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Cherry Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies?! Sign me up! Hey guys – while I’m moving and unpacking my kitchen over the next few weeks, several friends are popping in to share recipes with you. Show them some love, will ya? And thanks, Kristan, for taking the time to share this awesome recipe!

Hey guys! I’m Kristan from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and today I am giving you cookies!

Actually, you have to make them yourselves, I’m just giving you the recipe. Sorry about that! But I have faith that one day, technology will evolve to the point that cookies will come out of our iPads. And if I think it’s hard to get my toddler away from the iPad NOW, I can only imagine what kind of mess I’ll have on my hands then.

Jamie and I have been friends for several years now – we both love desserts and make-up and have frilly little toddler girls who we love to fuss over. My Lucy is about a year older than Elle, so I take a lot of pleasure in updating Jamie on what is to come. And by updating, I mean warning. Because two-year-old girls are not a joke, people. They are complex, dramatic creatures who demand to be taken seriously. I would know – I spent my afternoon putting a Barbie doll in the corner because she supposedly hit Lucy in the head.

Yes, you heard me. When your toddler demands that you punish her Barbie doll, you just do it. It’s a lot less exhausting than the alternative, which involves a lot of crying and flopping around on the ground (her, not me, although I am sometimes driven to that point).

One thing that always gets us through the day are cookies. They are just a universal love language. One of these days, someone is going to smarten up and make a romantic comedy about cookies, because, duh. Kids love them, adults love them, they are easy to eat and tuck into lunchboxes and also they don’t feel like they have a lot of calories, unlike cake, which just screams, “YOU’RE BREAKING YOUR DIET!!”. Cookies have a gentler way about them. They say, “Hey, it’s just a little snack, no guilt here.”

I love the combination of chocolate, cherry, and coconut, so these cookies are absolute perfection. The dough is even better if you let it chill for a few hours so the flavors can mingle, so if you’ve got the time, I highly recommend it!

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Cherry Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: about 30 cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 32 minutes

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Ingredients

• 12 oz jar maraschino cherries
• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, slightly softened
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant coconut cream pudding mix
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Drain jar of maraschino cherries in a colander, then rinse thoroughly. Place on paper towels to drain off any excess moisture while you prepare cookie dough.
3. In a medium bowl, combine flour and baking soda and set aside.
4. In the bowl of your mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, then mix in both extracts. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture until combined.
5. Finely chop drained maraschino cherries, and add to the dough. Add coconut and chocolate chips and fold until combined.
6. Using a medium cookie scoop (about 2 Tablespoons), drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheets, a few inches apart. Bake until edges are golden brown; about 10-12 minutes.
7. Remove and let cool on baking sheets for about 3 minutes, then remove with a spatula and place on cooling rack.

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