We rapidly polished off that huge can of Kjeldsen’s Butter cookies I wrote about a few days ago, and out of curiousity, I wondered how difficult it would be to replicate those cookies at home. At the same time, I recalled seeing an interesting and super easy sounding 
recipe for coconut biscuits in an Australian magazine many, many moons ago, but the task of going through hundreds of food magazines to find the recipe just seemed so daunting. But the butter cookie Gods intervened and by chance, I flipped through one old Australian food magazine (Vogue Entertaining & Travel October/November 2005) while cleaning up my piles and piles of reading material and voila!, on the first page I opened to was the recipe I wanted. Attributed to Joan Campell, that doyenne of Australian food writing/editing and cookbook author, I had to alter the ingredients list a bit as “self-rising flour” isn’t available in Manila to my knowledge…
You will need: 1 cup unsalted butter, 1.5 cups of white sugar, 5 medium sized eggs, 1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour, a pinch of salt and half teaspoon of baking powder as well as 1-2 cups of dessicated coconut. Pre-heat your oven to 375F and place one of the racks in the middle of the oven. Place your butter, partially softened but not overly so, in a mixer and beat it for a minute or so until creamy. Add the sugar and beat a bit more. Add the eggs one at a time until just incorporated into the butter mixture. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl then add it to the butter mixture until just incorporated. If you are baking the Philippines and it is hot, it is a good idea to stick your dough in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes at this point to prevent total butter meltdown. Next, place about a cup of dessicated coconut (sold in plastic packages in most large groceries) on a plate. Take a spoon full of the butter batter and drop it onto the dessicated coconut and gently coat all sides. Place this on a lined cookie sheet (I use silpat mats, but you can use parchment paper if you like, do NOT use waxed paper) and bake until a bit honey golden on the edges, about 18-20 minutes.
While the cookies tasted pretty good, they didn’t quite have the texture of the Kjeldsen’s which seem DRIED almost when compared to fresh baked… At any rate, 
I made cookies with about half of the dough then decided to take it a step further and add black raisins to re-create my favorite cookies in the can… These tasted better than the plain coconut cookies but the moisture in the raisins made the cookies a bit soft. Somehow, the raisins in the canned cookies are almost rock hard… I suspect these cookies would come out better if made in a drier, cooler environment rather than in the middle of a tropical rainy/humid season… Flavor wise, they were a bit flat compared to the Kjeldsen’s, which leads me to believe there is a whole lot of artificial flavoring of some kind in the commercial version. Overall these were a nice experiment, but not the greatest. If you like coconut, give them a try and have them with a nice cup of hot tea…
Need to binge on more cookies? Check out these previous posts:
Callebaut, Toblerone, Valrhona Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Mango Jam Cookies
Gourmet Christmas Cookies
Triple Chocolate Halloween Cookies
Blueberry & Filbert Biscotti
Filipinos
Christmas Cookies
Lenguas de Gato
Cranberry & Almond Biscotti
Broas
11 Responses
The quality of butter is the major player in this game of butter cookies. The Kjeldsen cookies captivated all the butter essence, flavor and richness as we all know their origin is Denmark and their dairies and technologies in dairy making is well far advance (I assume it is governed by a patent) and their cows are roaming around in bountiful green pastured land, sea breeze and blue skies. When they reach their lactating stage, they give the best milk they could and in great abundance! I appreciate much your heroic, courage and resources in baking these cookies both the butter coconut and raisin.
I read a blog wherein they recommend using weight as a measurement for dry ingredients and they only use cups for liquids. whatchuthink?
https://beyondsalmon.blogspot.com/2007/06/what-difference-ounce-makes.html
The best cookies here in the US are home baked. The commecial ones that are to die for come from “Costco” (fresh baked daily) or those from “Panera Bread.”
Hardly anyone here eat those old tin canned Danish cookies.
You can try drying them down in a very slow oven just like the Italians do with their biscotti. I almost always regard industrially produced foods the way I do hotdogs, if you like ‘em don’t watch how they make ‘em. You would be astounded by the variety of compounds they throw in there just to give it the right flavour, mouth-feel and a shelf life that is longer than the average life expectancy of men in developing countries. I’m hyperbolising of course but not by much.
MM,to make raising flour mix 1 cup A.P.flour,1 teaspoon baking powder,and a pinch of salt.
Thanks for sharing this recipe-a definite must in our household.
i meant self raising flour…
Your cookies look like a nice simple tea biscuit that you would want to have around the house on an ordinary day o enjoy with tea or coffee.. and besides, I am biased towards anything coconut! I wanted to ask you a question somewhat related to your post… A few of my Australian friends have been asking me where they can find “kofa” or “kofta” here in Manila. From what I undestand its a variation of coconut lard. Apparently this is quite popular there but frankly I have never heard of it. Would we have it under a local name? They want to make chocolate crackles (some kind of cookie/treat) for their kids but they lack this key ingredient. If you know what this is or where we could find it locally, I would be much obliged. Thanks
Hi. Sorry . Further to my inquiry about the chocolate crackles, the item I was asking you about is Copha and not Kofa. Thanks!
Paolo, you hurt us with your comment about “those old tin canned Danish cookies”! :) For us of a, ehem, “certain age”, Kjeldsen’s cookies taste wonderful not only for their buttery taste but more for the pleasant memories they are associated with with. Like MM, I also “rated” the ones I liked best and vied with my sisters in grabbing for them. My Ma used the big empty tin cans as a sewing box or a container for our little toys. So Kjeldsen’s may not be the best of the bunch but for the memories they evoke, they are priceless!!!
Forgive me Cecile… I did not mean harm.
Really, if you want good cookies to eat, bake them yourself. ‘There’s no match with home baked goods, from a simple birthday cake, banana bread to cheesecake.
I guess the Americans I know are picky, where “home baked” is preferred over commercial products.
Anyone here knows where you could buy American breakfast
biscuits? Those that also go well with fried chicken?
Why is it not being offered here? Aren’t there enough Americans
here? I sorely miss those soft heavenly biscuits!