Coconut Date Chewies

While thrifting last week, my wife came across a little cookbook, Festive Foods, published in 1971 but the City Public Service Board of the Wisconsin Gas Company. Most of the recipes looked like they came from 1971 and were not very interesting to me. This one caught my attention, however, and it is worth making. The ingredients are not weird but interesting and the cookie is sweet and chewy, as the name implies. To poke fun at the pretentious $250 Cookies, my wife recommended I change the name to “Twenty-seven Cent Cookies” since that is what she paid for the cook book.

Recipe by:

Adapted from Festive Foods, City Public Service Board, Wisconsin Gas Company

Yield:

38

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
½ teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon coconut extract
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cup nuts, finally chopped (optional)
1 cup dates, minced
1 cup coconut
2 cups oats
2 cups corn flakes

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment.

2. Combine flour, soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. Cream butter until smooth and fluffy. Gradually beat in sugars.

4. Beat in eggs, extracts and sweetened condensed milk.

5. Mix in flour mixture.

6. Mix in nuts, dates, coconut and dates.

7. Gently stir in corn flakes.

8. Drop in 2 tablespoon balls onto prepared baking sheets. Bake about 12 minutes until bottoms and edges are browning. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely.