Coconut Oat Cookies

a place for your pantry odds and ends

My heart is breaking for the devastation happening in LA this week. Please consider donating to Mutual Aid LA, World Central Kitchen, or Baby2Baby for fire relief. There are also innumerable GoFundMes for families that lost absolutely everything. Please feel free to share any organizations in the comments of this post as well.

Are you like me, and have a bunch of odds and ends in your pantry? Is one of your New Year’s resolutions to organize your pantry and deal with all of those little bits and pieces that are floating around? Maybe its a handful of nuts or a few dried figs, a lonely date or two waiting for its fate. These cookies are just the place for all those little bits you have lying around.

I realize they don’t look like much: vaguely golden and nubbly, but behind that humble appearance is an absolutely delicious cookie. They are caramelized and chewy, packed with fruit and nuts and oats, and just enough salt to make the rest of the ingredients sing. They are sturdy and would hold up well in lunchboxes, or your purse or your pocket if you need a snack on the run, and they get chewier and more delicious the longer you have them lying around.

The base of the cookies is the ingredients in order, down to the rolled oats, but everything else is interchangeable. Skip the coconut if you don’t like it, use any dried fruit or citrus zest or nuts you have around. Add some chocolate chips or chopped chocolate. This amount of dough can take about 1 cup of mix-ins so feel free to divide that cup however you like. 

I found myself with 2 pounds of sliced almonds after the holidays so I used those and a few currants that were slowly desiccating in my pantry. Here are some more ideas to get you started:

• Cranberries, Pecans, Orange Zest

• Figs, Walnuts, Lemon Zest

• Blueberries, White Chocolate, Lime Zest

• Raisins, Pecans, Lemon Zest

• Apricots, Almonds, Orange Zest

• Cherries, Dark Chocolate, Pistachios

Pantry Cookies (Coconut Oat Cookies)

Yield: 22 cookies

Time: 20 minutes 

1/2 cup/113 grams unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup/150 grams light brown sugar

1/4 cup/75 grams mild honey

1 tablespoon water

2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)

1 1/4 cups/160 grams all purpose flour

1/2 cup/50 grams old fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup/45 grams unsweetened finely shredded coconut

1/3 cup/50 grams dried currants

1/3 cup/50 grams sliced almonds

1. Heat oven to 350ºF and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, combine the melted butter, brown sugar, honey, water, grapefruit zest, and vanilla. Whisk until emulsified, about 30 seconds.

3. Whisk in the baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

4. Add the flour, oats, coconut, currants, and almonds. Fold until well combined.

5. Use a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop or heaping tablespoon to portion the dough into 22 cookies, 11 on each sheet. Press the cookies down gently with your hands or a flat bottomed glass.

6. Bake the cookies until golden brown, 14 to 16 minutes. Switch the pans from top to bottom halfway through baking. 

7. Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheets. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.