The last Christmas cookie

South Seas Cookies
The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion Copyright 2004

4 1/4 cups sweetened shredded coconut I used one entire bag that said it had over 5 cups
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large egg whites, at room temp.
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 2/3 (10 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup (3 oz) caramel (about 10 individual caramels) I used homemade caramel
2 Tablespoons (1 oz) milk or heavy cream

Preheat oven to 300'F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.

In a large bowl, combine the coconut, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. In a seperate bowl, combine the egg whites, lemon juice, and salt and beat (whip) at medium speed until medium to stiff peaks form. Fold half of the beaten egg whites into the coconut mixture, then add the remainder.

Drop the batter by the tablespoon onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 25 minutes, until they are golden brown. Remove them from the oven and transfer to wire rack to cool.

Melt the chocolate chips in a saucepan set over very low heat or in the microwave, stirring frequently. When the cookies are completely cool, dip the bottoms into the chocolate and set them on a rack upside down to let the chocolate set up. (I just put them bottoms down on wax paper and chilled them until the chocolate set.) Keep any left over chocolate warm.

In a saucepan set over low heat, melt the caramel with the milk or heavy cream. Drizzle stripes of caramel over the tops of the cookies. Repeat the stripes with any of the left over chocolate.

Yield: 32 cookies
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I believe this is the only new Christmas cookie that I made this year that I didn't tell you about yet. This picture was taken after Christmas and doesn't quite do this cookie justice. I received several favorable comments about these and damn, I wish I had one right now. It's torture being reminded of these so long after they've gone.

These were quite simple to make. In the past, I've had some trouble with macaroons but not this time. I actually could have stopped right there and enjoyed these plain but if the recipe calls for chocolate and caramel, I must obey. I had some leftover homemade caramel so I used that.

I think this is sort of a Samoa Girl Scout cookie knock-off but not as authentic as many that I've seem. It's much easier though.

I wasn't even sure if I was going to make any Christmas cookies and it turned out to be one of my best years. I think that was precisely because I recognized my limits and just did as much as I could.

This year I made:
South Seas Cookies
Welsh Cookies
Christmas Tree Sprintz
Butter Horns
Pretzels and Lorna Doones dipped in caramel and chocolate
Fudge Tassies
Chocolate Chip Brownies
Candy-Cane Twists
Ruth Wakefield's Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Gingerbread Men
Peppermint Patties

Question of the Day: Do you like coconut? Obviously I do!