Flamingo Musings

Cooking, Canning, Baking - It's All Kosher

Coconut Orange Snowball Cookies

Welcome to Day 8 of The 12 Days of Cookies! Again, we (no, not the royal “we” – the group) are baking 12 cookies in 12 days from the Bon Appétit 2008 Holiday Cookie-a-Day collection. Why, yes, we are insane. Thanks for asking.

My offering today is a fairly simple recipe, and really delicious. Oh, and if it hasn’t snowed in your area yet, we can fix that – just watch the powdered sugar fly!

First the recipe, then my notes.

Coconut Orange Snowballs

Ingredients:

 

  • 1 1/4 cups sweetened flaked coconut
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar (sifted, then measured)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3/4 teaspoon coconut extract
  • 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange peel
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake coconut on rimmed baking sheet until light golden, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes.

Using electric mixer, beat butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and both extracts in bowl to blend well. Beat in flour, orange peel, and salt. Stir in coconut. Cover and chill at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. Soften dough slightly before shaping.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Using 1 level tablespoon dough for each cookie, roll dough between palms of hands into balls. Place on prepared sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake until golden on bottom but pale on top, about 18 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks; cool 5 minutes. Place remaining 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar in bowl. Roll hot cookies in powdered sugar, covering completely. Cool cookies on rack. Roll cookies in powdered sugar again, coating generously. (Can be made 5 days ahead. Store airtight between sheets of waxed paper at room temperature.)

Notes:

Living in the tropics, I was ready for something a little lighter and more tropical, after all the cranberries, nuts, and chocolate.

I really liked this recipe. The cookies are light and crisp, and for a change, I’m really tasting the orange. Which is a little unexpected, when you consider all the toasted coconut and coconut extract. But the coconut flavor is a mild backdrop to the orange in this one, and I think the combination really works.
My only changes were: 1) I reduced the baking time to 15 minutes, because I baked them in convection mode. I could have probably made it 14 minutes, but they were fine. And 2) I just dropped them into the powdered sugar hot off the baking sheets, rather than giving them the initial 5 minutes cooling-off time in the recipe. By the time they all got their primer coats, they were nice and cooled and ready for their second coats.


Please visit my partners in holiday baking, below, and see what they’ve got in store for you. And don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the ninth installment! (I should live so long.)

Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes (honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook
Judy of No Fear Entertaining
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
RJ of Flamingo Musings (hey! that’s me!)
Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project

Reader Interactions

Comments

  6. I like the picture–very festive. =) I love snowballs, but hate coconut, so I won't be making these. I do the same thing as you with the powdered sugar, though. First dunk while hot, then a second coat when cool. A few cookies always break, but hey, gotta make sure they taste okay, right? =P

  7. Primer coats! hahahaha. Love it. Not quite tropical with all of our much needed rain, but I more than welcome the "snow" from these wonderful cookies. I agree that the orange is what comes through in flavor.

  8. We are having our first blizzard and now it's sleeting so I qualify for having my fair share of snow but I think I might prefer the sugar snow instead!