Let me preface this recipe by saying… these cookies aren’t very pretty. They sort of look like funky little fried eggs. And while I’ll choose flavour over frill any day of the week, I struggled a bit with coming to terms with their appearance. But, rustic look aside, they taste really great, and all of the batches I’ve made have disappeared in record time.
I’ve loved the coconut-citrus combo ever since I had some completely delicious little lemon and coconut cookies in a small Copenhagen café, about 5 years ago. I was in the last stages of thesis-writing, and, having just dropped my thesis off at the printers’, my nerves were frayed! No more proof-reading once the tome had been handed off to be bound, as I’d resigned my perfectionist self to not even taking a peek at it again once printed, for fear of finding some spelling mistake or who knows what, that would annoy me to death (or, at least, until my thesis defence, after which I’d most likely never give the whole thing another thought, ever again).
So, about the cookies. I have such vivid memories of them, and the little café, right down to the froth on the cappuccino I consumed whilst waiting for the printers’ to do their thing. They were simple little shortbread kind of cookies, but softer, slightly chewier. Just such a lovely, zesty memory from the thesis-writing fog, one that seems to have kick-started an almost yearning in me for all things citrus and coconut. And tragically, I haven’t managed to find some like them ever again, or reproduce the shortbready-but still soft and ever so slightly chewy goodness that was those cookies.
But I think these finally hit the spot, so much so that I’ve managed to get over the fact that they look a little odd. And although I think they’re great for all year round cookie consumption, the fact that they sort of look like eggs, or very strange little birds’ nests, is very fitting this time of year (Easter and all).
They also keep really well for a few days! While I find that regular thumbprint cookies get a little boring and stale after a day or two, these actually get better, in my opinion (although I’ve only tried up to two-day old ones, as I just happened to have overlooked two in a tin at the office, which, upon my eating them, cemented my faith in the yumminess of this cookie). So yeah, rough around the edges toasted coconut and lime cookies, for Easter, or when you just happen to need a coconut-lime boost, and don’t care if it comes in the shape of a fried egg-looking kind of treat 🙂
The first time I made them, I found that I wanted a more proportionate curd to cookie ratio, so the second time around, I made the cookies smaller, and the dent slightly bigger, to allow for a tad more lime curd. The third time, I added even more lime curd, about a scant tsp per cookie. I really love the zestiness of them, and the fact that they aren’t too sweet! If you’re not heavily into tart desserts and treats, maybe stick with a regular-sized thumbprint, and a little less curd 🙂 But I think the lime curd is really what this cookie is all about, and that it off-sets the butteriness and goes so so well with the lightly toasted coconut. So if, like me, you’re into seriously zingy desserts, don’t be afraid of piling on the curd, even if it makes the cookies look a little less than elegant 🍋 😉
Toasted Coconut and Lime Cookies
Adapted from Well Plated by Erin, yield: 24-30 little cookies
- 230 g (1 cup/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened/room temperature
- 140 g (2/3 cup) sugar
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 250 g (2 cups) flour
- 1 egg white
- about 100 g (1 cup) unsweetened desiccated/shredded coconut
- 120-240 ml (1/2-1 whole cup) homemade or store-bought lemon or lime curd (for a quick homemade lime curd recipe, see below), depending on your preferred curd to cookie ratio 😉
If making your own lime curd, begin by whisking together 1 large egg and the juice and zest of 2 limes in a small saucepan. Add 1/2 heaped tsp corn starch, 75 g sugar and 50 g cold butter, cubed, and begin to heat the mixture up over medium heat, whisking throughout, until the ingredients melt together and the mixture begins to thicken and simmer. Once the curd is beginning to thicken, turn the heat down to low, and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring once in a while. Transfer to a bowl, and leave to cool down while you make the cookie dough.
In a large bowl, mix together the softened butter, salt and sugar. A wooden spoon works just fine, provided your butter is soft enough. Add the flour a little at a time, until it’s all incorporated, but try not to over-mix.
Preheat your oven to 175°C/350°F. In one large, shallow bowl, mix an egg white with 1 tbsp of water, to make an egg wash. In another large, shallow bowl, pour in your shredded coconut.
Roll little half-walnut sized balls of dough between your hands, then dip into the egg wash, and roll in the coconut. I prefer to do the dipping with one hand, to keep the other hand relatively clean for rolling purposes… 🙂 But it doesn’t matter much, if some egg wash and coconut from your fingers gets rolled into the cookie!
Place on a baking sheet covered in baking parchment, about 3-4 cm/1 inch apart, to allow for the cookies to spread out a little (they will spread out both when you press into them to make the thumbprint, and as they bake). Make a generously sized indentation in each cookie, thereby flattening it and leaving a border around the centre of the cookie (I either make three smaller dents next to each other, or wiggle my finger around to make the dent wider than a normal thumbprint). Fill the dent with as much lime curd as you think you want, I’d go for a scant tsp 🙂
Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the coconut begins to get that nicely golden, toasted look. Leave to cool completely on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cookie tin/container.
And munch away 🙂 🐣
marie's eats 