Why do people have to be so mean? Seems like these past few weeks, I’ve been witnessing other bloggers – friends I’ve gotten to know over the past few months – being viciously attacked online, ranging from name calling and taunting to false accusations and actual threats. Unfortunately, cyber bullying doesn’t escape anyone; even adults get carried away. They think that because they hide behind a computer, they can say whatever they want, forgetting that the person on the other side has emotions. Would you honestly say these things to someone’s face? However, instead of me ranting about the evils of the internet, I want to offer a peace offering of these Lemon Coconut Crinkle Cookies. Look at them, all bright and sunshine-y, sweet and tart. How could you stay mean eating one of these?
I’ve been fortunate enough to not feel the brunt of the cyber bullying, but I witnessed my friend Carrie, who stood up for herself, deal with these people most people call trolls. I felt so hopeless, not being able to stop them, so I offered her my support and kind words. That’s the great thing about the internet, that even though we have people spewing out hatred, we also have the kindness of strangers. A few times I’ve been touched by kindness, which is why many of us won’t let these trolls keep us from blogging.
Hatred has always been present on the internet, but lately it’s been pretty heavy in the blogging world. Meaghan of The Decorated Cookie explains very well (with marshmallows!) the thievery and bullying bloggers have been dealing with. I highly encourage you to read her post and just think about how your actions may make or break someone’s day. I even open the link into a new tab ;)
I’ve been a victim of bullying, whether it was growing up through school or online as an adult. Words really can destroy a person. Bloggers get mean comments all the time. “Your chicken wings look gross.” Uh they are chicken wings. Do you know how impossible it is to style brown, saucy chicken wings? So today, I offer you Lemon Coconut Crinkle Cookies and encourage you to be kind. Think before you speak. Does that person really need to know you hate that ingredient or that you don’t like that appliance review? Instead, bake up something sweet and share with a stranger. You never know – sometimes, kindness can change someone’s life.
Lemon Coconut Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 egg
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
- Powdered sugar, for rolling
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, and lemon zest until light and creamy. Beat in the egg and extract. Gradually beat in the flour mixture then stir in the coconut. Chill for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 300F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and roll them in powdered sugar. Place 2 inches apart onto the sheets. Bake 15-18 minutes or until the edges are set. Let cool for a few minutes then move to cooling racks. Cool completely.
Notes
© Chocolate Moosey. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish a recipe, please rewrite it in your own words or link back to the post for the recipe.
Source: Hershey’s Kitchen
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If you like these Lemon Coconut Crinkle Cookies, you may also like these recipes:
From me:
From other bloggers:
- Lemon Pie Cookies from Crazy For Crust
- Lemon Goat Cheese Tea Cookies from Baker Bettie
Kristen says
Kindness is definitely the way to go!
Love these happy looking cookies!
Carla says
Definitely. Thanks Kristen!
Janine -sugarkissed.net says
Sounds like a yummy flavor combo! And so pretty. Pinned!
Carla says
Thanks Janine!
kelly @ kellybakes says
“You are so much sunshine to the square inch!” – Walt Whitman
A dear friend gave me a card with that on the front and it quickly became my mantra. Why NOT be a positive ball of sunshine and be a light to everyone you meet? These cookies reminded me of that–because they’re small and bright and would surely cheer up anyone. Thanks for the reminder to put good into the world. I needed it! xo
Carla says
You are definitely a ball of sunshine, and I cannot express how much that means to me. I’ll have to keep that mantra in mind!
Ruthy @ omeletta says
Love this, Carla. Thankfully, I haven’t had to deal with actual trolls on my blog, but I’ve definitely seen them in action on other sites, and I don’t know how I would handle a situation like that with grace! It’s so tough to win- do you delete the comment and move on, or do you leave the comment there so that the troll hangs themself with their own stupidity?
At least these cookies look incredible. :)
Carla says
It really is tough. For the most part, I post the comments because it’s a reflection on them, not me. But then again, sometimes it does nothing but provoke others to chime in. Ugh. They need to go back under their rocks! Thanks Ruthy!
