It’s baking season! Well, for some, when the pandemic started all those months ago, baking season started and well, never stopped. It had the opposite effect in my house and besides the slew of cookies I made a few weekends ago, the oven has stayed mostly off. However, I remembered these coconut & fennel oatmeal cookies that I made last Christmas and knew that they needed to come out of the vault!
Now, I made these cookies last year at the last minute when my friend messaged me about a holiday cookie contest. Since I tend to have decent luck with recipe contests (in particular Christmas ones), I whipped up this batch of cookies. The recipe had been percolating in the back of my brain ever since Nadiya made similarly flavored biscotti many years ago on the GBBO. I had the combo written on the chalkboard in my kitchen for ages, and so when the contest came up, I seized the occasion to make something special.
So I baked up the cookies, wrote out the recipe, snapped a few pics and just before I hit that submit button, I read the fine print: Michigan residents need not apply.
What?!
But these cookies were SO good! I KNEW they had a shot to win! Therefore, I tucked the recipe and photos away to submit this year and…totally forgot. Since by now all contests of passed, I’m not waiting another year to share these goodies. They are officially coming out to society.
Now, fennel. You’re all probably like, “ew, no.” But wait! They’re also blended in with some lovely toasted coconut, pistachios AND dipped in white chocolate. All of that together is one damn good cookie (modeled a tad after my friend-famous cowboy cookies). The fennel comes out just enough. The perfect bit of enough.
Could you put the white chocolate chips in rather than melting them to dip? Sure, but I liked them this way, and for the holidays, it seemed to add just the right amount of occasion.
And did I mention they have pistachios?
You’re welcome.
Coconut & Fennel Oatmeal Cookies
Coconut & fennel oatmeal cookies are sweet treat with a hint of savory, dipped in white chocolate and sure to be everyone's favorite!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light-brown sugar, packed
- 1 eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp ground fennel
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 3/4 cup sweetened, toasted coconut flakes
- 3/4 cup chopped pistachios
- 1 12-ounce bag white chocolate chips
Directions
- Step 1 In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and sugars. Beat until light and fluffy, at least five minutes. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Add the vanilla.
- Step 2 Slowly add the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder and mix until just combined, careful not to over mix. Add the oats, coconut, and nuts and stir until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Step 3 For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup dough onto un-greased baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart. Bake 15-17 minutes until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let sit on the rack for 2 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Step 4 Melt the white chocolate chips, and dip each cooled cookie in halfway. Set on a baking rack until the chocolate hardens.
