Congrats To A Favorite!!

I have admired Rachel's blog, Coconut & Lime, ever since I can remember. And, her Four-Year blogiversary is coming up. In honor of that, she's hosting a Blogiversary Contest! (details: http://coconutlime.blogspot.com/2008/05/blogiversary-contest.html) Of course, as an admirer, I couldn't NOT participate, she has come up with 700 original recipes!

I thought long and hard about this one. What makes me think of Rachel's blog. Well, the first thing I made from her list of recipes were her Rum & Coke cupcakes. I've actually made them several times, so I thought I might make cupcakes. But, I'm pretty much known to bake cupcakes quite frequently, and lately I've been in sort of a cookie rut. My last few batches of cookies have been botched so horribly, I couldn't believe they came out of my kitchen.

Well, these babies pulled me out of my rut! Just in time for our bake sale at work, too! So, here's my recipe for my Welcome To Paradise Cookies:

Ingredients:

-6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp

-1/3 cup shortening

-1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

-1/3 cup granulated sugar

-1 egg

-1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

-1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

-1/2 tsp baking soda

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 cup shredded coconut

-juice of one lime

-1 1/3 cups (8 oz pkg) Mauna Loa Macadamia Nuts & Premier White Chips (new from Hershey's)

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350F. Beat butter and shortening in a large bowl until well blended. Add the sugars; beat thoroughly. Add egg and vanilla; beating until well blended. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and salt; then gradually beat into butter mixture. Stir in the coconut, lime juice and baking pieces. Using a small ice cream scoop, drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Cool slightly, then remove from cookie sheet onto a wire cooling rack. This makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

These cookies went over really well at my work bake sale, especially with my co-workers whose favorite cookies are white choc & macadamia nut. The coconut & lime were a wonderful addition. I feel like I should add them to everything now!

~Mehgan~