Spider Lily-Day 13

© Ellen Blonder

The background has been darkened. Now I can get back to working on details in the flowers and do a bit more to the leaves.

Everything Cookies

Sometimes a girl just needs a cookie. I can't always decide what kind, and sometimes I  want everything. I call these my "Everything Cookies"

For the love of the combination of ginger, coconut, chocolate and macadamia nuts in a chewy cookie, I experimented with this several times here on Kauai. I found some intriguing coconut oil (Dr. Bronner's) and coconut flour (Bob's Red Mill), and wanted to use them together. 

This recipe results in a somewhat cakey cookie unless the eggs are very large, so I may try it next with a tablespoon or two of ginger juice squeezed from microplane-grated fresh ginger. I might also increase the coconut oil by one to two tablespoons.

GINGER COCONUT MACADAMIA NUT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
a.k.a. EVERYTHING COOKIES

Yield: 3 ½ dozen cookies

½ cup coconut oil, room temperature

¼ cup canola oil

¾ cup brown sugar, firmly packed

¼ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

¾ cup flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup oatmeal

½ cup coconut flour

½ cup flaked coconut

1 cup unsalted macadamia nuts, lightly roasted and coarsely chopped

1 cup crystallized ginger, chopped

2/3 cup chocolate chips, preferably mini-chips

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the coconut oil, canola oil and sugars. Add the eggs and mix until well blended.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, oatmeal and coconut flour. Add to the oil mixture. Stir in the remaining ingredients and mix until well blended.

Drop by rounded tablespoons one inch apart on baking sheets. Lightly press on each mound with your fingers to flatten it slightly.

Bake on a center rack of the oven for 10 to 12 minutes. When slightly cooled, remove from parchment and cool completely on a rack.

Spider Lily-Day 12

© Ellen Blonder

After weeks of dark skies and stormy weather, daylight is finally good enough to work at shading more of the whites in the flowers and untangle some of the petals. Now I wonder if the background will need to go darker again.

Spider Lily-Day 11

© Ellen Blonder

I've slowly been working on the white flowers catch as catch can. Busy week, hard to focus. I'll probably have to go darker to make the whitest whites pop. This still looks way too flat.

Spider Lily-Days 9 and 10

© Ellen Blonder

I'm toning down the whites to create some depth in the flowers. The leaves need more details, but I want to hold off until the flowers are more finished.