In case you missed the 24 hour news coverage, New York got a little bit of snow for the first time this year. At some point during yesterday’s shift at my pastry internship, the pastry chef, sous chef, and I poked out heads out of the bulkhead from the basement kitchen and watched with delight as the first flakes fell down onto the sidewalk above. I spent the rest of the shift fantasizing about an evening holed up at home in my PJs, drinking red wine and watching the storm from the comfort of my couch.

After a long week, it feels really nice to be forced to hit the pause button and seal yourself away inside to hibernate and wait out the storm. I used this time to try out this pretty recipe, since neither rain nor snow is going to keep Christmas from coming, and I’ve got sweet (chewy, coco-nutty, fruity) promises to keep.

These cookies may look a little complex, but I promise that after you shape the first one or two you’ll get the hang of the folding coordination, and the rest will be a cinch. The addition of cream cheese in the dough makes them a little fussy to work with, so be sure that you keep the dough squares cold whenever you are not working with them. The pinwheels will hold their fun, ninja star look best if you allow them to chill right up to baking.

I chose to sacrifice a little of the beauty for flavor by applying the coconut layer on top of the pinwheel, rather than tucked under the points in the center, as the original directions say to do. Indeed, they look a bit more sloppy on top with the coconut and jam piled high, but doing it this way allows the outer coconut to toast in the oven, a flavor that I find irresistible.

You can make a very colorful plate with just these cookies alone when you use several kinds of jam, but they also are a welcome addition to a collection of cookies, delighting those who love the combination of coconut and fruit on your cookie tray.

Coconut Cream Cheese Pinwheels
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cookies

For dough:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 stick unsalted butter
3 ounces cream cheese
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

For filling:

3 ounces cream cheese
3 Tblsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup white chocolate chips

For finishing:

Egg wash (one egg + one yolk + pinch of salt)
Raw or sanding ugar for sprinkling
1/3 cup fruit jam

Whisk together flour, sugar and baking powder in a bowl. Cream butter and cream cheese on medium-high until fluffy and very light in color. Add egg and vanilla. Reduce mixer speed to low, then add flour mixture. Mix until just combined, taking care not to over-mix.

Divide the dough into half, then pat into disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Mix cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Fold in coconut and white chocolate.

Remove dough from refrigerator. Roll out about 1/4 inch thick on lightly floured surface. This dough is very fragile and fussy. I found it most effective to make only a few at a time, returning the unused dough to the fridge each time to firm up. Cut dough into squares using square cookie cutter (preferably fluted cutter) or a knife. Place the squares on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Cut four diagonal slits, one at each corner of the square, leaving a circle of dough in the center of the square with no cuts. Fold alternating points of these cuts into the middle of the square, forming a pinwheel. Place the shaped pinwheels on parchment -lined baking sheets. Spoon a small amount of the coconut filling on top of the center of the cookies and flatten it out with a spoon.

Lightly brush tops of pinwheels with egg wash. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for 6 minutes.Remove the trays from the oven and use the back of a spoon to create small wells in the coconut filling. Spoon a small amount of the jam into each well. Return to oven and bake for another 6 minutes until edges are golden and cookies are slightly puffed.

Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature for up to 3 days.

I’ve been on a baking binge for the holidays and I can’t seem to stop. It may be the four pounds of dark chocolate I bought at Jacques Torres that is giving me the choco-pneumonia and the coco-loco flu. These decadent macaroons are another installment in the parade of chocolate creations (see: Chocolate Salted Caramels, THE New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie, and Coconut Oatmeal Lace Cookies) for this holiday season. Making macaroons for yesterday’s Hanukkah dinner with Brian’s family seemed like a no-brainer, as Brian insisted that they are his mother’s favorite. I had not originally intended for them to be chocolate, but after a little goof on my part, it became necessary. With that said, these were really very good.

With macaroons, the egg whites are the glue that hold everything together. The eggs will go from the foamy liquid that you see above to…

…a stiffer foam that holds medium peaks in the bowl. You’ve beaten them too much if they resemble cotton balls that a light breeze could carry away.

No yolks in this recipe, but do try to do all of your baking together, as you may have an opportunity to use them for something else. I save mine covered in tupperware in the fridge.

Add sweetened condensed milk to sweetened coconut flakes and mix well. The mixture will get very heavy and sticky.

Carefully fold in the beaten egg whites.

