Coconut Mascarpone Cookie

I wanted to whip up a quick batch of cookies for a little hang-out with my friends, but rummaging through the fridge I realized that I didn't have any BUTTER!! WHA!! I'm not a huge fan of cookies using olive oil as a butter substitute. I find that such strong oils leave a lingering taste in your mouth after you eat those cookie, and it often overpowers the flavorings you add to the cookies. After pondering about what to do, and taking another look at what I had in the fridge, I spotted 1/2 a tub of mascarpone cheese! Whew... thank goodness I had bought this stuff, otherwise I'd have to resort to using those mini-packets of butter/margarine you get from fast-food places for breakfast (yes, my Asian inclination towards non-wastage means that I have an ice cream tub in my fridge dedicated to un-used condiment packages :P). Anywho, with my mascarpone cheese in hand, I set forth in coming up with a tasty cookie recipe from scratch!

Coconut Mascarpone Cookies
Yields 35 cookies

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup mascarpone cheese
- 2 egg whites
- 2 tsp coconut rum, +/- enough to keep the dough from being too crumbly
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup desiccated coconut

Method:
1. In a large bowl, cream together the sugars, mascarpone cheese, egg whites and rum.
2. In a small bowl mix together flour, salt and baking soda
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined (adding more rum if necessary to keep the dough from being too crumbly)
4. Add in coconut, stirring until just combined
5. Use a tablespoon to make portions of dough. Hand-roll the dough portions into spheres and place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Use a fork to gently press down the cookies (like you do for peanut butter cookies).
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes, cool on cooling rack. Enjoy!

These cookies are almost like miniature scones in texture. They're more flaky than chewy or cake-y. I really enjoyed them as they were very tender and not too greasy (like cookies that use a lot of butter). The mascarpone gave the cookies a very rich flavor, and the coconut + coconut rum gave the cookies just enough of a kick that no other flavorings were really necessary (i.e. vanilla, almond etc.) It just goes to show you how creative you can be when you have to bake something without the conventional ingredients in your kitchen... that being said, I think I'll drop by the store and buy some more butter ^-^