Alaska Schoolhouse Cookies

October 26th, 2009

dry ingredients

My family went to a farm called Emandal growing up. I first went there with my third grade class for an educational camp they put on in the spring. They teach kids about life on a farm – we learned how to milk a cow, plant seeds, gather eggs, hand crank ice cream, etc. I came home incredibly excited about my time on the farm, so we decided to go as a family in the summer. We stayed in rustic cabins, picked raspberries, pickled freshly harvested cucumbers and swam in the nearby river. It’s a memory that is very precious to me.

Emandal

I hadn’t been there in years, until my younger sister decided to work there this summer. What a perfect opportunity to walk down memory lane! She and I spent a weekend re-living some of the things we had done when we were younger. Before I went to visit her I had almost forgotten how amazing the food was. Fresh milk and butter, homemade bread and blackberry jam, they even roast their own coffee beans in a room next to the kitchen.

Emandal

Knowing how much I love baking and Emandal, my mom gave me their desserts cookbook for my birthday. My sister suggested these cookies as a good place to start in the book. These are the perfect farmhouse cookies, very simple but very delicious. I can definitely imagine eating them on the farm with a fresh glass of milk.

Emandal

These chewy cookies have a hint of coconut flavor and a salty, sweet thing going on that makes them incredibly hard to put down. It’s very comforting to go back to simplicity sometimes, even if it’s just in a cookie.

cookies

Alaska Schoolhouse Cookies
Adapted from Sweet Times At Emandal Cookbook

I don’t know where the name came from. I’m thinking something about coconut looking like snow which there’s a lot of in Alaska. Anybody have any other ideas?

Makes about two dozen cookies

1/2 cup (one stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350. Cream the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, oats, coconut, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the creamed mixture and blend.

Spoon the batter onto lightly greased baking sheets (I like to line my baking sheets with parchment paper for easy clean up), about two inches apart. Flatten slightly and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden around the edges.