Coconut "Oreos" and the 80's

For my birthday this year, my siblings helped me make a sophisticated coconut cake with a passion fruit custard.  It was a team effort: I made the cake, my sister made the custard, and my brother made the coconut frosting!  After my party, I had a lot of leftover frosting, and was trying to think of what to do with all of it.  Then I thought it would be perfect to make cookie sandwiches!  So I baked up some chocolate cookies, smeared some coconut frosting in between and-voila! They are like a mix between an Oreo and a chocolate Mounds bar.  These coconut "oreos" brought me right back to my childhood, to the 80's, that is.  You know, side-ponytails and turquoise stripped leggings, Saved by the Bell and the Cosby Show, Whitney Houston and New Kids on the Block...those were the days!  But now I am all grown up and so old that the kids I teach in San Francisco look at me blankly when I explain to them that Alamo Square Park is where they shot the opening scene for Full House...oh well!  I hope these "oreo" cookies make you feel like a kid again!  (Try experimenting with the flavors of the frosting by omitting the shredded coconut and adding peppermint or almond extract instead!) 

Coconut "Oreos"

Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Earthbalance
• 1 tbs of Spectrum vegan Shortening
• 1 and 1/2 cups of wheat free flour blend (I used buckwheat/rice/sorghum flour)
• 1/2 cup of 100% dark cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup of agave nectar
• 1/4 cup of apple sauce
• 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• extra rice flour for dusting

Directions

1. Mix all dry ingredients together in one bowl.
2. Mix together all wet ingredients in another bowl.
3. Combine wet and dry ingredients together, use your hands to really blend them!
4. Roll dough into a ball, cover with a dusting of flour, wrap the ball and refridgerate for at least a half an hour or more.
5. When dough is cold enough to work with, go ahead and preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
6. Roll dough out onto a well floured surface with a rolling pin.
7. Cut cookies with a round cookie cuter or a drinking glass (just make sure to keep flouring the edge so the dough doesn't stick to the cutter.)
8. Place cookies on a pan lined with parchament paper.
9. Bake for 20 minutes.
10. While the cookies are baking, start the frosting! *
11. Let cookies cool before making the oreos.

*Coconut Frosting

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of palm oil (Spectrum vegan shortening is the same)
• 1/2 cup of coconut oil
• 1/2 cup of agave nectar
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of shredded coconut

Directions

1. Let oils come to room temperature so they are soft like butter, but not liquidy.
2. Mix together oils, slowly adding the agave and vanilla.  If you have an electric mixer it will work better, but my brother did it by hand with a spoon!
3. Add shredded coconut and mix well together.
4. If it's too soft, put in fridge for a bit, if it's too hard, let it sit out for a bit.

Once you have the cookies and frosting, spread the frosting in between the cookies and make your little oreo sandwiches!