie sheets top to bottom and front to back once during baking to ensure even browning. With a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to racks to cool.


This post is linked to the following: show and share, tatertots and jello, i'm lovin' it, frugal girls, show and tell, tasty tuesdays, crazy sweet tuesday, wow me wednesday, sugar and dots, somewhat simple, something swanky, Sundae Scoop, made by you mondays, friday flair, c.r.a.f.t., show me what you got