Making The Most of Naptime : Raspberry Filled Coconut Snowflakes #ChristmasCookies

Welcome to Christmas Cookies Week! Ellen from Family Around the Table has organized a fantastic group of bloggers to share some of their favorite holiday cookie recipes. I participated in a similar group last year and got so many delicious ideas! One of the most popular cookies that I gifted came from this type of event, so I always love seeing what everyone has to offer. I encourage you to check out all of the links at the bottom of my posts each day. I guarantee there will be something that catches your eye!

The first cookie that I'm featuring is one that I have to give credit to my husband for. Although it ended up a little "too shortbread like" for him, we considered it delicious. His brainstorming gave me 3 of my 6 cookie ideas this year. When my imagination was really struggling, and I asked him for cookie ideas, he rattled off three ideas within a couple minutes. This was one of them. He originally said "a sandwich cookie with red in the middle with some sort of snowy substance sprinkled on top". I attempted a sandwich cookie, and it failed miserably, but I took his general idea and put it into a classic thumbprint/thimble cookie instead. I added coconut (because adding coconut is what I generally do to make the world happier), and this cookie was born!

Raspberry Filled Coconut Snowflakes (yields approx two dozen)
1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup flour
1 tbsp raspberry preserves
Additional raspberry preserves (about 1/3 cup...depending on how big you make your indents)
1 cup flaked coconut
150g (about 1/3 lb) white candy melts, such as Wilton
1 tsp icing sugar

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolk, 1 tbsp of preserves and lemon juice until combined. Stir in flour until the dough holds together.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, a little over an inch apart (these don't spread much). Using the end of a wooden spoon, or your fingers, create an indent in each cookie.

Ready for the oven

Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 3 minutes. At this time, using the end of the wooden spoon, re-create your indents (as they will fill in a bit in the first few minutes of baking). Return to the oven and continue baking for between 8 to 10 minutes, until they are set and just starting to turn golden.

Transfer cookies to racks to cool.

Now is the fun part! Melt the candy melts in 30 second increments in the microwave, stirring after each time. Dip the bottoms in the candy melts and then quickly dip in coconut. Fill with raspberry preserves.

Look at these snowy little morsels of deliciousness!

Just before serving, dust the icing sugar on top (I do this with a fine mesh sifter), to create a snowy effect. I recommend doing this just before serving because the icing sugar will eventually absorb into the top and disappear.

These cookies are SWEET. But trust me, they're worth the indulgence!!