As I mentioned in my last post, I have been experimenting using Coconut Oil as a shortening rather than butter. My first real attempt was to make a very simple change to the Nutella and Bran Cookies I put up a couple of weeks ago.
The result was amazing, and definitely better than my original attempt.
This recipe is taken almost directly from this one at simply recipes.
- 75g of coconut oil, room temperature
- 57g of sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 120g of plain flour
- 20g of desiccated coconut
- 1/2 tsp of nutella per cookie
- Parchment paper
METHOD
- Cream the coconut oil and sugar on high speed for about 3 minutes.
- Separate the eggs. Add the yolks and vanilla extract to the oil and sugar mixture. Place the egg whites in a shallow dish on the side and whisk them until bubbly and frothy (the egg whites will be used to keep some extra desiccated coconut on the cookies).
- Add the flour and the desiccated coconut. Mix until just combined. Place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 175 C.
- Roll the dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter. Dip the balls into the egg whites then roll them into the coconut until covered. Place the balls on parchment lined cookie sheets.
- Press down with your thumb to make a small well in the center of the cookie. I had problems doing this with mine, but because you don’t put the nutella onto till after cooking it wasn’t a problem to leave them thumbprint-less.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until slightly firm. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet to firm up before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Add 1/2 teaspoon to the top of each cookie.