(Recycled) Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies

Tonight, baking was more compelling than the work homework that I should have been doing. I hadn't made an oatmeal type of cookie in awhile and was jonesing on one with chocolate and coconut in it.

As I dug through the pantry, I realized that I didn't have all the chocolate chips that I needed. Hmmm. There were some chips, there was a chunk of dark chocolate, there was a chunk of white chocolate (both leftover from my chocolate bark from a few weeks ago). This wasn't quite enough, so I was pondering other add-ins, such as cranberries or cocoa nibs.

It was at this point that Tom reminded me that I had some chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer (from a failed recipe experiment). The dough was not a success, but the consistency of it made it quite easy to pull out the chocolate chips (they were large and good quality). Yes, I pulled chocolate chips out of dough to re-use the chips in another cookie. I had been considering just tossing the remaining dough, so I thought that this was a good re-use, recycle approach to baking - and it is almost Earth Day.

About the time that I could no longer feel my finger tips, I had enough chip-age, in all of my varieties for the cookies. Finally, on to the baking!

Numb fingers have paid off, and I've hit my quantity.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies
Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (all purpose is fine too)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (or alternatively, a combination of chips pulled from frozen dough, a partial bag of chips and leftover white and dark chunks, chopped into small chunks).

What to do   

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat until well combined. Stir in oats, coconut, and chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets (or line sheets with parchment paper) and bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool for a minute on baking sheet then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.