These festive cookies come together fast and are sure to impress. Twist the doughs together for the marbled look or shape one color in the center for a fancy stamped cookie. The ingredient list below makes twice as much coconut as chocolate so that you can make a shape in chocolate and surround it in coconut. If you want to marble the doughs, halve the coconut recipe.
Ingredients
CHOCOLATE DOUGH:
½ c. butter, softened
½ c. sugar
¼ c. powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
1 t. vanilla
2 T. chocolate chips, melted
1 c. flour
2 T. cocoa powder
pinch salt
COCONUT DOUGH:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
½ c. powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
¼ c. coconut cream
2 t. vanilla
1 c. + 2 T. flour
½ c. unsweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
Make the chocolate and coconut doughs separately.
Cream the butter, sugar, and powdered sugar using an electric mixer or by hand.
Mix in the egg yolk(s), vanilla, and melted chocolate OR coconut cream.
Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
For the stamped log: form the chocolate dough into the shape you want to appear in the center as a uniform log about 15 inches long. To make the tree shape, set aside a lemon-sized piece of dough and form the rest into a triangle 15 inches long. Shape the reserved dough into a square of the same length and press it into the middle of one of the sides. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and put it in the freezer while you make the coconut dough, or at least 30 minutes. When the coconut dough is ready, carefully press it around the chocolate log so that it surrounds it completely. It's easiest to do this in pieces. Press the outside of the log into an even circle, wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze for at least 30 minutes.
For a marbled log: make the chocolate dough as above and half of the coconut dough above. Form each into a log about 8 inches long and place the logs next to each other. Press them together, then twist. Fold the twisted piece in half the long way and twist again. The outside should be mottled brown and white, with distinct patches of each. Form the combined doughs into a log (either circular or square) about 15 inches long, wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the plastic wrap, cover the outside of the log with sprinkles and/or more shredded coconut, and slice the log with a sharp knife. Slicing ¼ inch thick will give you soft, cakey cookies, while slicing ⅛ inch thick will make thin, crunchy cookies--your choice! Decorate with more sprinkles on top, if desired. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on a baking sheet and bake on a high oven rack one tray at a time, 7-9 minutes for thin cookies and 12-14 for thick cookies. Return the log to the freezer while each tray bakes so that it doesn't lose its shape during slicing.
Recipe by f-chem 101 at http://www.fchem101.myerspdx.net/2014/12/chocolate-coconut-icebox-cookies/