Confession- there has not been a trip to the grocery store in the last two months that I have not bought a cooking magazine, mostly from the cookie category. Every year the same thing- that one to five minutes spent waiting in the darn check out line is just too long to resist. Holiday baking- I love it, the search for that perfect gem of a cookie. This year I participated again in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap along with over hundreds of other participants (search #FBCookieSwap to find mouth-watering cookies to bake or torture yourself with). The cookie swap was all to raise money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, over $13,778.40 was raised!

Martha Stewart contributed to the cookies I sent- after an evening of heated debate and taste testing these were the winners that I was going to ship and bake.

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup packed light-brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon coarse salt
• 2 cups white-chocolate chunks (about 9 ounces)
• 1 ¾ cups sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 ¾ cups coarsely chopped walnuts (about 6 ounces)

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Mix in eggs, 1 at a time. Stir in vanilla.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Mix into butter mixture on low speed until well combined. Stir in chocolate, coconut, and walnuts.

Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop batter onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Flatten slightly. Bake until set, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 2 minutes. Transfer cookies on parchment to racks to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 week.

We totally lucked out this year with our cookie swaps- all three of the cookies received were out of this world- so ummm, umm good!   Cranberry Orange White Chocolate Cookies from Stephanie at 52 Kitchen Adventures were Sir Wes’s favorite- he “allowed” me to have a couple.  Kate at Fleur-De-Licious sent Ginger Crinkle Cookies, which I am wondering if she knew about my ginger devotion- so yum!  And lucky for me, Sommer, of A Spicy Perspective, could not decide what cookie to send so we got both Sour Cream Whoopie Pies with Chocolate Hazelnut Filling and Tangerine Shortbread with Chocolate Drizzle.  Love that I found another indecisive lady in the kitchen!

Thanks to Lindsey and Julie for organizing such a fun way to “Bake-Back” to a great cause! If you want more mouth watering temptation follow their blogs!  Also to the sponsors of The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, OXO, Dixie Crystals, Gold Medal Flour, and Grandma’s Molasses!