Put A Smile on Your Face!

Don't you just love the things that bring you right back to your "youthful" days, when your shopping list consisted not of bread, milk and eggs, but of a bag of five cent candy, a bottle of pop and maybe a freezie from the corner store? It feels like it's been a lifetime since then (though really it's only been about 8 years)! My friends and I would wander back from the local corner store with the ever-changing management and reinforced windows to my basement and spend a good 4 hours watching bad, old TV movies and just being us! Nothing ever seemed to worry or really concern us all too much, apart from the typical pre-teen / teenager drama, and my mom knew that more often than not we would be "plus two" for dinner! She really did spoil us with her generous attention, cooking and advice!

I was able to re-capture a snippet of those seemingly long-ago days last week, by way of the radio gods! The song "Smile" by Vitamin C (of "Graduation" fame, and not much else that I can think of) was the thing that sparked me to make these cute little sugar-biscuits, as for some inexplicable reason it was on the radio twice that day while I was in the car! Forgive my nostalgic waverings, but if you don't know the song (or, you know, want to hear it again) I found it for you! I'm going to include my cookies in Elly Says Opa!'s quarterly round-up of musically inspired cooking, titled "Eat to the Beat". Now get your toes a tappin!

Given the tone of the song, not to mention the lyrics, it's no surprise that when I became bored later that afternoon I took a cue and made my own smiles to share with those around me! The reviews from my mom's work (and my mom herself!) were that they were not like sugar cookies (so sweet that you wanted to scrape your tongue) but almost a shortbread that had a great tender texture. The flavour of coconut is prominent, as it should be... they're coconut cookies!

Coconut-Cashew Smiles
Serves 24
5 tbsp sugar
pinch salt
1/3 cup shortening
1 tbsp coconut extract
1 1/4 cups pastry flour
3 tbsp coconut flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp coconut milk (not lite)
48 large chocolate chips
12 cashews, halved lengthwise

1. Cream together sugar, salt and shortening until fluffy.
2. Add extract, beat well.
3. Combine flours and baking powder, gently mix in alternately with the coconut milk to form a smooth mixture.
4. Work dough into a disc on a lightly floured surface.
5. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 24 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 400F.
7. Roll out dough to 1/4" thick, cut out shapes with cookie cutters and decorate with cashews and chocolate chips (or anything else you desire... I like making the smileys!).
8. Bake 7-8 minutes.
9. Cool on sheets 5 minutes and remove to wire rack.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 79.8
Total Fat: 4.0 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 2.0 mg
Total Carbs: 9.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.0 g
Protein: 1.3 g