Coco-Nut Shortbread Buttons

[Aren’t they just cute as a. . . . ]

I’m late!  I’m late!

(Oh.  Sorry to alarm you–no, I didn’t mean “that” way.  I’m waaaaay too old for that!).

What I meant was, “late in posting this recipe.”  You see, I had hoped to get it posted yesterday for a special blog event, but my baking mojo was being coy and wouldn’t show up.

Instead, what I got were multiple trials that looked somewhat like this:

[Not a pretty picture.]

Ouch.

Luckily, my mojo returned after three attempts (really, Mojo, did you have to make me go through all that trouble, when you were planning to show up later anyway? Really, why must you be so frustrating  much like the HH coquettish? Now I think you should eat all the cookie rejects as reparation.)

My initial idea was to combine two cookies I used to bake and love: first, from Australian Women’s Weekly, a little gem called Butterscotch Shortbread Buttons; and second, a treat my mother baked but once a year during the holidays, called Frozen Nut Cookies (why they were called “frozen” nut cookies, I have no idea; none of the ingredients was frozen). I also had some newfound unsweetened coconut I received recently and thought I’d throw that in, too.

I’ve always found the marriage of walnut and coconut to be utterly celestial (whenever I make homemade walnut butter these days, I habitually include a tablespoon (15 ml) or so of coconut oil in the mix, both for the subtle flavor and to help the naturally jiggly walnut butter firm up to spreadable consistency when refrigerated).  I decided to name my new creation “Coco-Nut Shortbread Buttons,” to reflect this pairing, but mostly because I think that calling cookies “buttons” is just so darned cute!

[This will melt in your mouth–like buttah.]

Well, the flavors weren’t the problem: as I suspected, toasted walnut and toasted coconut complemented each other perfectly. Like sunny days and convertibles, like Butch and Sundance, like fishnets and mini skirts, like Katy Perry and. . . nothing, they were made to be together.  No, it was the texture that tripped me up.

I was determined to include some all-purpose flour mix I had left over from an earlier baking experiment. Of course, to retain a somewhat traditional texture (the HH is of Scottish ancestry, you see), I added brown rice flour.  But somehow, the flour was too light, the nuts and coconut dissolved into butter, I added too much oil, there wasn’t enough xanthan gum. . . hence, the spattering of crumbs across the cookie sheet any time I attempted to lift a cookie.  (I’ve packed all the crumbles in a plastic container for future use and already have a good re-purpose in mind. Can’t afford to waste anything edible these days, people!).

Finally, I thought to add a bit more flour and decided to dissolve the palm sugar in water before combining.  And. . . the result was exactly what I’d been looking for! These buttons (see how cute it sounds?) are golden and slightly crispy on the edges, with a soft, sandy interior and just a hint of butterscotch flavor from the palm sugar.  They’re solid and release just the slightest crumb when you bite into one, and they melt langorously on the tongue.  A perfect treat for a holiday dinner.

Just don’t eat them all before then, or you might end up scrambling to bake something at the last minute, too.  😉

“Mum, these sound great and we’d love to try them, but you know, if your mojo isn’t eating all those rejected crumbs, we’d even be happy with those.”

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