♥ just desserts.

last night i had the pleasure of joining a couple of fashionable friends

for our first official book club meeting. it was wonderful to get together

with some lovely bloggers that i rarely spend time with IRL (in real life!),

eat lots of goodies, drink wine and chat about one of my favorite subjects: books.

the work we discussed was fear of flying by erica jong- a book that i like to

liken to a feminist version of bridget jones' diary. i loved it and found it was

the perfect thing to read after finishing up with my bible, the beauty myth.

we had a very lively discussion- arguing many side of jong's novel-

and ultimately agreeing to disagree- on everything except

how damn delicious my cookies came out.

here is the recipe. straight from my cookie bible

(i'm so religious, eh?) big fat cookies.

recipe: toasted coconut cookies

ingredients:

2 cups of sweetened, shredded coconut

2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

2 oz white chocolate

directions:

heat oven to 300 degrees.

spread coconut on a baking sheet & bake for 10 minutes until golden brown.

set aside to cool and increase oven to 350 degrees.

sift flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl & set aside.

in a large bowl, use electric mixer to beat butter & brown sugar.

stop and scrape sides of the bowl. add egg, vanilla & almond extract and mix.

on low speed, add flour mixture. stir in 1 1/2 cups of toasted coconut.

scoop the dough into small balls and bake for 15 minutes each or until brown.

cool the cookies on a rack and in the mean time, use a double boiler (or

a microwave) to heat up white chocolate until melty.

drizzle white chocolate over cookies and top with remaining

toasted coconut. enjoy the best cookie you will ever eat.