Me Old. You Younger. Ugh *Beats Head With Club*

Chewy Coconut Lime Cookies

I’m 47 years old. I’ll be 48 in August. A bit longer in the tooth than the vast majority of food bloggers. And non food bloggers. And much of the population of the Earth. And many outlying planets.

Erhmmm, moving on. I’m older than you. And you. And you. And…oh God, not you… you’re older than God. Get your glasses and Geritol!

Did I mention that moving on thing? Yeah. Sorry. Let’s try that again.

My frame of reference in many ways is far different than that of many of the food bloggers. When they were born, I was in high school. When they were in high school, I was married with at least one kid. So musical tastes, books in some cases, movies, TV shows, etc etc, are going to be far removed from those of many. Sometimes, this leads me to feeling pretty darn out of the loop lol. People will mention books, songs, TV shows, movies, what have you that either I have never heard of or have no interest in because it’s just too young for me. In explanation to anyone who may think I am being snooty there, not at all. I grew up when there were 5 TV channels, as well as movies being a lot…tamer, for lack of a better word. So a lot of the more wild movies (musicians, songs, TV shows ) turn me off. I’m 47 going on 95 😛

But I’ve always loved how some of the above things cross generational boundaries with no problem. I mean, 27 or 47, you’ve heard of the show “Little House On The Prairie”. You’ve heard of and probably jokingly head bang along with the song “Bohemian Rhapsody”. You’ve heard of the movie “Gone With The Wind”. Am I right?

And this song coming up here is one that I think everybody knows for one reason or another. Maybe you’re old like me and remember when the song came out originally (Harry Nilsson sang it). Maybe you first heard it sung by The Baja Men or when Kermit The Frog sang it on the Muppet Show 😀 (I love the Kermit version hehe) But finding someone who has never heard at least the key parts of it would be difficult, methinks.

So whenever I make anything that has Lime and Coconut in it, this song comes into my mind and I find myself singing it (and wanting a nice Caribbean drink) as I cook. And since the lime coconut combo is a favorite of mine, I sing this often enough that I should probably be put away somewhere safe. With padded walls. And cable TV in my room. And nice sleepy meds. And someone bringing me my food. Hell, this is starting to sound good. Sign me up!

So when I found this cookie recipe on The Girl Who Ate Everything I knew I had to try it. It looked oh so yummy. But… yes there is usually a but with me. You know this. But…I don’t care for the texture of coconut IN baked goods. I never have. Something about coconut in foods, these long strings, is too reminiscent of finding a hair in my food lol. So I had to change that. I have no problem with the coconut being ON foods, so that’s how I did this. Where she calls for rolling the cookie dough in sugar, I chose to roll it in a mix of sugar and sweetened flaked coconut. I got the coconut flavor IN the cookie by adding a teaspoon of coconut extract. It worked quite well.

These are some pretty good sugar cookies. Nice and chewy and the coconut flavor is nice. The lime flavor isn’t as strong as I’d like but that could just be me. I’m a total lime fanatic. Next time, and there will be a next time, if I’m feeling ambitious, I may make a glaze with white chocolate and lime juice in it to bring out the lime more. But in the meantime, I’m gonna go eat another cookie. Go make some so you can too.

Walks away singing, “She put da lime in da coconut; she drank dem both up” â™ªâ™ªâ™ª

Chewy Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies

2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
4 teaspoons lime zest
3 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 to 3/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes for rolling the cookies in
1/2 cup sugar for rolling the cookies in

Preheat oven to 350. Either line your cookie sheets with parchment paper or use a silpat.
In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add in the lime zest, lime juice, egg and extracts.
Gradually add in the dry ingredients.
Mix together your coconut flakes and the other 1/2 cup sugar in a small bowl.
Take about a teaspoonful of dough and roll it into a ball. Then roll that bad boy around in the coconut/sugar mixture.
Bake on lined pans in a 350 degree oven until just lightly browned. This took 9 minutes in my oven.
Let stand for a minute or so on the cookie sheet then let them finish cooling on a wire rack. If you can make it that long.