These Wild Days

Hawaii-Style Holiday Cookies

With Thanksgiving just behind us, the holiday season is in full swing. In our home this translates to lots of cooking and baking together. We especially love to bake for friends and community helpers–the keiki keep their teachers’ bellies full of delicious treats. The more people we can feed, the merrier!

This December we’re lucky enough to partner with Kauai’s own Common Ground to bring you a Hawaii-style holiday cookie recipe. Not only is this recipe naturally gluten free, it features several ingredients grown and produced here on Kauai (and available for purchase online in the Common Ground Marketplace). Baking these cookies was an awesome learning experience for us–as we were able to discuss the versatility of breadfruit, macadamia nuts, and more!

At Common Ground they believe in food as the great connector and we couldn’t agree more! Their incredible North Shore campus is home to a variety of projects all working towards the mission of building resilient food systems in the islands. The proceeds from their Marketplace fund their incubator and accelerator programs that help strengthen our small business ecosystem of Hawai’i-based food, beverage, and natural health entrepreneurs. 

THE RECIPE (a la Common Ground’s Culinary Manager, Adam Watten)

INGREDIENTS

*Ingredients measured by weight are in italics.

  1. In a medium saucepan, warm the coconut oil until melted. Pour into a stand mixer. You may also use a large bowl if you do not have a mixer.
  2. Add the sugar to the bowl and using the paddle attachment, “cream” the oil and sugar together for about 1 minute. Add the egg, egg yolks, POG syrup, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined well.
  3. In a separate large bowl sift together the ulu flour, coconut flour, xantham gum, sea salt, baking soda, and golden milk mix.
  4. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl until thoroughly combined.
  5. Using the parchment paper, roll the dough into a log shape approximately 3 inches in diameter. Place dough log in the refrigerator and chill thoroughly for 1-2 hours.
  6. Heat the oven to 360 degrees F.
  7. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and using a sharp knife, cut rounds from the logs approximately 1/2 inch thick.
  8. Place rounds on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through.
  9. Remove the cookies and let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes. Liberally sprinkle them with the roselle sugar blend. Move the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
  10. For a truly decadent treat that the whole family will love, try spreading Tiny Isle’s Chocolate Macadamia Nut Butter on the underside of a cookie and making a sandwich by pressing against the underside of another cookie.

NOTES

  • We took the extra step to make perfectly round cookies by having the boys use a cookie cutter to shape each round. This would’ve been fun to do with a variety of shapes!
  • Melibea especially loved generously garnishing the cookies with the roselle sugar blend–the delicate bits of edible flowers were a lovely addition.
  • As our family is typically full of gluten–this was a nice challenge and the final product was tastier than we expected. The subtle tropical notes paired with the earthy ulu flour made a nice hearty base to spread the macadamia nut butter on.
  • The keiki preferred the cookies with the chocolate flavor while I quite enjoyed the plain toasted macadamia nut butter. There’s also a honey vanilla flavor.
  • Above all, we were super excited to be introduced to several amazing Kauai-based products through this recipe and look forward to playing around with them some more. Special thanks to Common Ground Kauai for inspiring this adventure in the kitchen (and many more to come).

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