Chocolate Coconut Cookie Cups

We want to wish you and your family a Very Merry Christmas and share one more holiday treat with you!! The majority of cookies we make leading up to Christmas are cookies we've made for years and years but it is always fun to try a new recipes as well. We love anything chocolate and coconut so I knew these would be a big hit, we will definitely be adding them into our holiday baking rotation.

Ingredients for Coconut filling:

6oz Reduced Fat Cream Cheese - Softened

3/4 Cup Sugar

1 Egg Yolk - Room Temperature

1 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

7oz Sweetened Coconut Flakes

Ingredients for Chocolate Cookie:

1 3/4 Flour

1/3 Cup Coco powder

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1/4 Tsp Salt

1 1/2 Sticks I Can't Believe it's not Butter - Softened

1 Cup Sugar

1 Egg - Room Temperature

Adapted from http://mykitchenjourney.blogspot.com

 Start by preheating your oven to 375 F. In your stand mixer bowl combine the softened cream cheese with the sugar on a medium speed until smooth and light. Beat in the egg yolk and then the vanilla. Turn the mixer down to low and beat in the coconut until it is all evenly distributed. Set aside in the fridge.

 In a small bowl whisk together the flour, salt, coco powder and baking soda. In your rinsed out mixing bowl combine the softened butter with the sugar until it becomes light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat again.

 Next add the flour mixture in three increments beating to combine it on a slow/medium speed after each addition. Once all the flour has been added the dough should be stiff but still pliable. Form the dough into balls using about 1 Tbsp of dough each time. Flatten each ball into a circle that is about 2 1/2 - 3 inches in diameter.

 On top of each flattened ball place a heaping Tsp of the coconut cream cheese mixture. Round the sides of the dough up around the coconut filling to form the cookie cup.

Spray a mini muffin tin with Pam and place each Chocolate Coconut Cookie Cup in a muffin tin. This seemed to be the only way I could keep the cookies from flattening out as the baked. Bake them for 9 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees and bake them for another 7 minutes. Allow them to cool in the muffin tin for a few minutes and then finish cooling completely on a baking rack.

Enjoy!!

This is linked to www.foodiefriendsfridaydailydish.com