Coconut Ranger Cookies-a chewy cookie filled with sweet flaked coconut and toffee bits, watch out, they are addictive!

If you’ve ever been on a Royal Caribbean Cruise, you’ve probably had THESE cookies. These are the cookies I have been trying to perfect for the past 2 weeks.

Last month I was on the Oasis of the Seas (more on that below) and I discovered these cookies.

I wasn’t alone. Other cruisers would hove over the dessert buffets waiting for more of these cookies to come out. I would take plates of these cookies back to our cabin to snack on later in the day.

The one day, I couldn’t find them in any of the restaurant’s, well, I’ll admit it, I think I went into withdrawal.

I knew when I got home, I’d be making these cookies. Since I was on ship as part of a conference, with Royal Caribbean as a sponsor, I begged them for the recipe.

I was so excited when I finally got the recipe in my e-mail. Then I looked at the ingredients. There was no way I could make these exactly like they do. It was one ingredient. Praline paste. I’ve never even heard of such a thing and I knew I wouldn’t be able to find it locally.

What is a praline anyway? It’s  nuts (usually pecans or almonds, sometime hazelnuts) covered in a caramelized sugar.  I could have made up a batch of Pralines and then ground them up into a paste but that’s just too much work to do every time I want a batch of these cookies.

I played with the sugars, I played with the coconut and then, just before my eighth batch (yes, I really did do a lot of testing) of these cookies, it came to me-Toffee Bits! I even had some in my baking cabinet.

I thought I had it.

Almost. The taste was perfect but my cookies were so flat, and they were crunchy, not chewy. So I started thinking like a cruise ship Chef. Most food you can’t prepare ahead of time. But cookie dough-yes you can. You can even freeze it. So why would a cruise ship make cookie dough daily when they can make it on shore and then just pull out the cookie dough ready to bake and bake it up?

That was the final piece. Patience. And chilling the dough before baking.

So until I cruise again, I can still have my cookies.  Just like on the ship, but without the ocean breeze.

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

Coconut Ranger Cookies

Print

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup Heath Toffee Bits
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup finely chopped almonds
• 2 Tablespoons Cream of Coconut (Coco Lopez or Goya)
• 2 1/4 cups sweetened shredded flaked coconut

Instructions

1. Beat together butter, toffee bits and both sugars, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add in egg and egg yolk, and vanilla. Beat well. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add into butter mixture until combined. Add in chopped almonds, cream of coconut and shredded coconut, mix until fully incorporated into dough.
2. Line a baking sheet with wax paper or parchment paper. Using a medium cookie scoop or a spoon, measure out cookie dough and shape into balls, place on cookie sheet and then flatten to about 1/2 inch thick. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate cookie dough over night, or at least 8 hours.
3. When ready to bake, place cookies on a baking sheet, 2-3 inches apart, these cookies will spread. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 12-14 minutes, just until edges start to turn brown.
4. Remove from oven and let cookies rest on cookie sheet for 10 minutes to finish baking. Remove from baking sheet to cooling racks to cool completely.

Notes

Cookies may look undercooked in the center when edges turn brown but they will finish baking on the tray after removing from the oven.

Now for those interested in cruising, I want to share a little of my experience. This was my first time on a cruise ship. I’d always heard great things about cruising. It was on my bucket list to take a cruise. An Alaskan Cruise is still on there.

Getting to be on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas will be hard to top. This ship is huge! We had an outside balcony stateroom. Every morning we woke up to this.

There’s no extra fee for room service on Royal Caribbean so we took full advantage having coffee, juice, fruit and danish delivered every morning.

There’s something to do for everyone on this ship. Shows, swiming in several pools and hot tubs, Zip lining, Flowboards, lots of kids activities, night clubs, the Casino ( I doubled my money on the slot machine!) We were on the boat for 7 days and I know there was so much I missed. I did find the fun fruity drinks.

And if you just want to do nothing but relax, that’s ok too. There are plenty of lounge chairs to go around.

I highly suggest looking into the excursions before you board and then stopping by the excursion desk and booking while on the boat. The staff can help guide you to the best excursions on each island.

Our first stop was Nassau in the Bahamas. I have to say, there’s not much to do on Nassau except for Atlantis, with pools, waterslides and a beach. I took advantage of the beach and just relaxing for a few hours.

Also, there’s lots of shopping. The Straw Market is famous. A great place to pick up some souvenirs.

Our second stop was St. Thomas in the US virgin Islands. Our excursion included several stops and then some beach time at Magen’s Bay.

We started off at Mountain Top-the highest point in St. Thomas where we enjoyed Strawberry and Banana Daiquiris (mine was virgin) and incredible views of Magen’s Bay.

We were treated to a Cruzan rum tasting. I never realized how many flavors of rum there really are. I really enjoyed the Pineapple rum the best.

Our final stop was St. Maarten.

