Today would have been my daddy’s 95th birthday. One of his favorite things in life was coconut! Coconut everything — pie, cake, those ghastly coconut rolls from truck stops, snowball cupcakes, you name it. If it had coconut on it, Daddy ate it. The problem for him was that no one else in the family liked it, so Daddy rarely got to enjoy it. As you can see in this photo, he has that look, “yep, it’s never coconut.”
I have to say, I have never made a coconut pie or cake. So, I took to the best source Southern Living magazine to see what I could find…recipes that I would be willing to eat.
Coconut Lemon Poundcake
Coconut Cream Tarts with Macadamia Nut Crusts
And, this is a recipe I have made and they are delicious. Laura Bush’s Cowboy Cookies.
The cookie recipe came to The New York Times in 2000 during the Bush-Gore presidential campaign when Family Circle magazine ran cookie recipes from each of the candidates’ wives and asked readers to vote. Laura Bush’s cowboy cookies, a classic chocolate chip cookie that’s been beefed up with oats, pecans, coconut and cinnamon, beat Tipper Gore’s ginger snaps by a mile.
Our family visited the George W. Bush Presidential Library back in December and Sister Bee picked up copies of Mrs. Bush’s recipe cards in the gift store. Here is a copy of the Cowboy Cookie recipe. I made them right away and they are very delicious, despite the addition of coconut!
I think Daddy would approve of all these recipes. They are all on my Pinterest page. Do you have a coconut recipe I should try? I’d love to hear from you.
Hospitality is in my DNA. I founded Home with a Twist, a daughter’s twist on her mother’s traditions, in memory of my mother to celebrate her life and the gifts she shared with me. Mother loved to celebrate life’s occasions – big and small.
