Coconut Island Cookies
By Yankee Magazine|Oct 04 2007|
An elegant, tender, fragrant cookie with a lovely not-too-sweet frosting that starts out soft, then forms a light, thin crust when dry. A one cup container of sour cream divides nicely between the two parts of this cookie.
Yield
Makes 4 dozen 2-1/2-inch cookies.
Ingredients
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 pound butter or margarine
1 egg
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup strong coffee
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Heaping 1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla
Coconut Island Icing
Instructions
Cream sugar, butter, and egg. Melt chocolate and coffee together. Cool, add to sugar mixture, and beat well. Add dry ingredients, then sour cream, coconut, and vanilla. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 13 minutes. Do not overbake. Frost with Coconut Island Icing (below).
Coconut Island Icing
Ingredients
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
Scant 1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 to 3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 to 2 teaspoons milk
Coconut, for garnish
Instructions
Mix all but coconut together and spread on cookies. Sprinkle with shredded coconut.
My grandmother made these for my uncle in the late 50’s and early 60’s and sent them to him when he was in the Navy on the USS Essex and USS Intrepid; as they held up very well when shipped. I remember sitting with her wrapping each cookie individually.
These cookies were a winning recipe in the Pillsbury bake-off in the 1950’s. They were submitted to the contest by a Catholic nun. Our family made these at Christmas for decades. The recipe was lost when my parents passed and my Mother’s cookbooks were sold. I’ve been looking for the recipe for a decade.