Coconut-Cranberry Chews

This past weekend was a realy cookie weekend.  My daughters both were invited to a cookie swap and had to have 7 1/2 dozen each.  So for the first cookie I made our family all time favorite:

Kody's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies. I replaced the chocolate chips with M&Ms.

Then I made another favorite:

Coconut-Cranberry Chews

1 1/2 cup butter -softened

2 cups sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

3 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup dried cranberrries ( this time I used Craisins)

1 1/2 cup coconut

Beat butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Beat in egg until well blended. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt.  Then add cranberries and coconut. Beat on low speed until dough comes together.  (dough will be crumbly- if too crumbly it needs to be mixed longer.)  Shape dough into one inch balls and place 2 inches apart. (I used the cookie scoop.) Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. You want the edges to just begin to turn brown. Let cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet before taking off to cool.

*you can also add 1 Tbsp. grated orange peel and or 3/4 cup more dried cranberries.

Then imagine how I felt when I saw this in my kitchen:

Three sixteen year old boys making more cookies for a cookie cook-off. I must admit I was a little nervous when I left to get them some pizza.  It all turned out well and they really did not leave me much of a mess.  They took the above recipe and substituted Heath Toffee Chips in place of the dried cranberries.  They turned out pretty good.  To their disappointment they were beat out by a peanut butter kiss variety (the kind they talked about making). I am impressed that they made them all by themselves and did not just use the ones I had leftover from the girls.

Check out some great holiday recipes at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tuesdays at the Table.