Renee says
Such pretty cookies Carla. It is a shame how people can be so mean on the internet. Kindness is the best thing to show and spread.
Carla says
If only cookies could bring world peace for real. Thanks Renee!
[email protected] & Trinkets says
I naively thought that the foodie world was free of trolls (or, as my fellow writers call them, flamers. Because we call any purposefully hurtful, un-constructive, completely negative review a flame) until I encountered it myself.
We should just give them all these cookies and achieve world peace. I think you should give me a batch and I’ll start. And totally not eat them all myself
Carla says
Hey we have to start with inner peace first, right? So we need to eat these cookies first then make more for others ;) Thanks Kim!
Colleen (Souffle Bombay) says
I love, love, love these cookies Carla! As far as the rest of your post…sigh. I’m with you…can’t we all just get along and respect each other. That is how I raise my children.
Carla says
Good for you! They are going to be mighty fine adults :) Thanks Colleen!
Kayle (The Cooking Actress) says
I know, I feel like I’ve been seeing it a lot lately too! It’s super sad :(
Bullying is bad!
Carla says
Yes, very bad!
Stacy says
Well said, Carla! Thank God there are more people who leave thoughtful kind comments than those who leave the other kind. Your lemon cookies are a spot of friendly sunshine in my day!
Carla says
Yes, the kindness definitely outweighs the trolls. Thank goodness for that!
Javelin Warrior says
it is frightening how brutal people can be when tucked away behind the safety of a piece of back-lit glass and I’m so sorry you’ve had to endure any kind of bullying (virtual or otherwise). I’ll say the same thing I told Carrie when I read about what had happened to her: you’re amazing, your blog is awesome, and no one can ever take that away. So don’t let them become your focus and end up controlling your blog through you…
Love the cookies – so beautiful and bright and impossible to feel sad when you see them! Thank you so much for sharing, Carla, and keep up the awesomeness!
Carla says
Thanks JW! So true.
Nancy @ gottagetbaked says
Beautiful photos, beautiful cookies, beautiful post. Isn’t it so sad how we all have to address this terrible issue right now? It seems that everyday more bloggers are becoming the target of vicious bullies. I love this post, Carla – wonderful sentiment and these vibrant, bright cookies are like a feast for my eyes. I can’t stop staring at them!
Carla says
Yes, I’m not sure why it’s been very present these past few weeks. I guess because I pretended it wasn’t there until it started happening to my friends. Ugh. Let’s just eat cookies, ok?
Laura Dembowski says
The cookies look great! I agree that meanness and bullying are rampant, both in and out of the blog world. It is so upsetting. I have no idea why people want to use their time and energy just to bring another person down.
Carla says
I have no idea either. Thanks Laura!
Susan says
hear hear Carla! Can’t we all just get a long?
Carla says
Exactly.
Rhianna says
I’m going to do my best to make these cookies sometime this week. I agree with you, the unnecessary cattiness or mean spirited comments are unnecessary. But some reason, those people seem to miserable themselves and to make their miserable existences feel like something, they take it out on others. Here’s to some amazing looking cookies!
Carla says
Thanks Rhianna! Let’s eat cookies and not be miserable :)
Dara says
These cookies look so good! Yum.
Carla says
Thanks Dara!
Carrie @ Bakeaholic Mama says
Love love love these cookies! And thanks so much for the bully post. I am so darn sick of these jerks.
Carla says
Me too. Me. Too. Thanks Carrie!
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says
Ugh the meanies. SO vile and revolting. We have to just keep sticking together I guess! These cookies are fabulous – I am in love with lemon! Thanks for the linky love!
Carla says
Good news is by sticking together so far, we have been making some progress. Thanks Dorothy!
Medeja says
Lovely cookies! Bright like sunshine :)
Carla says
Thanks Medeja!
Shannon says
Wow. I was drawn to the pics of yummy cookies but stumbled on to Carrie’s story attached to your blog. Holy crap people are nuts! There is a place for social networking but some people take it too far. Bullying, stalking, slander…..crazy! Her story reiterates exactly why I refuse to join Facebook. Way too many unstable people running around the Internet. Can’t wait to try the cookies though:)
Carla says
Yes, social media (especially Facebook) is a double-edged sword. You are probably not missing much ;) Thanks Shannon!
