Jíbaros

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar (and optional blackstrap molasses or orange zest) together on medium speed of 5 minutes, until light and fluffy.
3. While mixing, prepare the dry ingredients. Mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda (and optional cinnamon & espresso powder) in a medium bowl and set aside. In a food processor, pulse the base cookie dough ingredients —rolled oats, dried unsweetened coconut and nuts— until roughly chopped (the oats should be a mix of rolled oat chunks and some fine oat flour). Set aside.
4. Scrape the bowl with the creamed butter and sugar, and add the vanilla and aquafaba (and optional orange blossom water). Beat until combined, about 1 min. Add half the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until combined. Then repeat with remaining dry ingredients. Scrape the bowl.
5. Add the oats, coconut and nuts from the food processor into the cookie dough, and mix just until incorporated. Finally, stir in your remaining mix-ins like chocolate, almonds, pecans, coconut, dried fruit, etc. The dough will be thick and chunky, but not dry.
6. Using a 3 Tbsp/1.5oz/45ml/50mm cookie scoop, scoop dough onto baking sheets leaving room for spreading (6 cookies per sheet is perfect). Bake for about 12 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the middle has just set (but still soft to touch). Adjust cooking time if you use a different-sized scoop. Allow cookies to cool on the pan until they are set, then move to a wire rack to cool until nearly cool - now you can eat one!
7. Repeat with remaining dough, or you can refrigerate the dough for another time. Just allow it to soften and mix before scooping - they won’t come out exactly the same but they’re good. Store baked cookies in an airtight container.