Chewy Macaroon Cookies

Lena’s Post

The following recipe was modified from that found on the Mounds coconut package. I had lime juice, not orange juice and decided to dip the cookies in chocolate, as well. I made these as a treat for my boyfriend after he had an extremely long day at work. He loves coconut and chewy, not crunchy cookies, so I thought these would work well. He loved them, though I must say they are best as freshly-baked as possible. These have dried out some (though they’re still soft—just a little more crumbly) after a few days. They still taste great but are good with coffee now. They were really easy and the small amount of dough makes several cookies.

Chewy Macaroon Cookies

Ingredients

1/3 C butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
¾ C sugar
1 egg yolk
2 t real lime juice
1 t vanilla extract
1 ¼ C flour
2 t baking powder
¼ t salt
4 C sweetened flaked coconut, divided
Milk or dark chocolate for melting and coating (depending on your preference)

Directions

1. Cream butter, cream cheese, and sugar until well-blended.
2. Add egg yolk, lime juice, and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Gradually add dry mix to the butter mixture, beating well after each addition.
5. Stir in 3 cups of coconut.
6. Preheat oven to 350 deg.
7. Shape dough into 1” balls, roll into remaining cup of coconut.
8. Place onto ungreased cookie sheet (I pressed them down gently but not much).
9. Bake about 10 min (just keep an eye on them). The coconut will get a little brown and the bottoms may look dark, but they aren’t really crunchy.
10. I was able to remove the cookies from the cookie sheet to a cooling rack immediately with a spatula. Makes 3 to 3 ½ dozen.
11. Melt the chocolate (I used milk choc bark) in a double boiler (or a glass bowl on top of a pan with simmering water in it.
12. Dip or “frost” cookies as much as you want. Place on parchment paper to set—may put in fridge to speed up the process. Allow cookies to reach room temp again before serving, though.