Drop the raw macaroons onto parchment or silicone-lined baking sheets. Note the ring of liquid around the base of mine – this is more liquid than you want in your macaroons. The reason that this is happening here is that I was about a cup shy on the coconut and tried to compensate by using complimentary ratios of the other ingredients. I was slightly off, which caused some egg and condensed milk to cook around the edges. I decided to try to salvage the batch by baking these almost all the way, then cutting the edges off and returning them to the oven to bake. This worked perfectly and the macaroons came out moist and just right. (sorry, it was an emergency situation that I didn’t photograph).

Unfortunately, the end result looked less than pretty around the base. And so, when faced with ugly macaroon bases, the answer became clear.

What’s good for stress, PMS, and pairs perfectly with Cabernet also does wonders for ugly macaroons.

Be sure to put these on a parchment lined baking sheet in the freezer to set the chocolate. They were delicious and a huge hit at dessert time.

Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons
Adapted from Ina Garten’s recipe for Coconut Macaroons in Barefoot Contessa Family Style

Ingredients

14 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon pure almond extract (original recipe uses vanilla)

2 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

6 oz 60% cacao chocolate

Get yourself a hat and hold the heck onto it! When messing around tonight in my kitchen experimenting with entry ideas for my office Iron Chef: Holiday Cookie Battle, I finally got around to this recipe, and I don’t care what Gourmet says, this is actually the best cookie of 2008.  

These cookies are nearly flourless and rely on a buttery, caramel-y, coconut-y glue to hold them together. They are crispy all over and just beautiful – and that’s just the cookie – I haven’t even started to talk about the chocolate.

No worries if you do not have the official equipment, as you can see I make double-broilers out of my pots and bowls just fine. Just be careful and remember, there is near-boiling water under those top bowls (yes, I speak from experience – youch!)

Melt the butter, salt, and brown sugar in a bowl over a pot of hot water on low heat.

Mix the coconut, oatmeal, and flour into the melted butter mixture.

Drop tablespoons of the dough onto a large cookie sheet. I found that these came out best when I flattened the drops a bit. Also make sure to keep these at least two inches apart.

These took about 17 minutes to fully caramelize in my oven. Watch them carefully as they may take less or more in yours. Let them cool throughly before decorating. The smell of these is just intoxicating.

Chop your chocolate into small pieces.

Melt the chocolates in separate double broiler setups.

Stir the chocolate to keep it from burning.

(I couldn’t decide which chocolate I liked better, so I had to show both – gratuitous chocolate scene)

I used a nifty silicone drizzler tool that was a gift from Brian’s sister to drizzle the chocolate, and it worked great. If you do not have one of these, Gourmet recommends using a heavy duty ziploc bag with the corner cut off. 

In case you couldn’t tell, this part is a whole lot of fun!

Freeze these to set the chocolate. These cookies are so delicious I cannot even describe – you just need to make them yourself. They are my new favorite cookie ever. Ever. EVER! 

Coconut Oatmeal Lace Cookies
Adapted from Gourmet, December 2008 

For cookies:

1 stick unsalted butter

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

For decorating:

3 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped and melted

3 ounces fine-quality white chocolate, finely chopped and melted

Equipment: 2 (17-by 11-inch) nonstick bakeware liners such as Silpats; 2 heavy-duty sealable bags

Make cookies
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Line 2 large baking sheets with nonstick liners.

Melt butter with brown sugar and salt in a metal bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring occasionally. Stir in coconut, oats, and flour until just combined. Remove pot from heat but keep batter warm over pot (so batter is easier to spread).

Drop rounded teaspoons of batter at least 3 1/2 inches apart on 1 baking sheet and spread each to about 2 inches with an offset spatula or back of a spoon (This blogger flattened each drop for more even cooking). Bake until cookies are bubbling and golden brown, 8 to 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet on a rack until firm, 3 to 4 minutes, then transfer cookies to rack to cool completely. Form and bake more cookies on second baking sheet (wipe liners clean and cool between batches).

Decorate with chocolate
Cool melted chocolates slightly. Transfer each to a sealable bag and snip a 1/16-inch opening at a corner of each bag. Put some of cooled cookies on a parchment-lined tray that will fit in freezer, then pipe chocolates decoratively over cookies. Freeze 2 to 3 minutes to set chocolate, then carefully remove cookies from parchment.

Cooks’ note:

Cookies keep, layered between parchment in an airtight container, at cool room temperature 1 week.