Coconut Cookies

These cookies are just delightful!  Crispy outside edges with chewy centers.  Big coconut flavor & nutty oatmeal texture.  I love these!  My mother used to make these when I was growing up and she recently gave me her old dog earred recipe card with the faded print and asked me to make them for her.  I enthusiastically baked them...and ate them!  I'm sure there will be some bakers who look at the fat in the recipe and cringe.  It's shortening.  Basic white Crisco.  I've tried making this same recipe with butter and it did NOT have the same result. They tasted good with butter but the texture was not what I was looking for.  The shortening really makes the edges crispy. If you can't bring yourself to use 2 whole cups of Crisco, maybe use 1/2 butter & 1/2 Crisco.

I baked these cookies longer than I normally would because I wanted to achieve the crisp edges that shatter when you bite into the cookie.  I made sure they were a deep golden brown before removing them from the oven.  The recipe calls for 4 cups of coconut but I had one of those large bags of Bakers coconut that was, I think, about 5 1/2 cups and I just added that whole bag.  I knew I wouldn't use the remaning 1 1/2 cups of coconut so I figured more was better in the cookies. The whole bag added was just fine - in fact, delicious. For those of you who love coconut, then please try these! You will love them!

Coconut Cookies
2 cups Crisco
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking soda
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups old fashion oats
4 cups coconut (I added about 5 1/2 cups & it was fine)

Oven 350 degrees
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl with an electric mixer.
Scoop the dough, about a tablespoon per cookie, onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake until edges are a deep golden brown.
Cookies are very soft & fragile when first emerging from the oven so I let the hot cookies sit for about 10 minutes before sliding the parchment paper, with cookies still on it, onto a cooling rack to cool completely.