Marianne's Coconut Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

For me, recipes are a great way to remember people. Whether it is a treasured recipe from my grandma, or something my mom made when I was growing up, there are recipes in my collection that are full of memories for me. If you want me to cherish you forever, just share a favorite recipe with me.

Bonus points if it is an amazing cookie recipe.

This recipe comes from my graduate school days, when I lived in a crummy apartment with four other girls. The floors squeaked, the carpets were orange shag from the 70's and the door required a firm shoulder shove to close completely. My younger sister came to visit me when I lived there and I remember her whispering, "Do you have rats here?" as we walked down the hallway to get to my apartment. Yes, it was a classy place.

One of my roommates at this palace was my friend Marianne. I hardly knew her before moving in, but we became instantly close, probably bonding over leaky faucets or loud neighbors. Marianne talked up these cookies for weeks before she actually made them because she didn't have a copy of the recipe and had to remember to get her mom to dictate it to her over the phone. Once she make them, though, they lived up to their hype. I don't think there was a single cookie that wasn't eaten the first night she made them. The recipe makes at least 36 cookies or so, which divided by five roommates is . . . ummm, maybe it's best not to quantify how much we each liked them.

If you are a coconut almond fan, this is heaven. They are like an Almond Joy bar in cookie form, and a perfected cookie form at that. Soft and chewy, they have great almond flavor and the perfect touch of chocolate. In my mind they trump even my favorite chocolate chip cookie any day.

Since that first night when Marianne finally made the fabled coconut almond chocolate chip cookies she had been raving about, I'd say these have become one of my top three most requested cookies. The recipe makes a huge batch, which is perfect for sharing with the many people that will request them. Every time I make them I remember Marianne and wonder what she's been doing lately. Sometimes I shoot her an e-mail, and sometimes I just reminisce about our crummy apartment and wonder if they're finally replaced the orange shag carpet.

 I bet they haven't. 

Marianne's Coconut Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 cups shredded coconut
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups lightly salted, dry roasted almonds, finely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt
3. In a medium bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract. Mix on low speed until blended.
4. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix just until blended. Do not overmix. Add the coconut, chocolate chips and almonds and stir until just incorporated. (Note: if the dough seems thin at this point, I bake a test cookie to see if spreads too much. Sometimes it seems like due varying amounts of moisture in the coconut, I need to add a couple extra tablespoons of flour to keep the cookies from cooking up too flat.)
5. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons on ungreased cookie sheets 2 inches apart. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until set.

Prep Time: 15 min Cook Time: 20 min Yield: 3 1/2 dozen cookies

Recipe source: Marianne Tichovolsky

Posted in: Dessert