Em Bakes: Cookies for Ava Jane

My friends had a baby. This is becoming a thing in my life. My friends have babies. I knit cute things for the babies. I make food for the babies' parents. I get to hold the babies. Good deal.

It so happens that tonight's dinner for the new parents will be, per their request, pad thai. And, in the strange and lovely circularity of life, it so happens that the other couple at dinner will be the folks I made this pad thai for a little over a year ago when they became new parents. And their kid is now old enough to actually eat some of the pad thai!

Anyway, I figured that, as it was Friday and I had a little time on my hands, I'd bake something fun and improvisational for dessert. Here's what I came up with. "Brown-Butter-Coconut-Oil-Pecan-Chocolate-Oat Cookies" seemed like a bit of a mouthful, so we'll just call them "Cookies for Ava Jane"

Ingredients

1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup dried coconut
1 tsp maple syrup

Procedure

Pre-heat your oven to 350°F and prep a baking sheet
Toast the pecans and coconut over low heat in a medium pan until coconut is golden brown. Place on a plate or in a bowl. If you want, you can toss them with a teensy bit of maple syrup.
Brown your butter! If you've never done this, get excited. It's fun. :) Place the butter in a small saucepan over low and let it melt.
You don't need to stir it, but tilt the pan around once in a while.
In about 5 minutes, there will be a bunch of foam that starts to fade away, your kitchen will smell like toffee, and there will be little brown flecks all over your pan. Yum.
Place the sugars in a bowl and pour the brown butter on top. Stir to mix.
Use the same saucepan to melt the coconut oil-- no need to wash it out in between. Once it's melted (which should take less than a minute), add to the butter and sugar.