Coconut Thins

For reasons I cannot begin to explain, I have always been an early riser. I have several memories from when I was very young of being up at 6 am, before the good cartoons were on and long before my sister (with whom I shared a room) would be active. So I would sit on the floor, reading by the scant rays cast from the nightlight, until the rest of the world came to life. And to think, I was surprised when I found I needed to get glasses!

At the time, I felt there was no reason for me to have such a natural inclination to be awake when everyone else was still pulling the covers over their heads to keep the sunlight out. Perhaps waking early as an adult had its advantages, but as a kid, it seemed mostly to be a curse. That is, until the day I was vindicated by a cold, hard truth of baking: if you want to buy the freshest, most delicious goods, you need to be the first one through the bakery door. You don't have to have ever baked in your life to know the difference between a donut bought and eaten and 8 a.m. versus one attained in the afternoon -- or worse, one bought in the morning and sitting in the open air in the pink bakery box with the lid ajar.

And suddenly, life was clear. Lucky for me, my parents are both fairly early risers (and definite breakfast enthusiasts), and soon a world of donuts, bagels, and other baked morning delights revealed itself to me. I often think that there are few greater joys than being in charge of the tongs as you load piece upon piece of fresh, fragrant pan dulce onto the metal tray being held by an accommodating parent -- or, as you get older, significant other. Or anyone willing to put up with the task.

So perhaps being up with the sun wasn't so bad after all. Nowadays, I take advantage of the time even further, and set out a few sticks of butter to rest and begin to soften as I go about my breakfasting and other chores. By late morning, my ingredients are all ready for me to begin concocting baked goods of my own, and the coconut cookies highlighted below were the product of one such recent venture. They are light and buttery, with the coconut flavor as more of a hint to your tastebuds as opposed to a frank statement. If you're a coconut fan, I would recommend remedying this subtlety by adding 1 tsp of coconut extract, and/or toasting the coconut a bit before using it. All in all though, a delicious product of an "oh-dark-thirty" investment.

But if you yourself are not an early riser, don't despair. Waking up at obscene hours every day, or even every weekend day, may not be worth it for everyone. Just once in a while, when you're really seeking something special to make leaving your bed worth it, design upon your favorite breakfast bakery and set an alarm. Because I don't care what Benjamin Franklin says -- in my book, "Early to bed and early to rise... yields both tasty donuts and bags 'neath your eyes."

Coconut Thins
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated "Cookies" Magazine (called Coconut Sables there, but I didn't think the name quite fit for what the recipe produced)
Yields about 80 2-inch cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/2 oz (2/3 cup) finely ground almonds
2 1/2 oz (1 cup) unsweetened shredded coconut (can be found at Whole Foods and other health stores)
10 oz. (2 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour 10 oz.
(20 TBS) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
5 oz. (1 1/3 cups) confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp table salt
1 large egg, at room temperature

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, blend the almonds, coconut, and flour; set aside.

2. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer), beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the contectioners' sugar and salt; mix on medium-low speed until thoroughly combined, about 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed.

3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the egg and the vanilla; mix until incorporated.

4. Turn off the mixer and switch to using a wooden spoon to slowly add the flour mixture (in three parts) and mix until the dough just comes together.

5. Portion the dough into three equal pieces. Roll each piece between two sheets of wax paper to about 1/8 inch think. Transfer the dough, still between the parchment, to baking sheets and chill in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

6. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. When the dough is quite firm, peel off the top sheet of wax paper and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter. Lay the cookies 1/2 inch apart on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Reroll the scraps, chilling first if necessary.

7. Bake the cookies, one tray at a time on a rack in the center of the oven, until light and golden around the edges (8-10 minutes), rotating the sheet halfway through. Let stand on the baking sheet until cool enough to handle (about 10 minutes) and then transfer the cookies to a rack to finish cooling.

Chocolate-Dipped Espresso Shortbread

There are many epic mysteries floating around the universe when you're very young. Why do grown-ups think that by spelling out a word, I'm not going to know what it means? Why does everyone hate politicians? But perhaps the most fascinating question of all for little me was this: How can any adult possibly be unhappy, with all the mail they receive?

Every day I would come home and empty the mailbox and place what seemed to be an enormous stack of envelopes on the table, all addressed to my parents, and sigh with envy. How popular they must be! And even when my dad explained that most of it was junk and bills, some part of me didn't believe that any mail could be a source of stress rather than joy.

The foundation of this misconception was, of course, the Valentine's day ritual where each of us were required to assemble small makeshift mailboxes to place on our desks to house all the wonderful Valentines. Sure, you ended up with an assortment of storebought pieces of cardboard with various pop culture emblems on them, but sometimes people wrote personal notes! And even better than knowing that I was nice, good at math, or shared my lunch with people .... was getting those envelopes with a bulge in them for the candy stuffed in!

So for those of you who appreciated the Valentine sweets as much as I did, below are two Valentine cookie recipes. May everyone get much love -- and much mail!

The recipe for the sugar cookies can be found here -- I simply replaced one of the tsp of vanilla with lemon extract and added the zest of one lemon.

Chocolate-Dipped Espresso Shortbread

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated Cookie magazine

Yields about 4 dozen small heart-shaped cookies

For the cookies:
1/2 lb (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. table salt
10 oz (2 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
1 TBS espresso powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F and place one rack in the middle of the oven.

1. In a large bowl, place the flour and the espresso powder and combine using a wire whisk. Set aside.

2. Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer), combine the butter, sugar, and salt on low speed until the butter combines with the sugar but isn't perfectly smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Add in the vanilla extract and combine briefly.

3. Add the flour and espresso powder mixture to the wet ingredients in 3 parts, stirring until just combined using a wooden spoon -- do not overmix.

4. On a lightly floured surface or a large piece of wax paper, knead the dough once or twice to bring together. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough to be about 1/4-inch thick, turning the dough occasionally to ensure it does not stick to the surface.

5. Use a cookie cutter (lightly floured, if necessary) to cut the dough into shapes and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, ~ 2 inches apart or slightly less, depending on the size of your cutouts. Make sure to use only one sized cutter for one baking sheet full of cookies to ensure even baking.

6. Bake the cookies until golden on the bottom and edges and pale to golden on top, 20-30 minutes to an hour (I did my first check at 10, to rotate the pan -- this may vary for you depending on the oven). These cookies are done when the tops look dry and the color has darkened slightly. Follow the same rolling, cutting, and baking procedure for the rest of the dough and place cookies on racks to cool.

7. Once the cookies have cooled, set a sheet of parchment or waxed paper on a work surface. Put the chocolate and shortening in a small heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Melt the chocolate, stirring, until it's smooth.

8. Dip half of each cookie into the chocolate. Set the cookies on the parchment and let the chocolate set up at room temperature, about 2 hours (do not skimp on this time or you will have a Valentine mess!)