Dark Brown Sugar Coconut Oil Cookies

Dark Brown Sugar Coconut Oil Cookies - made dough August 2, 2014 from Averie Cooks

Another cookie from Averie Cooks that lured me into trying it because of how it looked on her blog. I’ve had good success with most of her cookie recipes coming out looking something like hers. But the discerning amongst you who click on the recipe title of this post to take you to Averie's post and pictures will want to tell me "uh, yours look nothing like hers." I know. At first I thought it was because I had baked them too long. In her recipe, she says to bake them for 8-10 minutes, preferring to go with the lower end as she assures that the cookies firm up as they cool. The first test cookie I baked still looked raw at 8 minutes so I let it bake for 12. It was still soft and gooey, not dry, but it didn’t look like hers; it had spread and smoothed out. So I baked off a full baking sheet of 8 cookies instead of just the 1 I did for the initial taste test. I almost took them out at 8 minutes but truly, they still looked raw in the middle. Not just underbaked but actually still cookie dough raw. I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t take them out. So I left them in an extra 2 minutes and took them out at the 10-minute mark. They still looked a bit raw in the center but I reasoned that’s how they were supposed to be and, once cool, perhaps they would be as Averie had made them on her blog.

I waited for them to cool then took a bite out of one cookie. The taste was there and while the cookie may not technically have still been raw, it was still more mushy than gooey (trust me, there’s a difference) and it just wasn’t the texture I wanted. I ended up popping them back into the oven and baking them an extra 5 minutes. At this point, they didn’t look like the ones on her blog at all but the taste was still good and I preferred the texture much better. It’s possible my coconut oil was just a tad too runny so maybe that’s why mine ended up the way it did at 8-10 minutes and spread more than hers did. Or her oven is much stronger than mine. I don’t know. I still thought these were good cookies though and worth making again. It’s like a gooey chocolate chip cookie without the chocolate chips but with the brown sugar flavor. Only better. For anyone who’s not a fan of coconut, don’t let the coconut oil ingredient put you off. Coconut oil has a very subtle flavor to begin with and it’s largely, if not entirely, masked by the dark brown sugar in the cookie.

Baked for only 10 minutes - still a bit raw and mushy

1/2 cup coconut oil, softened (softened to the consistency of soft butter; not rock hard and not runny or melted)
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsulphured mild to medium molasses
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons corn starch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt, optional and to taste

1. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine coconut oil, egg, sugar and beat on medium-high speed to cream until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes.
2. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the vanilla, molasses, and beat to incorporate, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the flour, corn starch, baking soda, optional salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
3. Using a medium cookie scoop, form mounds that are 2 heaping tablespoons in size. Cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 5 days. 
4. Preheat oven to 350°F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place dough on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until tops have just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center. They firm up as they cool.
5. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes before moving. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.