Coconut and Key Lime Pie

It’s getting hot in the kitchen check out my latest post on What’s For Dinner? on Barista Kids – Cool, refreshing coconut and Key Lime Pie. Inspired by a fabulous weekend in Montauk where I ate zesty, refreshing iced Key lime pie.

The coconut and ginger crust make it  more tropical than your average Key Lime raising the delicious quotient.  You might find yourself dreaming of giant coconut pies.

Kitchen sink cookies (cherry, pistachio, coconut, chocolate chip)

The Ladies™ wanted to make cookies. There was no negotiation. Zero. They had to take cookies on their afternoon playdate. We had all of 30 minutes to make them. If I was making them alone that would not be a problem, but add two four-year olds in the mix and that becomes quite a challenge.

I remembered the now-mushy cherries I bought last weekend at the Farmers’ Market. Their fate was either cookie or an early grave in the compost bin. So I snuck in the cherries as they cost too much to throw out.

Not sure if it was the time pressure but I kept adding ingredients like a crazy woman – a handful of pistachios, some coconut, oh and chocolate chips. The cookies turned out to be a riot of flavor in each bite – nutty, sweet chocolately cookies.

Miraculously it took us about 35 minutes to make them, so we were only a few minutes late for the playdate. The stress was worth it for the just-baked cookie smell in the car.

Ingredients – makes about 24

• 1½ cups plain flour
• ½ cup oatmeal
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp cinnamon – I prefer to grate from a cinnamon stick (don’t trust powdered cinnamon)
• ½ tsp salt
• 12 tbs unsalted butter softened
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 7 oz chocolate chips – I used a mixture of white and semi-sweet
• 4 oz unsweetened grated coconut
• 1 cup pistachios (obviously shelled! And chopped)
• 1 cup chopped cherries
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

In a large bowl, mix together the first 5 ingredients.
Cream together the butter and sugars – I usually do this in my stand mixer, but you can do with a hand mixer or by hand.
Then add the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Add the vanilla.
Beat in the flour on a low-speed.
Fold in the chocolate, coconut, cherries and nuts.

Mould the dough into balls the size of a golf ball.

Place the cookie dough balls on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Pre-heat the oven to 350° and bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes until just beginning to turn golden.

Cool on the cookie sheet, on a rack.