My oh my, where has the time flown? I can’t believe it’s a new year! Things have been busy…I started working and am now the Sous Chef of Pastry at a local hotspot in Denver! Woohoo! Downside is I work at 5:30am. And say things like “hotspot”. Eek.
I’m loving being back in the kitchen though and am getting to experiment a bit. Which brings me to – Coconut and Red Bean cookies! Yum. I’ve been thinking about this recipe for our lunch takeaway dessert and I made them to try out with my family before I brought them to work. My mom hates coconut and my dad isn’t the most picky cookie eater, but I think they came out well. Want to try? Ok!
Here’s our cast of characters:
You’ll need:
12 oz. of room temp butter
8 oz. sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
1 lb flour
Pinch of salt
2 tblsp matcha powder
1 tblsp milk
Egg wash (2 eggs is about right…)
12 oz sweetened coconut flakes
Red bean paste
Your mom’s fancy silver mixer (any color works actually, I believe, though this theory is untested)
Its a super, super simple recipe. But yummy. So try it.
First off, pomade the butter in the mixer. Toss in the sugar. Well, pour it in nicely, tossing gets messy when you have to clean up.
Cream the two together. Add in the vanilla now too.
See? Creamed. Done.
Next, pour in the flour on low speed and mix until just combined. (Ready for this action shot? Exciting! You might not notice, but I’m pouring in flour on the left…AND taking a picture AND the machine is mixing! All at the same time! I’m impressed with me.)
The dough is pretty dry and crumbly. See? This is normal and totally ok. I promise.
So here’s where I experimented. I made half the batch plain, like this, and then made half the batch with matcha powder. The half with matcha was extra dry, so I added in about a tablespoon of milk to help the powder dissolve and help the dough not fall apart as I wrapped it around the red bean paste. I’ll get to that in a minute.
So, I used a size 50 scoop and this made 36 cookies. Not too shabby. I scooped all the dough out first. PS I love my scoop. Its super fun when you press the button and the dough pops out of the spoon. Love it. Little things, guys, little things…
These were the plain cookies above. And here are the matcha ones below. I love the green color, must say. Adds a little something when you get the coconut flake on there. And reminds me of Bob’s Kitchen in Paris and their matcha chocolate chip cookies…
And here’s a picture to show you they totally look different and that I’m not crazy or making things up.
Next up, grab a ball of dough and press it into your hand, leaving it in a cup-like form. That makes no sense, so here’s a visual.
My hands are really red, wow. Sorry.
So now, pop in about ½ teaspoon or so of red bean paste. Because its really yummy.
Then wrap the dough around the red bean paste. Since the dough is so crumbly, you have to be a bit careful. Basically you just tuck it in and make it all cozy in the dough.
Then roll it into a ball! Make sure you have some red bean paste on your big thumb if you decide to take a picture. Adds color and dimension.
When you’ve got all your dough wrapped around the yummy bean paste treat, set up your dipping station. Eggwash in one bowl, coconut flake in another.
Now you get messy. Grab the dough, dip it in the egg, then roll it around in the coconut flake and press gently. Your hand will also be coated in egg and coconut, so don’t touch other things unless you want them to be covered in that goo too. Its rather gross, but delicious when baked.
I like to press the ball down a bit before I bake it, to make it a disc, but you can leave it as a ball if you prefer. I will allow that, because I’m not a control freak about your cookies. Right now.
Here’s the matcha one – see? Especially pretty with the coconut! Yum! Ok, it actually kind of looks like flubber. But its good, I promise.
Place the parchment lined baking sheets with the cookies in a preheated 350°F oven (I mentioned all that before, right? Good, thanks, thought for a second I forgot to mention preheating and lining the sheets…), and bake for 15-20 minutes. The coconut will get browned and crispy and yummy.
And to see the yumminess inside, here you go:
At this point, you’re probably thinking: she just made mooncakes. Well, I kind of did. So what.
They aren’t super sweet, but they are really interesting with the crispy coconut, butter cookie and red bean paste center. Try them out and let me know what you think! I’m off to eat another one, just to make sure…
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