Chocolate Coconut Cookie Bars

By mitzzy

Get creative with this recipe: replace the chocolate and coconut shown here with your favorite nuts, dried fruits or chocolate morsels. Just let your imagination and your taste buds be your guide!

Ingredients

• Ingredients for Classic Sugar Cookies:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• plus:
• Nonstick cooking spray or 1 Tablespoon butter, margarine or shortening
• 2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels
• variations
• Replace 1 cup of the coconut with 1 cup of dried cranberries.
• Replace the coconut with 2 cups of any combination of your favorite chopped nuts or dried fruits, such as pistachios, pecans, peanuts, walnuts, dried cranberries or dried cherries.
• Replace the semisweet chocolate with white chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or butterscotch or peanut butter morsels.

Preparation

Step 1

directions
step 1Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with the baking rack in the middle of the oven.
step 2Line a 9-by-12-inch baking pan with aluminum foil in both directions, leaving 2 inches of foil hanging over the edges. Spray the bottom and sides of the foil-lined pan lightly with nonstick cooking spray, or lightly grease it with 1 Tablespoon of butter, margarine or shortening.
step 3In a medium bowl, sift together (or stir with a whisk to combine) dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
step 4In a large bowl, add the sugar and butter. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the sugar and butter until the mixture is fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula when necessary. The mixture should resemble coarse, moist sand.
step 5Add the egg and vanilla extract to the sugar and butter mixture from step 4. With the mixer on low speed, beat to combine until the mixture is smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
step 6Add the dry ingredients from step 3 to the wet ingredients and beat with the electric mixer on low speed until the mixture is just combined, about 1 minute. Do not overbeat. The cookie dough, wrapped in Saran™ Premium Wrap, can be frozen for up to 1 month or refrigerated for up to 1 week.
step 7Press the cookie dough evenly into the bottom of the baking pan all the way out to the sides. Bake the dough for 16 to 18 minutes, until the edges just begin to turn very light brown. In the meantime, spread the shredded coconut in a thin layer on an ungreased sheet pan. Bake it for 12 to 14 minutes on the lower rack in the oven at the same time the cookie dough bakes, or until the coconut begins to turn golden brown. Remove the coconut to a cooling rack while the cookie dough base finishes baking.
step 8Remove the pan of baked cookie dough from the oven to a cooling rack and immediately sprinkle the chocolate morsels evenly over the top while hot. Once the morsels have melted, about 3 minutes, use the back of a spoon or a rubber spatula to spread them evenly, completely covering the cookie base.
step 9Sprinkle the toasted coconut evenly over the melted chocolate. Continue to cool on the baking rack, about 20 minutes.
step 10Transfer the cooled baking pan to the freezer for 20 minutes, until the chocolate hardens and sets. Lifting the foil from the edges, remove the baked cookie dough from the baking pan. Pull the foil away from the sides and use a serrated knife to cut the large cookie into 1 1/2-inch square bars.
chef's notes
To enhance flavor and create even better texture, try vacuum sealing your cookie dough and letting it rest for 24 to 36 hours.

The cookies can be stored in a large Ziploc® Brand Snap 'n Seal Container at room temperature for up to a week or placed in a Ziploc® Brand Freezer Bag and frozen for up to 1 month.