Courtyard Cookies

Sunday evening was the first of many a summer night of eating outdoors at my flat. FM and I decided to test out our patio for the first time, KS joining in for the festivities. As our patio opens out to the ground floor of our Melrose-Place like courtyard we thought not only would it be a lovely way to spend an evening, but would also be an opportunity to perhaps meet a few of our neighbours.

To celebrate the event, FM and I had our first joint purchase - a hot-pink mini-bbq. FM would have been happy with either the blue or the pink – but I insisted on the pink (surprise surprise). So picture this - no furniture yet, just a picnic blanket spread out on our concrete patio, and a mini table-top pink grill. We “cranked" that bad-girl up...and were hysterically pathetic in the process. To make a long story short…our mini-pink grill wasn’t all that useful (although to be fair we didn’t allow the proper amount of time for the charcoal to go grey). Halfway through we abandoned the grill and thought to bring our meat inside to cook…well, ¾ of a bottle of red-wine, 4 ciders, a smoke detector going off, and 4 dried out chicken sausages later…we decided that whilst eating outside was a lovely idea…perhaps our mini pink bbq was not. Thankfully, there was still a little foodie treat that night. I’d whipped up some cookie dough in the afternoon and while I’d no idea if they’d be any good…I’d say they turned out delicious. I think the 5-6 that FM and KS ate each would have them agree as well. In honour of the Buckler Court* Courtyard…here you have the recipe for some super easy and scrummy “Courtyard Cookies”.

Courtyard Cookies

1 cup coconut, toasted

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

bit of salt

141.7 grams (UK) 1 1/4 sticks (US) butter

½ cup packed light brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon-ish vanilla

¾ cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 191°C (UK) 375°F (US)
Toast the coconut in the oven for about 3-5 minutes – keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn
Sift flour, baking soda, and salt.
Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy
Add egg and vanilla and stir in flour mixture.
Add chocolate chips and coconut and combine.
Arrange dough on cookie sheet about a teaspoon in size and about an inch apart.
Cook for about 5-8 minutes (basically keep a keen eye on them as they cooked way faster than I would have thought.
Cool cookies.Eat cookies!

*Buckler Court - Where my flat is located.