I have to admit that I am having a blast with this new blog. Not that there aren’t moments when I’m pretty sure my brain is never going to absorb all the new technology that helps a blog succeed these days, but even that has it’s charm, because I can see so many ways to do things much better than I did before. And now that everything seems to be working well, and I’m making progress in getting posts moved over here, it is time to celebrate!
I want to share the sweetness of this experience with you in a couple of ways. First, we have these truly fantastic chocolate chip cookies – and second, I am going to give away a $75 Amazon gift card to one of my readers. More about that in a minute, but the cookies come first.
These are our favorite cookies, bar none. I don’t make them real often because they are pretty decadent, and we do try to exercise some measure of self control. I am helpless in the face of these – bittersweet chocolate, coconut, toasted pecans, dried sour cherries – all in a brown sugar oatmeal dough that bakes up crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Perfection.
I use unsweetened coconut in these, because I think the sweetened kind makes them a little too sugary. If you can’t find unsweetened, use your regular supermarket brand, and cut the granulated sugar by a tablespoon or two. 
You can also use the regular kind of oats, but I would zap them up in the food processor a bit so they get cooked while the cookies bake – if you don’t mind the heavier texture, then just leave them whole. You can substitute any dried fruit you may have on hand. See how flexible we are around here?
- 1 cup soft butter
- 1 & ½ cups light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup quick cooking oats
- 1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
- 1 cup toasted chopped pecans
- 2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup dried sour cherries
- Preheat oven to 350º, and line heavy baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the butter in the mixer bowl and beat briefly.
- Add sugars and beat until combined and fluffy.
- Add the eggs and beat until creamy.
- Add the flour, salt, baking soda and powder and beat until combined.
- Add the oats and and coconut and beat until mixed in.
- Add the nuts, chocolate and cherries and beat until combined.
- Portion dough onto baking sheets with a medium cookie scoop or measure at 1 & ½ tablespoon each - leave a couple inches between cookies as they will spread out some.
- Bake for about 14 minutes, until very nicely browned, turning sheets halfway through baking time.
- Cool on a rack, store tightly sealed for up a week at room temperature.
Look pretty yummy, don’t they?
Okay, now for sharing the sweetness with you – I want to celebrate the new blog by giving away an Amazon gift card to one of my readers in the US – $75.00 to spend any way you like! To enter, all you have to do is leave me a comment on this post – tell us what your favorite kind of cookie is.
But wait – there’s more! You can gain additional entries by showing this here new blog a little love. Here’s how:
Subscribe to my weekly newsletter
Like The Creekside Cook Facebook page
Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest
Mention this post on Facebook, Twitter, or pin it on Pinterest and get another entry.
That is a total of 8 possible entries – just make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry, and if you already get the newsletter or follow me on social media, leave a separate comment for each of those as well.
The contest will run until midnight March 17th, with the winner chosen by the Random Integer Generator, and announced on March 18th. Due to Amazon’s policies, I do have to limit entries to readers in the US.
Good luck to everyone and thanks again for stopping by!
And this batch of celebratory cookies? They are going to work with Larry – because construction workers burn a lot more calories than bloggers do.
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