Sweetheart Coconut Cookies Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup cold butter
• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• GLAZE:
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Red colored sugar, optional
• 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

Directions

• Place coconut and sugar in a food processor; cover and process until coconut is coarsely chopped. In a large bowl, cut butter into flour until crumbly. Stir in coconut mixture. Stir in eggs and vanilla.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a 2-1/2-in. heart-shaped cookie cutter dipped in flour. Using a 1-in. heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out the center of half of the cookies. Reroll small cutouts if desired. Place solid and cutout cookies 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 7-9 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks.
• In a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, water and vanilla; brush over warm cookies with cutout centers. Immediately sprinkle with colored sugar if desired. Spread 1/2 teaspoon of jam over the bottom of each solid cookie; place cookies with cutout centers over jam. Yield: about 3-1/2 dozen.

Sweetheart Coconut Cookies published in Quick Cooking January/February 2004, p45