And this is why I recommend talking with the excursion staff. Each Island offered swimming with the dolphins. It was the one thing I knew I wanted to do on this trip. My splurge. Ironically, the dolphins got cheaper with each stop. The excursion from St. Maarten was the one the staff recommended. I’m so glad they did. I have no idea how the other excursions rated, how much time you spent with the dolphins but I can tell you, the one out of St. Maarten was an experience I won’t ever forget.

Cheryl (Tidymom),  her daughter Allison and I hopped aboard a ferry to Anguilla (this was also the only passport stamp we got the entire trip) where the Dolphin swim is located. They broke us up into small groups, our group was just the three of us, and we worked with a trainer and 2 Dolphins.

They had the dolphins perform 6-7 tricks with each of us

the actual swimming lasted about 50 minutes and then there was some beach time before lunch. (Don’t get excited about lunch, it’s a sandwich and some chips.)  Even the photos were more reasonable than we thought. Under $150 for the entire disc of photos with all 3 of us. Divided, that’s $50 a person and I never could have gotten the shots their professionals are able to get.

After a ferry ride back to St. Maarten, we still had some time to wander around.

Beautiful beaches

plenty of shopping

I could have stayed here forever.

This was actually a working vacation for me. The Click Retreat.  A floating workshop to work on my photography.

Karyn (Pint Sized Baker) and my roomie Lynne (365 Days of Baking) during our styling session. I love how huge the portholes are on this ship!

We were given a behind the scenes tour of the galley with Executive Sous Chef Johann Pirker of Austria

I can’t even image having to prepare food for 6000 guests (plus all the crew) 3 meals a day.

All of their baked goods are baked fresh each day.

And the desserts!

Yes, I tried a little of everything!

The retreat, Royal Caribbean and all the bloggers made this one of the best vacations I have ever had. Hopefully you’ll see some improvement in my photos. Thanks to Me Ra Koh

I’ve finally taken my camera off of auto! She’s got some great tutorials online too. She calls them Photo Recipes, I call it life changing! I can’t wait to get my kids in front of the camera!

Finally meeting bloggers I’ve been friends with online for years. This girl, The Domestic Rebel, is so much fun and I’ve loved her sweets forever! We of course, both went for the chocolate covered strawberries with out champagne!

These smiles, the laughs. Seriously, we were like this the entire time. I always knew Lynne (365 Days of Baking) was my long lost sister. We were finishing each other’s sentences! And that adorable little photobomber is Shaina of Food for my Family. Don’t let her tell you she’s shy, she’s adorable!

Even my flight home on Southwest Air was fun. The have the best safety presentations! Flying from Ft. Lauderdale to Atlanta is supposed to be a 2 hour flight. These guys got us in 30 minutes early!

They told us Fighter Pilots make the best airline pilots and I believe them.

A few tips if you’re going to cruise.

Don’t get a drink package unless you drink a lot! Trying to drink enough to make sure you got your money’s worth and you’ll be too hung over to enjoy everything else the cruise has to offer.

Wait till the end of the cruise to shop on board. You can also ask the staff if they will be having sales on the items you’re considering. I picked up a few beautiful bracelets for the girls and myself at 75% after we left St. Maarten. They also marked down t-shirts and other souvenir type merchandise the last day we were on board.

 

Internet-it’s expensive on the ship and if I hadn’t been “working” I could have easily lived without it. The perfect excuse to spend more time with the family and talk to each other.

Talk to strangers-don’t talk to the creepy ones of course. We had so much fun starting conversations at the bar, in the elevator, waiting in line. Maybe it’s just me or a southern thing but I always talk to everyone. People on cruises are happy people. And many of them are repeaters with lots of inside information about the ship. If you see someone with pizza in the elevator, ask them how it is. We started a debate about the pizza place and what’s the best pizza to get in a 45 second ride. And speaking of the elevator, thank you to the gentleman who upon leaving the elevator (as we got on) for the lovely gift (really awful fart) you left behind. That was the conversation of denials every time someone new got on. But it was funny.

Luggage Valet-when it’s time to depart, no one wants the hassle of dealing with bags. Dragging them through customs, into a taxi or shuttle to the airport, then in the airport, etc. you get the picture. For $20 the ship picked up my bags outside my cabin the night before departure, printed my boarding pass and I didn’t have to worry about my bags again until I arrived in Atlanta.

I’m sure regular cruisers have so many more tips to share. If you’ve ever cruised, what are some tips you would give?

Want to see more of our cruise?

Caribbean Cruise and Travel Tips | Tidymom (she has a great 1 minute video at the end)
 Click Retreat Caribbean | Barbara Bakes
Salted Cod Recipe Caribbean Inspired | Wonky Wonderful
Click Retreat Caribbean | Blogging Over Thyme
Click Retreat Caribbean: Part Two | Blogging Over Thyme
A Week in the Caribbean | Kevin and Amanda
Coconut Ranger Cookies {And My Caribbean Vacay Recap!} | The Domestic Rebel
Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas Has Something for Everyone | 7 on a Shoestring

Fair warning. 2015 is my year of travel. I’ve already been to Prague and Salzburg and next week it’s skiing in Keystone, Colorado! I promise to seek out a decadent dessert so I have a good reason to share my trip with you.