Coconut cookies

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gplain flour
• 200 gfresh coconut, finely grated
• or 150 g desiccated coconut
• 200 gsugar
• 100 gbutter or margarine, melted
• 2eggs
• 1 teaspoonbaking powder
• 1/2 teaspoonsalt
• 1 teaspoongrated nutmeg
• about 80 ml water or coconut milk

To fry

• oil, for deep frying

To serve

• eaten plain, in stacks
• kanya and benne cakes, alongside

Directions

1. Soak desiccated coconut in warm water first. Give it ten minutes to soften. Crack a mature brown coconut open. Peel off the brown skin with a peeler. Grate the white flesh very finely. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the freshly grated nutmeg. Whisk them all together thoroughly.
2. Stir in all the grated coconut. Combining it needs a light hand. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Add the melted butter to them. Pour that into the dry ingredients. Mix it together with your hands. Add the water a little at a time. It should be firm and hold together.
3. Add water sparingly and stop early. Let it rest for fifteen minutes. Rolling it out takes some effort. Divide the dough into two pieces. Roll each one on a floured surface.
4. Take it down to about four millimetres. Thin dough gives a crisper cookie. Keep the surface well floured. Cut out rounds with a cutter or a glass. Aim for about six centimetres across. Prick each round all over with a fork. That stops them puffing up in the oil.
5. Pour oil into a deep pan to six centimetres. Never fill a pan more than halfway with oil. Heat the oil to about 170C for frying. A scrap of dough should sizzle up at once.
6. Fry them for about three minutes. Turn them once as they colour. They should be deep golden all over. Lift them onto a wire rack to drain. A rack keeps them crisp all round. Let one cool completely on the rack. It should break with a clean sharp snap.
7. Let them cool entirely on the racks. Never put warm cookies into a container. Put them in an airtight jar or tin. They keep for two weeks or more.

Technique

• They are sold by tray vendors on Freetown streets and at lorry parks, alongside kanya, a groundnut and rice flour sweet, and benne cakes made with sesame.
• They are fried rather than baked despite the name, and their crispness is what lets them keep for weeks.

Substitutions

• Desiccated coconut soaked in warm water stands in for fresh grated coconut.
• Margarine works in place of butter and is what most vendors use.

Variations

• Some makers add more nutmeg or a little ginger.
• A baked version is made in some households.
• Kanya and benne cakes are the other two Freetown street sweets.

History

Sold by tray vendors on Freetown streets and at lorry parks alongside kanya and benne cakes.

Frequently asked questions

What is Coconut cookies?

Coconut cookies is a snack from Sierra Leone: crisp fried rounds of flour, coconut and sugar, sold in stacks. Sold by tray vendors on Freetown streets and at lorry parks alongside kanya and benne cakes.

How long does Coconut cookies take to make?

Coconut cookies takes 30 minutes of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 30 cookies. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Coconut cookies?

Yes, within limits. Desiccated coconut soaked in warm water stands in for fresh grated coconut. Margarine works in place of butter and is what most vendors use.

What is the most important thing to get right in Coconut cookies?

Pour oil into a deep pan to six centimetres. Never fill a pan more than halfway with oil. Heat the oil to about 170C for frying. A scrap of dough should sizzle up at once.