Today was another recipe-inspired day. On my way out for a walk this morning with Autumn, I stepped onto the side of the cement sidewalk block and twisted my ankle. I spent the morning at the hospital just to make sure it was going to be ok and it wasn’t seriously hurt or broken. It sure hurt at first, and it was scary to fall when I am so far along being pregnant, but I just need to rest and hopefully it will heal quickly because I really want to walk and move around during my labor, which could be any time now really.

So, since I couldn’t be as active today as I usually would, I decided we would do some reading together and then bake something.

I thought of the idea to make a coconut sandwich cookie the other day at the beach. Coconut cookies have been one of my pregnancy cravings, but store bought just isn’t even good or satisfying. I’ve known for a long time that I would have to come up with my own recipe.

I took inspiration for the recipe from my Homemade “Oreo” cookie recipe that I’m saving to share from my new book (though we did make those today as well). Those cookies were a hit with everybody, so I just decided to swap out the cocoa powder and add shredded coconut to change up the flavor and they were just as delicious!

The recipe is what I would call healthy-ish because of the use of whole wheat flour in the cookie dough and that the cookie part is also sweetened with pure maple syrup. The icing part definitely makes these cookies a sweet treat, but who doesn’t need a little sugar sometimes?

The girls loved opening up the cookies and licking out the icing before devouring the cookie in classic sandwich cookie-eating fashion. I loved spending that time baking and seeing them enjoy the recipe so much. It was a great end to a not-so-great beginning of this day.

Coconut Sandwich Cookies

Makes 28, 1 1/2-inch round sandwich cookies (56 little cookies to be baked)

*cookie yield will vary based on your cookie cutter size*

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened medium shredded coconut
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of fine sea salt
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or coconut extract, if wanting a very coconut flavor)

Icing Filling

• 2/3 cup organic icing sugar
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance (or other non-dairy) margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, or if you want them more coconut-flavored, you can substitute coconut extract for the vanilla extract here as well

Directions

1. Combine the flour, coconut, baking soda, and sea salt in a small mixing bowl.
2. Add the maple syrup, oil, and vanilla extract. Stir to form a dough.
3. Place the dough in the fridge to chill for 15-20 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
5. Roll the dough out 1/4-inch thick. (You may need a tiny sprinkle of flour to keep the dough from sticking to the counter.)
6. Using a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out as many cookies as you can and place onto the baking sheet.
7. Continue to cut out round cookies until all of the dough is used up and you have 56 small cookies.
8. Bake for 5 minutes, until very slightly browned, watching carefully to make sure they do not burn.
9. While the cookies are baking, make the icing by stirring together the icing sugar, margarine, and vanilla (or coconut) extract in a small bowl until smooth. Set aside.
10. Allow the cookies to cool completely before icing.
11. Once cooled, place about 1/2 teaspoon of icing onto the bottom of a cookie and top with another cookie, bottom facing in towards the icing, pressing down slightly.
12. Repeat to make 28 sandwich cookies.
13. Store cookies in a container on the counter, in the fridge, or in the freezer.

Happy baking!! 🙂