I made cookies for a Salad Bar Potluck at work (I know), but I thought a cookie with fruit fit the theme.

Cherry is a fruit. Coconut is a fruit, right? And sugar is a fruit. Okay, I promise I’m not dumb. 

With my trusty (again not photographed) photo assistant, we began.

But first, all our friends were in Vegas this weekend and we were sad, so we set up the Dollhouse Casino signs from my casino-themed birthday party. For those who don’t know, my house is called “The Dollhouse” so it was appropriately named “The Dollhouse Casino”

That “Toxic” sign you see is a Halloween decoration that never left.

Step 1: Gather ingredients: flour, butter, brown sugar, eggs, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, vanilla, sugar, coconut, quick-cooking oats, white chocolate chips, dried cherries.
 

Step 2: Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
 

Step 3: Beat butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.
 

How would you type out the sound of a mixer? eeehhhmmmmuuuuhhh? I wish it made the sound of a slot machine. ding-da-ding-ding-ding-cha-ching-da-da-ding

Step 4: Add eggs and vanilla.

This is boringly easy so far.

Step 5: Stare into the eyes of the doll mascot from the casino.
 

Her eyes light up. Mesmerizing. Makes me want to gamble.

Step 6: Gradually beat in flour mixture until well mixed.
 

Step 7: Add oats.
 

Step 8: Make it snow with coconut.
 

Step 9: Dump in white chocolate chips.
 

Step 10: Pile on the cherries.
 

Step 11: Stir.
 

Here we have an artsy armpit angle. Usually there’s a cat hanging out on the carpet right there, but they were MIA.

Step 12: Under the trance of the casino doll, eat dough.
 

I don’t ever eat dough. It’s bad for morale.

Step 13: Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto baking sheets.
 

I used my scoop because it looked about the size of a tablespoon.

They came out looking a little small and round.

I pressed down on the next batch and they looked much better.

Step 14: Transform into the casino doll.
 

Link to original recipe (this is a McCormick/Martha partnered one)

Yields: 48
I got: 55 (my scoops weren’t “rounded” at first)

Start time: 11:30
End time: 12:25 (55 minutes)
Martha’s estimated time: 30 minutes

What did I learn?

• Coconut has a lot of fat.
• Stirring by hand is still difficult.
• I miss Vegas.

What do I need to learn?

• Is coconut fat the “good fat”?
• How do you play Pai Gow Poker?
• How do you play Craps?
• When’s my next Vegas vacation?

These were pretty popular at the potluck. I’m going to go buy some Scratch-Its now.