Long Time No See!

Hey gang!  Sorry for the radio silence but with the new job and lack of funds there have been no new projects for me to share.  Right now we are working on a plan to make a shelf in the laundry room and a bookcase in the study but until we have the funds to get all the materials those projects are waiting in the wings.  Its not really a bad thing though because my creative juices havent really been flowing lately and I havent been inspired by anything either :(

What I have been doing is cooking...probably too many desserts but who cares!!  To make up for the absence...(well not really since its just one dessert post, but its a good one) I want to share with you a cookie I made a while back and have been waiting to post about it.  These are tasty and light and not too terribly bad for you...as far as cookies go that is.  I think this is more a holiday time cookies, but I dont think any cookie (save eggnog cookies for obvious reasons) should only be made 1 time a year!!  I hope you try these and love them

Lemon-Coconut Snowballs

(A Myrecipies.com recipe)

Servings: 2dozen   Prep Time: 25min     Cook Time: 20min      Cool Time: 35min   Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients

·         1 cup unsalted butter, softened (if you only have salted butter just leave out the salt!)

·         1/2 cup powdered sugar

·         1 teaspoon coconut extract

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

·         1 1/2 tablespoons grated lemon rind (I used jarred since I dont keep fresh on hand and it worked fine)

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1 cup sweetened flaked coconut, lightly toasted

·         1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and extracts, beating well. Add flour, lemon rind, and salt, beating until combined. Stir in coconut. Cover and chill dough 30 minutes.

Shape dough into generous 1" balls; place 1" apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden on bottom, but pale on top. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool 5 minutes.

Place 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar in a bowl, and roll warm cookies in powdered sugar, coating well. Cool cookies completely on wire racks. Roll cooled cookies in powdered sugar again, coating well.

My husband took these to work and they liked them...not as much as my fantastically awesome sugar cookies but they did like them.  My problem when I made these was I cooked them about 2 minutes too long so they were a little dry.  In my opinion its better to cook a little less, you can always add more time later.  I also used my silicone baking sheets rather than the parchment paper so the bottoms didnt brown.  Nothing wrong with parchment paper I just prefer the silicone baking sheets for a more even color.  

I hope you enjoy these!!

-Rachael