Chocolate Chunk Coconut Oil Cookies

HELLO WORLD. Long time no post – literally long time this time around. Does anyone even keep up with my blog anymore? Do I even keep up with my own blog anymore??? Trust me – I want to be in this, I SO want to do this. When ya got 3 APs not even giving you a chance to breath tho, posting a recipe is something these classes aint gon let me do either. The amount of times I’ve cried bc of school LOL I think I breakdown at least once a week (shout out to AP Physics). But regardless, I still want to do this – not leaving quite yet.

These days, I’ve especially just been in this weird reflective mood/feeling – it may be after my Kashmir trip (pics to come??) but whatever it may be, I’ve been thinking that we constantly keep waiting for that ‘something’ to come into our lives that will change our lives, or we keep waiting to go to uni, waiting to graduate high school, waiting to leave Saudi, and then our lives will begin – and even me, IM one of those people. And then I saw Pastry Affair’s recipe for these cookies, and in her post she talked about this exact feeling and how she’s coping with it and it definitely inspired me to move away from this feeling of restlessness that we all get and embrace where I am now – I cannot keep waiting for something grand which will signal that my life has really begun. October goals people.

Nonetheless, I’m definitely feeling it this year – I feel more “in” especially with all the school clubs and extracurricular I’m in (A++++++ student here guys watch out) and somewhat more motivated to study, cause this is the high school year where stuff finally counts – DIS the stuff a university is gonna get.

I look at some people’s blogs, some who are even in MED SCHOOL aka the people who are supposed to have no time for anything, and they’re doing a perfectly fine job of posting recipes and keeping up – I applaud those people. Idk why me, only a HIGHSCHOOL STUDENT far from med school can’t even balance out a blog and studying like them???????????? SMH at myself.

BUT Lo behold – I magically found time out of all the tests, studying and assignments to finally share a recipe that I’ve been hesitant to try for so long just because of its main ingredient – coconut oil. I reserve the Thursday of each week (aka the Friday of Saudi, cause our weekend is Friday and Saturday) to bake instead of going out with my friends (really living the teenage dream here) and this is what I chose to make last Thursday, and the Thursday that just passed.

My fear was that these would taste only like coconut oil, and it would be a complete waste, but these were actually GREAT – I could barely, if not at all, taste the coconut oil. In fact, the coconut oil actually created a special taste in the cookie that was slightly coconut-y, but not so overpowering that you can’t even eat it.

This is good for those people who are dairy free, and for anyone at all actually. It’s a somewhat more healthy alternative I guess you can say – because we all know about the coco oil health craze. Since butter allows a cookie to spread in the oven and coconut oil is completely liquid, you’ll have to roll the dough into a ball first and flatten it down with your palms to however thick you like your cookies – thick and soft, or thin and crispy; baker’s choice.

Enjoy these, especially when they come out of the oven,

xx Aiza

Chocolate Chunk Coconut Oil Cookies

Adapted from Pastry Affair

Yields 20 – 2 dozen cookies

1/2 cup (113 grams) coconut oil, liquid state*
3/4 cup (150 grams) brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla or almond extract
2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 ounces (170 grams), semi, bittersweet, or dark chocolate, coarsely chopped **
Flaky sea salt, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the coconut oil and sugars until uniform. Beat in the egg and vanilla or almond extract. Stir in the flour, baking soda, espresso powder, and salt until uniform. Stir in the chopped chocolate.

Roll the dough into balls, about 1 1/2 tablespoons in size, and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Press down the dough with the palm of your hand until the dough is disk-shaped, about 1/2-inch in height. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt, if desired. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden.

*Coconut oil melts at a temperature of 76 degrees F (24 degrees C). Microwave oil for a few seconds to melt, if necessary.

**Use dairy-free chocolate to keep the cookies fully dairy-free. Also feel free to mix different types of chocolate – I used a combination of milk and dark chocolate.