homemade island cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup of sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1 cup of mashed bananas (about 2 1/2 large bananas)

1 tsp of baking soda

2 cups of flour

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 cup of shredded coconut

chocolate glaze or 1 cup of chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1. preheat the oven to 350F. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. add the egg and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

2. in a bowl, mix the mashed bananas and baking soda. let sit for 2 minutes. the baking soda will react with the acid in the bananas which in turn will give the cookies their lift and rise.

3. mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture. mix together the flour, salt, and spices and sift into the butter and banana mixture and mix until just combined.

4. fold into the batter the coconut (and chocolate chips if you are using them). Drop in dollops onto a greased cookie sheet. bake for 11-13 minutes or until nicely golden brown. let cool on wire racks. if you are using glaze, then wait until the cookies are cooled before glazing.

makes about 30 cookies.

10 things i couldn't live without this week:

1. my new mixer! if it were possible to have a love affair with an appliance, this would be a sweet romance! made some delicious island cookies with the boy. you can take a peak at me new vintage mixer and get the recipe here.

2. the beach. it's been almost silly how much time we have been spending at the beach lately, but it's the boys favorite thing to do these days....and who am i to complain about that.

3. florida summer afternoon showers. they make the best nap times...for the boy and for myself. unfortunately they also lead to a lack of productivity!

4. finally starting on a project for my cousin, his wife, and their soon to be baby girl. i have been wanting to make this for a very very very long time, and i am so excited that i finally have a reason! can't wait to share this project with you!

5. whipped up some quick little gifts for the boy and his best buddy, violet.

6. finally getting through the stack of thanks you cards from the boys birthday party. i am not always the best at getting thank you's in the mail in an appropriate time manner, but when you have such cute stationary it's hard to not want to get them out as quickly as possible.

7. we got to spend a ton of time with violet and her awesome mommy these past 2 weeks, but it was bitter sweet, because now we are not going to see them again for quite sometime. we sure love you two ladies, and can't wait to see you again soon.

8. the boys quickly increasing vocabulary. it boggles my mind how he seems to talk more like a person and less like a baby every day. he has so many funny little sayings, and he's never afraid to try to repeat long complicated sentences. it makes me laugh so hard that he can pronounce tons of dinosaur names perfectly, but always mis-pronouces the word pretzels (he always calls them freckles). it's also such a crazy reflection of myself. you learn very quickly the quirky things that you say too much. on of the boys first "adult words" was: seriously....and i have over used that word my entire life. i have also caught him on more than one occasion using profanities to express his emotions....shit, that's my fault too.

9. costco and kung fu. the hubs has been working way too much lately. and by way too much, i mean like an ungodly amount. well he managed to sneak away a few hours early yesterday to take me and the boy on a costco date (when i know what he really intended was to catch up on some sleep). then he even let me watch some late night kung fu.....man that hubs must really love me.

10. sunday funday. don't know what the day has in store for us, but it's a holiday weekend. the hubs has the next 48 hours off of work....hopefully. and there will be explosives involved.