Anna (Hidden Ponies) says
These are beautiful! Bullying of any kind makes me sad – among adults who know better it is truly tragic and ridiculous. The coconut is a great addition to lemon cookies, I can’t wait to try these.
[email protected] says
Carla,
What a wonderful post.
I was attracted to the photo (I’m taking an online food photography class to learn how to make my brown foods look appetizing) but found I loved your words even more.
Thank you.
Kim Beaulieu says
I wuv you and your cutie cookies lady. People are just way too brave behind a computer screen. When I heard how bad things got for Carrie it made we want to cry. No one deserves that.
My mom raised me to have manners, and it shocks me how many people don’t have them. I always try to say please and thank you, even at the drive thru. I figure someone might need that little gesture. It takes no more effort in life to be nice than mean, so for me nice always wins out.
Allison (Spontaneous Tomato) says
These cookies look lovely and delicious! I just read the two blog posts about cyber-bullying that you linked to as well. Thanks for informing us all a little more about this issue!
Alex says
Some people just take blogging too seriously… :/
p.s. Great-looking cookies.
Kelly @ IdealistMom.com says
My favorite, favorite cookie EVER is the chocolate crinkle cookie. So I will definitely be trying these! Just pinned it :-)
Dru @ Teenage Cakeland says
I’ve dealt with a lot of bullying in my (16 yrs of) life and without it I can’t even imagine how different of an environment I would’ve grown up in and how much better my self esteem would be. Thanks for taking the time to write this post. And the cookies look great!
Aviva says
These are delicious! Lemony flavor, great texture and not too sweet. I didn’t get 24 though, more like 20. Will definitely be doubling next time. I used white whole wheat flour, coconut oil instead of butter and added 1 tsp lemon extract. My husband and I , as well as our guests, loved them!
Carla says
Glad you enjoyed them!
Stephanie says
Hi Carla! These cookies are FANTASTIC. I doubled the recipe so I could make the cookies a bit bigger in size, used coconut oil instead of butter, subbed half whole wheat, added a bit of lemon extract, and thoroughly ground the lemon zest into the sugar before combining with the coconut oil. Even with those changes they came out perfectly and taste like heaven! Thanks so much for the recipe :)
Carla says
Glad you enjoyed them and thanks for sharing your adjustments!
Kelsey says
I only got 11 small cookies out of this recipe, you may want to double the recipe for the full 24 or quadruple it because they’re so darn good!
Carla says
Hmm maybe you made them larger than the 1 inch as directed?
Angelika says
Mine didn’t turn out at all, the lemon flavour was very weak :(
Carla says
Sorry it took me so long to get back to you, but I wanted to make the cookies again before responding. Thanks for the feedback. Although I liked them the way they were written, I did adjust the recipe a bit and added in some lemon extract. Hope that helps.
meaghan says
These are GORGEOUS! And I have to pin and make them. Thank you so much for linking to my cyber-bullying post! For all the wonderful, kind folks on the internet, the meanies stay with me the most, sadly. I just can’t wrap my mind around their behavior. But kindred spirits in the community like you always boost the blogworld up!! Thank you!
Amy says
Love this ray of sunshine message and agree 150%! My 7yo little baker asked me to find a lemon coconut cookie recipe, and I ADORE the simplicity of your ingredients, and we can’t wait to try them. If I don’t have lemon extract, would lemon EO or pure lemon juice work instead, and what do you think the adjustments would be for those? Thanks in advance.
Carla says
I wouldn’t use lemon juice because it’ll mess with the ingredient ratio. I’m guessing you can use a few drops of the oil but haven’t personally tried it. You can also skip the extract altogether and double the amount of lemon zest.
Vidhi Chauhan says
Is there any substitute for egg in this?
Carla says
None I have tested. You can google and see if any egg substitutes will work. Let me know if you try any!