Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sunflower Seeds and Coconut and Sled Hockey

I'm delighted to say that this evening I will be picking up my first CSA farm share of the season.  Soon I'll be blogging about fresh local veggies--but in the meantime, how about a cookie?

As a food blogger (a tiny squee when I type that), there are a couple of signs you are overextending your creativity and need to step away from the kitchen, sit down, and catch yourself up with what you've been doing.

The first sign is when your spouse, the chief photo downloader/cropper/color corrector (when he's not deployed), checks the camera on Thursday night and notes that you've 228 new photos since he last emptied the camera on Sunday morning.

In my defense, I'd like to point out that was before breakfast on Sunday morning.

The second is when you pull a sheet of cookies out of your oven, look at them expecting to see oats but see none, and wonder what's in them instead.  Silly blogger, you baked Monday's Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chip Oatmeal cookies on Wednesday for your spouse's work function on Thursday.  These cookies were baked on a Friday, therefore I was baking the Chocolate Chip with Sunflower and Coconut dough. (Why aren't these recipes highlighted with links to the posts?  Patience, I've got scads of notes and photos to turn into posts.  Did I mention the need to catch myself up?)

Conveniently, these cookies, along with some stretched taco meat, were for the Saturday night team dinner during a sled hockey tournament, so I had some enforced time away from my stove. (I need more, though!)

There's no farm fresh ingredient here--I'm in between egg shares at the moment though if I lived near The Tipsy Gardener I'd be all set.  Instead, since I needed a dessert, I rooted around in my freezer stash and chose a couple of add-ins which looked like a good idea.  It was.  I'd tell you the team loved them, but this is a sled hockey team and sled hockey players are like all other hockey players--they'll eat anything.  At least that's been my experience. Hockey, and this dessert, really is for everyBODY*.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sunflower Seeds and Coconut (makes a team's worth)

(this recipe is adapted from the Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, by Kim Walior, on the back of the Costco chocolate chip bag in the photo)

2 sticks butter
1/3 cup shortening (see Note from this Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookie post)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I used Ultragrain this time)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup salted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut

I like to mix up my cookie batter, like my pizza dough, at least a day in advance.  I think it's better--so does the New York Times.  So my instructions aren't going to start with 'preheat the oven'.  In a large bowl (I use my stand mixer), combine the butter, shortening, and sugars until well mixed.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly.  Dump the dry ingredients on top (baking soda through flour) and mix well.  Dump in the chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, and coconut and mix until combined.  Transfer dough to a container and chill overnight or up to 3 days.  You can freeze this, too.

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Scoop the batter onto a sheet of parchment or directly on a cookie sheet.  Bake for 9-10 minutes, then remove from oven and cool on the cookie sheet another minute or two before transferring to a cooling rack.

This post is joining the other kids at the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up and What's Cookin' Wednesday,  What's In The Box,  the From The Farm Blog Hop,  the Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Food on Friday (twice)and Foodie Friends Friday.

*Happy Birthday to MY sled hockey player!