Coconut Lime Oatmeal Cookies

Not too long ago, my friend Katie posted a recipe for Lime Meltaways.  They sounded like good cookies, and I thought about making them.   But then I saw that bags of coconut were on sale for 99 cents and somehow I got thinking about some lime-coconut scented body butter I had years ago.  It smelled so good!  I now try to keep away from most scented products (because they contain phthalates, which are not good for you) so I decided to recreate that wonderful lime-coconut combination in a cookie.

Coconut Lime Oatmeal Cookies

(makes about 28, adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod)

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cup quick-cooking oats

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

½ cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar or evaporated cane juice

1/2 cup butter, salted

1 egg

zest of 1 large lime

1/2 tbsp lime juice

3/4 cup coconut (I used sweetened fancy shredded coconut)

Preheat oven to 375°F.  In a medium bowl, stir together flour, oats,  salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  In a large bowl, stir together the sugars.  Add the butter and cream together.  Mix in egg, lime zest and juice.   Add dry ingredients to wet and mix together.  Stir in coconut.

Drop by tablespoonfuls or roll into balls and flatten on ungreased baking sheets.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

♥

I took these to a fund-raising committee meeting for the local wildlife rehab centre last night, and they were declared delicious.  But by the time I passed them around we’d already been at the meeting for 2 hours, so I think people were starving and would have eaten anything anyone would have offered!  But they are very good.  If you don’t like lime, you could substitute a teaspoon of vanilla and add chocolate chips and that version would be very good, too.

And thinking about coconuts… Costa Rica flashback!  We had coconut palms growing in our yard at the CCC.  One day I hacked a coconut open with a machete (well… I ended up need help.)  I wanted my picture with a coconut but for some reason everyone thought that was a silly idea and I never did get it taken.  So here’s a Tropical kingbird sitting in a coconut palm by the dock.

If you are interested in learning more about phthalates, where they are found, and why they aren’t good for you, I highly recommend the book  Slow Death by Rubber Duck.

Do you like coconut and lime together?  Or what’s another flavour combination that you like?