My husband brought home strawberries — they are on sale at our local grocery store.  Usually when vegetables and fruits are on sale, they are in season and we rarely buy fruit unless it’s on sale because it is so expensive, and we don’t eat a lot of fruit.

You probably know that unfortunately strawberries are on the Dirty Dozen list of fruits and vegetables which are high in pesticides, so you may want to buy organic strawberries in making this recipe.

This from The Daily Green:

Strawberries are always on the list of dirty dozen foods, in part because fungus prompts farmers to spray, and pesticide residue remains on berries sold at market. Nearly 60 different pesticides have been found on strawberries, though fewer are found on frozen strawberries.

Strawberry Shortcake Medallions Coconut Flour Cookies Dairy Free

• 1 pound of strawberries, de-stemmed, cored and sliced thin
• 1/3 cup and 1 Tablespoon Tropical Traditions Gold Label Organic Virgin Coconut Oil**
• 1/2 cup and 2 Tablespoons Bob’s Red Mill Organic Coconut Flour
• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• vanilla bean caviar from 3″ vanilla bean, optional

Rinse and clean thoroughly 1 pound of strawberries.  Remove the stems and the cores, and slice thinly.  In a pan with a thick bottom, melt one tablespoon coconut oil.  Add the strawberries.   Bring to a boil and reduce heat so that strawberries are simmering.  Stir regularly – about every five minutes.  Simmer at low heat until strawberries have reduced to one half cup of jam.  It took about 50 minutes for mine to reduce to 1/2 cup.  Allow the strawberry jam to cool thoroughly before proceeding to the next step.

Sift coconut flour and pack into 1/2 measurement, being sure to cut the excess off the top with a straight knife.   Place into a bowl, along with remaining coconut oil, eggs, honey, vanilla and vanilla bean caviar.  Whip with a hand mixer until mixed well.  Allow cookie dough to sit for five minutes to allow coconut oil to absorb the liquids. The cookie dough is very soft.  Please refer to the photo below to see what the texture should look like.  If the dough is too soft it will be very smooth looking.  With the right amount of coconut flour added it will have a thicker look to it.

Place cooled strawberry jam in with the cookie dough and lightly stir.  You want to have a swirled effect in your cookies.

Preheat oven to 325°F.  Lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Drop by level tablespoons onto the cookie sheet.  Moisten fingertips with coconut oil and lightly pat and tap the cookie dough into a round shape.

Bake for 10 minutes.  Cookies will lose their shiny look when done, and will feel firm to the touch.  If pressing lightly leaves a dent, bake 1-2 more minutes.

Makes 27 cookies. Printable recipe available at the bottom of this post.

**If you order by clicking on any of my Tropical Traditions links and have never ordered from Tropical Traditions in the past, you will receive a free book on Virgin Coconut Oil, and I will receive a discount coupon for referring you.

These Apple Pie Medallions are yet another variation of my coconut cookies.   They are light and moist and taste like apple pie!  Especially when you get a bite of apple.

Apple Pie Medallions Coconut Cookies

• 1 Red Delicious apple weighing ~6-3/8 ounce, once peeled, cored and diced = 1 cup apple
• 1/2 cup and 1 Tablespoon Gold Label Organic Virgin Coconut Oil
• 1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill Organic Coconut Flour
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Peel and core apple.  Saute in 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil over medium heat for 11 minutes or until soft and lightly browned.  Stir frequently.

Sift the coconut flour to remove any lumps.  Measure one half cup of coconut flour and go ahead and pat it down (you don’t want it to measure fluffy just from sifting or you will have much less flour than in my recipe), and use a knife to scrape across the top of the measuring cup.  I have learned with coconut flour you really need to get precise measurements (I should begin weighing for best accuracy). Add to a medium sized mixing bowl.

Add the remaining ingredients (except for the apples) into the bowl with the coconut flour.  Use a mixer and blend until thoroughly mixed. Allow to set five minutes so that coconut flour can absorb the moisture. Once again this is a very moist batter.

Add the sauteed apples to the batter and mix.

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Drop by measured tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet.

Oil your fingers with coconut oil and lightly pat each dropped shape into a small round cookie.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until cookies lose their shiny appearance and are firm to the touch.

Yields: 30 cookies

This post was shared at Fat Tuesday on May 14th, 2012.

These are my new measuring scoops: Good Cook 4-Piece Measuring Scoop Set.

The cheap stainless measuring cups broke at the handle and that became quite annoying, hence my investment in these professional grade stainless steel measuring cups some time ago: Amco Advanced Performance Measuring Cup Set #8440

Unfortunately, I’m not the only one that likes to use my nice stainless steel measuring cups… my sons think they are dipping bowls or drinking vessels since when it’s time for me to cook I am rarely able to locate the entire set.  I’m hoping these scoops will not be as tempting as the stainless steel ones have been.