These days I languish

I really haven't been feeling very human of late. I'm usually a pretty energetic person, and even though I do enjoy more than a few time-sucking television programs, I like to think that I am industrious. That I get stuff done. That, like the lady in the Cake song with the short skirt and the long jacket, I am touring the facility and picking up slack. House stuff. Cooking and baking stuff. Gardening stuff. I used to sit down only rarely on the weekends, instead moving from task to task, edging flower beds and baking bread and transplanting tomato seedlings, making my little corner of the world a little bit nicer for myself, Husband and pup Jet.


But these days I languish. I can rarely stay awake through an entire episode of CSI: NY, let alone bake a hearth bread. Husband keeps reminding me that although I might not actively realize it, I am doing quite a lot of work -- growing a small human and all. I wasn't prepared for what an exhausting task that truly is. So I try to feel righteous in my sloth, deserving of my time in the reclining chair. But it's not who I am. So I go a little stir crazy. And complain that I'm wasting too much time! There's too much work to be done! Patient Husband, who is so helpful and kind as to nearly achieve martyrdom status, talks me down every time. He is a good man.

Take for example Saturday night. It was about 7:30 p.m. and I was complaining about how I felt I hadn't gotten anything done that day. I should just go to bed, I whined. Husband said, "Why don't you bake something? I'll help you." He was so cute and earnest I couldn't turn him down.

"Would you make toasted coconut and chocolate chip cookies with me?" I replied, sheepishly.

He immediately got to work chopping chocolate.


These cookies are super easy to make, perfect if you're feeling lazy but would still like a home-baked treat to top off a lazy, rainy Saturday. They're chock full of toasty coconut and 70% cacao chocolate (I actually doubled the amount of chocolate from the original recipe, which seemed very very skimpy indeed). And they come from a Cooking Light article about how dark chocolate and coconut can now be considered to contain the "good" version of saturated fat. They are healthy! In moderation! (Whatever.)

So my goodness, people. Bake and eat up.



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TOASTED COCONUT CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES
Adapted from Cooking Light


It makes every bit of sense in the world to me to double this recipe. It only makes about 20 cookies as is, and I see no reason to have 20 cookies when you could easily have 40.


1 c. flaked sweetened coconut
4.5 oz. all-purpose flour (about 1 c.)
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1/8 t. kosher salt
3/4 c. light brown sugar, packed
1/4 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 t. vanilla extract
1 large egg
4 oz. dark chocolate (70% cacao), coarsely chopped


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread the coconut on a baking sheet and toast in the oven, stirring every few minutes, for 7-10 minutes, or until the coconut is a toasty shade of light brown. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. (Leave the oven at 350 degrees.)


In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir with a whisk until blended. Place the brown sugar and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat with the paddle attachment at medium speed until well-combined. Beat in the vanilla and egg. Add the flour mixture and beat at low speed until combined. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, stir in the toasted coconut and chopped chocolate.


Using a spring-loaded ice cream scoop (or rounded tablespoons), drop the batter onto a Silpat- or parchment-lined baking sheet. Make sure the cookies are 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through the baking. Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for about 2 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool.


Makes about 20 cookies.


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Previously, on A Stove With A House Around It:

One year ago: potato-leek soup
Two years ago: lemony lima bean, chickpea and zucchini salad