Sweetheart Coconut Cookies
Quick Cooking
Ruby-red jam and colored sugar add a festive look to these crisp sandwich cookies that are perfect for Valentine's Day. "My husband loves coconut, so I'm always looking for new recipes to serve on his birthday or holidays," say Jo Ellen Helmlinger, Columbus, Ohio.
SERVINGS: 42
CATEGORY: Dessert
METHOD: Baked
TIME: Prep: 30 min. Bake: 10 min./batch
Ingredients:
- 1 cup flaked coconut
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup cold butter or margarine
- 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.