Coconut Cranberry Chews

 

I made these coconut cranberry chews around the holidays; I’d heard about them on Spilled Milk, because the wife of one of the hosts has made every cookie in this Sunset holiday collection from December 2001, and the coconut cranberry chews had been the grand prize winner. I made a half recipe and got 18 cookies out of it. Maybe the ratio of butter to flour was a bit off, because I found these cookies a bit too crumbly. And they actually made me feel like they should have pecans as well, which is not something I say often! They were really good, though, and the orange zest was a great touch.

about 1 ½ cups (¾ lb.) lactose-free butter or margarine, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp. grated orange peel
2 tsp. vanilla
3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 ½ cups dried cranberries
1 ½ cups sweetened flaked dried coconut

In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat 1 ½ cups butter, sugar, orange peel, and vanilla until smooth.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture, stir to mix, then beat on low speed until dough comes together, about 5 minutes. Mix in cranberries and coconut.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on buttered 12- by 15-inch baking sheets (I lined mine with a silpat). I would recommend flattening the cookies a bit before baking.

Bake in a 350 °F regular or convection oven until cookie edges just begin to brown, 8 to 11 minutes (shorter baking time will yield a chewier cookie; longer baking time will yield a crispier cookie). If baking two sheets at once in one oven, switch their positions halfway through baking. Let cookies cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide spatula to transfer to racks to cool completely.