Recipe--Oatmeal Coconut Crisps

Here is a recipe I have made every year for about 12 years or so, maybe longer. I am including both of my favorite variations. The cookies are chewy if somewhat underbaked, but we like them crisp, and they store better that way in any case.

Oatmeal Coconut Crisps With Variations

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup flaked coconut, chopped fine--I use unsweetened, as there's sugar enough in this recipe.

Additions
For the Orange-Chocolate variety:
1 Tbsp grated orange zest and 1 tsp orange extract OR 1/2 tsp all-natural orange oil (culinary variety, please!!)
Bittersweet chocolate

For the Almond-Chocolate variety:
1/2 to 1 tsp almond extract and 3/4 cup finely chopped toasted almonds.
Semi-sweet chocolate.

To make:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease baking sheets or line with baking parchment (I do the latter--so much less work!).
Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the brown and white sugars.
Add the vanilla and the two eggs, beating after each addition [for the Orange variety, beat in the zest and orange extract or oil as well; for the Almond variety, beat in the almond extract]
Add the sifted ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture a bit at a time.
Stir in the oats and the flaked coconut [for the Almond variety, stir in the chopped almonds here].

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons on prepared baking sheets, 2" apart (these really spread out!)
Bake for 10-13 minutes, until just browning on the edges. Let sit 1-2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove to racks to finish cooling.

To finish the Orange variety, I usually drizzle with fine stripes of melted bittersweet chocolate (line the cookies up on a wax paper-lined tray, put not-too-hot melted chocolate into a plastic baggie and snip the tiniest bit off a corner, then go back and forth across the cookies). Place the tray in the fridge for a few minutes to harden the chocolate.

To finish the Almond variety, I dip half the cookie in melted semi-sweet chocolate and scrape the bottom with the flat edge of a butter knife to remove the excess. Place on a wax paper-lined tray and cool in the fridge for a couple of minutes.