#CreativeCookieExchange Chocolate Coconut Oysters

I made these for a party, and they were huge hits! By making them proportional to the candy pearls, these were just about 1 inch in diameter- and bite sized. Everyone loved the bright flavors, and how tropical they tasted.

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Chocolate Do Almost Anything Cookie Dough
Adapted from Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan

4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 pound unsalted butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1.Sift the flour and cocoa together.
2.Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar and salt together on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and blend in the egg whites, followed by the vanilla. The dough might curdle, but it will smooth out with mixing and the addition of the flour.
3.Still working on low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 or 4 additions, beating only until the ingredients are almost incorporated before adding more; scrape down the bowl a couple of times as you work. Continue to mix until the dry ingredients have disappeared into the dough. Fold in the coconut.
4.Divide the dough into quarters and shape each piece into a disk. For regular cut-out cookies, place one dough disk between sheets of parchment paper and roll to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Slide the dough, still between the paper, onto a baking sheet — you can stack the slabs—and freeze for at least 1 hour, or refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
5.When you’re ready to bake, position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and heat it to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
6.Working with one disk at a time, peel away the paper on both sides; return the dough to one sheet. Use a 1-inch cookie cutter to cut out cookies; place them on the baking sheets about 1 inch apart. If you’d like to sprinkle the cut-outs with sanding sugar, now’s the time.
7.Bake the cookies for 12 to 18 minutes, rotating the sheets front to back and top to bottom after 10 minutes, or until they feel firm to the touch. Cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.
8.Repeat with the remaining dough, rolling, chilling and baking on cool baking sheets.

Pineapple Buttercream

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pound confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons pineapple juice
yellow food dye

Beat butter with confectioner’s sugar until fluffy, thin with pineapple juice as needed and color yellow to your liking.

Assembly:

Using a star piping tip, pipe buttercream onto one cookie and top with another at an angle. Place a candy “pearl” in the mouth of the oyster. Continue until all cookies are used.

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Summer means long lazy days, vacations, and if you are lucky, somewhere relaxing where you can put your feet up and and tune out for a while. Cookies can be the perfect snack any time of the day – yes, cookies for breakfast are a thing. Whether you bake up a quick batch whilst on vacation or decide to bring the dough with you ready-made, we’ve got a great list for you to choose from!

You can also use us as a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts (you can find all of them here at The Spiced Life). You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month! If you are a blogger and want to join in the fun, contact Laura at thespicedlife AT gmail DOT com and she will get you added to our Facebook group, where we discuss our cookies and share links.

Also, if you are looking for inspiration to get in the kitchen and start baking, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made:

• Chocolate Coconut Oysters with Pineapple Buttercream by Cream and Butter Blog
• Dulce de Leche Blondies by The Spiced Life
• Gluten Free Chewy Chocolate Chippers by What Smells So Good?
• Sand Dollar Snickerdoodles by All That’s Left Are The Crumbs
• Seagull Cookies by A Baker’s House
• Slice & Bake Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies 2 Cookin Mamas
• Starfish Cookies by Karen’s Kitchen Stories