Coconut Yule Trees

Okay this is my last Christmas post, I swear!  Nothing more shaped like Christmas trees until next Christmas!  But these little coconut yule trees are worth it.  This is one of my dad's old recipes that he used to make to give to people at Christmas time, so I decided to do it too.  My mom helped me out like she used to work with him, so it was a fun and special evening for us.

Recipe-wise, these are very easy.  You simply mix together coconut, confectionary sugar, butter, cream and almond extract.  Then it gets a little sticky when you have to form the mixture into triangles (tree shapes, obviously!).  They chill for a bit, and then you can decorate.  We decorated them with some green sprinkles, and wanted Red Hot candies for ornaments but the store didn't have them, so we used some other sprinkles.  And, if you're feeling fancy, you can add trunks and coat them in melted dark chocolate - we thought that was unnecessary.  Either way, they were cute.  My mom said these were the best candies we made, and they definitely made a good addition to our candy gift boxes.

Tonight is the first night that I am both back to work and cooking dinner.  It's hard to get back into the routine!

Recipe:

coconut yule trees
from Dad's old orange recipe folders
yield about 2 dozen trees

Ingredients:
3 cups flaked coconut
2 cups confectionary sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
1/4 cup light cream
1 teaspoon almond extract
green sugar and Red Hot candies

Instructions:

1) In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients and mix well.  Drop by tablespoonfuls not a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet.  Chill for 1 hour.

2) Shape into trees.  Decorate with green sugar and candies.