Peanut Butter Coconut Honey Cookies

Not very good-looking, but very delicious- especially with a glass of milk. The flavour of coconut and peanut go extremely well together, plus the classic pairing of peanut butter and honey, makes for a soft, chewy, moist, very sweet cookie. The generous amount of peanut butter ensures that they really do taste mostly like peanut, and if you fear that using shortening instead of butter will make them less tasty, keep in mind that the shortening is what allows them to be so soft and tender. With all the other stuff going on, you won't miss the butter.

If you use extra-fine shredded coconut and smooth peanut butter, you can make your cookies prettier, as they'll better hold the criss-cross pattern on after baking. Nonetheless, they'll taste good even if you don't bother. The dough is really easy to work with and freeze for later, as are the finished cookies. 

Peanut Butter Coconut Honey Cookies
Makes 24-30 cookies
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

1/3 C. Vegetable shortening
1/2 C. White sugar
1/4 C. Brown sugar
1/4 C. Honey
1 Egg, lightly beaten with a fork
3/4 C. Peanut butter, American style (made with roasted peanuts, not raw) (I used 'Earth Balance coconut and peanut spread')
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1 1/2 C. All purpose flour
1 Tsp. Baking soda
1/2 C. Shredded dessicated coconut

Preheat oven to 180℃. Line 2 baking trays with baking parchment.

Beat together the shortening, both sugars and honey with a stand mixer or a wooden spoon. Mix the egg and salt separately, then mix in. Add the peanut butter and mix until smooth and homogeneous. Sift in the flour and baking soda and mix well. Stir in the dessicated coconut at the end.

Refrigerate for around 20 minutes if the dough is too soft. Roll into 24-30 balls by hand and spread evenly on the baking pan. push them down with your palm until they are about 1 cm thick and use a fork to score the tops both vertically and horizontally to create a cross-hatch pattern. Sprinkle with additional sugar if desired.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until just the edges begin to brown. Let cool for about 15 minutes before removing from the trays.

White Chocolate Blondies with Matcha Swirls

This recipe was really, really popular at my lab. I was surprised myself with how good they were- you don't even need to do the usual brownie/blondie-making step of dissolving the eggs in the butter over boiling water. Instead, you use a can of sweetened condensed milk to give a nice, chewy texture. I love white chocolate in almost everything, and this a great way to showcase the flavour of a high-quality white chocolate.

I added matcha powder in a pretty swirly-pattern on top so that there'd be a little bitterness to balance out the intense sweetness. You can also use earl grey tea, cocoa or expresso powder to the same effect. You can also just skip the swirl and top with some powdered sugar.

White Chocolate Blondies with Matcha Swirls
From Broma Bakery

115 g. (1/2 C.) Butter
1 C. White chocolate, chopped (or good quality chips or pieces)
1 Egg
1 Can (14 Oz.) Sweetened condensed milk
2-3 Tsp. Vanilla extract
1/2-1 Tsp. Salt
1 1/2 C. All purpose or pastry flour
1 Tsp. Matcha powder

Preheat oven to 180℃. Grease and line an 8"x 8" or 9"x13" pan with buttered baking parchment.

Melt the butter in a microwaveable bowl or in a bain-marie and add the white chocolate. Heat until both are dissolved.

Let cool until just warm when the side of the bowl is touched. Whisk in the egg, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and salt.

Sift in the flour. Separate 1/4 of the batter and whisk in the matcha powder. Pour the plain batter into the pan first, then spoon 4-5 blobs of the matcha batter over the top and swirl with a fork, knife or chopstick until a nice swirly pattern forms.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, then remove and let cool at least 15 minutes before removing from the pan.