These are the coconut slice cookies from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Cookies, except that I substituted half a cup of quick cooking porridge oats for the nuts in the filling. This worked exceptionally well. Most of the time, I substitute coconut for nuts, but since it was already there, the oats seemed more logical.
Don't be afraid to experiment with substitutions-within reason, of course. I've used coarse, dry sourdough breadcrumbs to great effect as a nut substitute as well. You can make a delicious mock-pecan pie using toasted coconut flakes. If you have a treasured recipe that includes ingredients you can no longer tolerate, it is worth a bit of experimentation. In the case of the pecan pie, I've been told it is actually better than using pecans. Sometimes you end up with a ruined attempt, sure. Most of the time it is still edible anyway. Sugar and butter-what's not to like?
I won't post the recipe as it is widely available on the Internet, and in book form at your public library. I do encourage you to purchase the book, it is wonderful.
I will take you up on the suggestion to purchase this book. I just finished working my through a few selected recipes from a "cookie" book written by food critics. Nothing outstanding there. Also, I'm intrique by the notion of substituting coconut for pecans in pecan pie. I'll give that a try too!
ReplyDeleteBe sure to toast the coconut first. If you can get the finely shredded desiccated coconut without sweetening, that's even better-but I've used the sweet kind as well.
ReplyDeleteRecipe for my attempt here:
http://eattheblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/mock-pecan-pie.html
There was a woman who baked her way through this book:
http://mylittlekitchen.blogspot.com/
She stopped blogging ages ago, but she has interesting thoughts on each recipe.