Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

These cookies come from a good friend of mine who grew up eating them. Her mom got the recipe from a neighbor in Massachusetts over 35 years ago. Now that's a longstanding recipe!

I decided to whip some up on a whim and realized I was out of white sugar. Since the recipe called for both brown and white sugar, I decided to use all brown. I then figured if I was going to alter the recipe a little, I might as well play around with it a lot since they weren't going to be identical to the original recipe anyways.

I substituted some of the white flour for whole wheat flour and substituted half of the shortening called for with applesauce. Since I didn't have the white sugar, I used 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar, but that batch was quite sweet. So I ended up making a second batch just to test it with less brown sugar, and cut it down to a cup. Honestly, I think I could even cut maybe 1/4 cup more out and these would still be great. I was lazy and didn't roll these into balls, just dropped by spoonfuls onto the baking sheet.

Personally, I think these cookies were fantastic - even with the changes I made. Sometime I'll do a side-by-side with the original, which I included below, and see if I did them justice.

Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

by KK's mom, adapted by Vivi

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In large bowl, combine these ingredients to a liquid consistency (I used a pastry cutter to mash it all up, my friend uses a potato masher):

1/3 C shortening

1/3 C unsweetened applesauce
1 C light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

In smaller bowl, combine these dry ingredients:
1 C unbleached white flour

3/4 C whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Gradually add dry mixture into wet until all are mixed.

Add these remaining ingredients:
2 C oatmeal (Quaker Oats Old Fashioned Oatmeal - NOT instant)
1 C coconut flakes (I only had sweetened on hand)
Drop by tablespoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake for 8-9 minutes. Makes 5-6 dozen. These freeze great!

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ORIGINAL RECIPE

Oatmeal Coconut Cookies - aka Peter's or Fishing cookies

by KK's mom

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In large bowl, combine these ingredients to a liquid consistency (I used a potato masher on the first three and then add the last two with a spoon):

2/3 C shortening

1 C sugar

1 C brown sugar

2eggs

2 tsp vanilla

In smaller bowl, combine these dry ingredients:

1 3/4 C flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Gradually add dry mixture into wet until all are mixed (it'll get sticky towards the end).

Add these remaining ingredients and mix with hands:

2 C oatmeal (Quaker Oats Old Fashioned Oatmeal - NOT instant)

1 C coconut flakes

Roll into balls. Lightly grease pans (seems to work best for me when I do this). Bake for 10 minutes. Makes 5-6 dozen