Island Cookies

For my final studio project, I'm designing a food television production studio on the Case Western Reserve University campus.  My 3-week programming phase of the project involved so much research on food, that I kind of felt obligated to bring a little portion of the discipline to my studio.  I decided to bake one of my favorite sweets, island cookies.  The smooth white chocolate, warm pecan flavor and hints of coconut make for a perfect summertime treat!

I started by measuring out the basic ingredients for the dough.  The dry ingredients were flour, baking soda and salt.  The wet ingredients were butter-flavored Crisco shortening, vanilla extract, white sugar, brown sugar and 2 eggs.  Can we just take a moment to admire the morning light in my apartment?  It's reasons like this that I love my kitchen so much! 

I started by beating together the white sugar, brown sugar, shortening and vanilla until it was light and fluffy.  Then I beat the eggs into the mixture, one at a time.

I gradually added the flour mixture to the wet ingredients while I was beating it all together.  I usually divide the flour mixture into thirds and add it to the wet ingredients one third at a time, beating well after each addition.  If you add the flour mixture all at once, the cookies usually end up being really dense, almost tough.  Adding it gradually means the cookies will be soft on the inside, slightly crunchy on the edges and totally melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

After it was well combined and I scraped the edges of the bowl to make sure all the flour was incorporated, I gently stirred in the coconut, white chocolate chips and pecans until they were evenly distributed in the dough.  Then, you have to try a taste just to be sure it's good.  This actually isn't required but who wouldn't want a reason to eat fresh cookie dough?!

Everything was going so smoothly, until that moment occurred that all bakers dread...I WAS OUT OF PARCHMENT PAPER!   I didn't even have enough for a single tray!  After scouring the stores within walking distance downtown (and having absolutely no luck), I decided to give nonstick cooking spray a try.  And it actually worked!  I would still recommend parchment paper though so the bottoms don't darken as fast.  I rolled the dough into balls about the size of a tablespoon (definitely a generous tablespoon though) and then pushed the top just slightly to help them spread out quickly.  They usually take about 9-11 minutes to turn golden brown, and this batch took the full 11 since I made them big!

I brought in 30 cookies for a 10 person studio...and they were completely gone in less than 3 hours.  If that's not success, than I don't know what is!  Try them this weekend!