Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sunflower Seeds and Coconut and Sled Hockey

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sunflower Seeds and Coconut and Sled Hockey

I'm delighted to say that this evening I will be picking up my first CSA farm share of the season.  Soon I'll be blogging about fresh local veggies--but in the meantime, how about a cookie?

As a food blogger (a tiny squee when I type that), there are a couple of signs you are overextending your creativity and need to step away from the kitchen, sit down, and catch yourself up with what you've been doing.

The first sign is when your spouse, the chief photo downloader/cropper/color corrector (when he's not deployed), checks the camera on Thursday night and notes that you've 228 new photos since he last emptied the camera on Sunday morning.
In my defense, I'd like to point out that was before breakfast on Sunday morning.
The second is when you pull a sheet of cookies out of your oven, look at them expecting to see oats but see none, and wonder what's in them instead.  Silly blogger, you baked Monday's Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chip Oatmeal cookies on Wednesday for your spouse's work function on Thursday.  These cookies were baked on a Friday, therefore I was baking the Chocolate Chip with Sunflower and Coconut dough. (Why aren't these recipes highlighted with links to the posts?  Patience, I've got scads of notes and photos to turn into posts.  Did I mention the need to catch myself up?)

Conveniently, these cookies, along with some stretched taco meat, were for the Saturday night team dinner during a sled hockey tournament, so I had some enforced time away from my stove. (I need more, though!)

There's no farm fresh ingredient here--I'm in between egg shares at the moment though if I lived near The Tipsy Gardener I'd be all set.  Instead, since I needed a dessert, I rooted around in my freezer stash and chose a couple of add-ins which looked like a good idea.  It was.  I'd tell you the team loved them, but this is a sled hockey team and sled hockey players are like all other hockey players--they'll eat anything.  At least that's been my experience. Hockey, and this dessert, really is for everyBODY*.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sunflower Seeds and Coconut (makes a team's worth)

(this recipe is adapted from the Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, by Kim Walior, on the back of the Costco chocolate chip bag in the photo)

2 sticks butter
1/3 cup shortening (see Note from this Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookie post)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I used Ultragrain this time)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup salted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut

I like to mix up my cookie batter, like my pizza dough, at least a day in advance.  I think it's better--so does the New York Times.  So my instructions aren't going to start with 'preheat the oven'.  In a large bowl (I use my stand mixer), combine the butter, shortening, and sugars until well mixed.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly.  Dump the dry ingredients on top (baking soda through flour) and mix well.  Dump in the chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, and coconut and mix until combined.  Transfer dough to a container and chill overnight or up to 3 days.  You can freeze this, too.

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Scoop the batter onto a sheet of parchment or directly on a cookie sheet.  Bake for 9-10 minutes, then remove from oven and cool on the cookie sheet another minute or two before transferring to a cooling rack.
*Happy Birthday to MY sled hockey player!


  1. Don't I know that overwhelmed blogger feeling. But I also have not been good at planning ahead, so I am baking or cooking only about one day ahead of my posts. Never good! I hope to get back on track soon.

    I never thought to put sunflower seeds in cookies, but I love them. And I am the only one in the fam who does, so I would get all the cookies! Thanks for the recipe!


    1. Sarah,
      I'm trying to put my recipes up seasonally, so I'm all over the place in posts right now. The first two weeks of June are done, much of January 2014 is filled in, a lot of this fall is done, too, based on what I was cooking over the winter using put up "fall" ingredients. However, that lulls me into complacency which is never a good thing.
      Having all the cookies is a good thing.

  2. Ooh,these sound SO good. Love the add-ins you used - super creative! And love that they make "a team's worth" - that's the cutest yield term I've ever heard. =)

    1. Amy,
      I suppose cookies of any kind sound good when you're eating for two ;)

  3. Ah, the trials and tribulations of being a food exciting, so rewarding, so much food, so many recipes, so little time. Sometimes you have to walk away and recharge; it does wonders for the soul.

    Oh and I will absolutely take a cookie, although I'd really prefer a dozen.

    1. Meghan,
      I won't tell if you have a dozen cookies! I "recharged" the other morning and wrote up 3 posts while attending, and pausing to clap, at the junior high awards assembly. Very productive use of my time. Perhaps what I need to step away from is the computer?

    2. Yes stepping away from the computer is a recharge all in itself. I highly recommend it, says the girl on the computer at this very minute.

  4. I love the variety of ingredients you add to a chocolate chip cookie. Great job Kirsten. Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friends Friday

  5. I have a serious weakness for homemade chocolate chip cookies...and now I have to add chocolate chip cookies with sunflower seeds and coconut seeds to the list too. I will be making these ASAP!

    Thanks for sharing and linking up :)

    1. Heather, me too!
      That's why I love making my dough wait--my initial craving for chocolate chip cookies gets satisfied because I'm DOING something about it by making dough, and then I only need to make a few cookies at a time and can freeze the rest for later cravings.
      Thanks for hosting!