Coconut Oatmeal Lace Cookies

I’ve had the ingredients for these cookies lying around for some time now because after reading the original recipe I had the full intention of getting on my inner Jackson Pollock. What do you think? I’m thinking they look pretty damn good. Call up my agent, I see a cookie gallery show in SoHo in the future!

Ok fine, I’ll settle for a multi-million dollar contract to place my art in the elevators of some mega-corp. I’m not picky.

Here’s what you need to know about these cookies: They are really really good. They have a little bit of a crunch and at the same time are a little chewy, while being very light and fragile. Which makes sense because each cookie is essentially butter and sugar held together with a scant amount of coconut, oatmeal and flour. Topped with two kinds of chocolate.

Also, they are really easy to make, despite the fact that they end up looking like an abstract expressionist painting. The key thing you need for this recipe is a bowl and pot combo that you can easily use for melting stuff over boiling water, double boiler style. Melting stuff is key to this recipe. I have a cheapo IKEA metal bowl that fits perfectly into a 6 quart pot, and stays there pretty solidly, which is a bonus. It has an almost completely round bottom, a feature which makes it useless on a counter but perfect for melting butter and chocolate.

A couple of other things to remember:First, even though it doesn’t look like much at all when you portion out the cookies, one rounded teaspoon is enough. It won’t seem like it at the time, but these babies expand like crazy. Make sure to space them out well because they double in size. If they do end up touching when they spread out, I found that you can separate them if you carefully cut them apart within a few minutes of taking them out of the oven. And you may want to consider making a double batch because this recipe only makes about 2 1/2 dozen … and you’re going to need more of them.

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Coconut Oatmeal Lace Cookies

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Ingredients

For the cookies
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

For Decorating
3 oz bittersweet chocolate
3 oz white chocolate

Preheat your oven to 350F. Place a metal bowl over a pot of simmering water, and add the butter, sugar and salt, stirring occasionally until everything is melted together and is smooth. Stir in the coconut, oats and flour and mix until just combined. Turn off the heat, but leave the bowl on the pot to keep the mixture warm and easy to spread.

Cover two baking sheets with parchment and drop 1 rounded teaspoon of the mixture onto the trays, about three inches apart. Press the mixture flat into 2 inch round circles. Make sure to leave plenty of space around each cookie because they will expand dramatically. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the cookies are flat, lightly browned and bubbling. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the trays.

Once the cookies are cool, place your cleaned metal bowl back on the pot of simmering water, and add melt one kind of the chocolates until smooth. Spoon the melted chocolate into a resealable plastic bag, then cut a tiny hole at one of the corners and pipe the chocolate over the cookies in your best Jackson Pollock style. Repeat with the second kind of chocolate.

Allow the chocolate to cool and fully set before removing cookies from the tray (this can be speeded up in the freezer). Store in an airtight container between layers of parchment paper for up to a week … but they won’t last that long.