Coconut-ginger cookie experiment, continued:

In this trial, I used coconut oil instead of shortening/butter, and added 2 tsp. coconut extract. I did two batches; one was with the original molasses, and the other was with an equal amount of honey instead.

That's the honey cookie on the left, and the molasses on the right. I actually baked these weeks ago, but it took me forever to get around to uploading this picture from my phone. Oops.

Things learned:

• You still can't taste any coconut.
• Honey cookies spread just a little bit more than molasses cookies, but not problematically so.
• Molasses has a slightly stronger flavor than the honey, and I think it stands up to the spices a little better. The spices seemed more... obvious, in the honey cookie. Honey was still a perfectly acceptable substitute, though.
• Putting the dough in the fridge for a long time really solidifies it. It does soften up when you work with it, if you can dig a chunk out with a spoon, or leave it out on the counter to warm up a bit. I discovered this the next day; I didn't bake it all at once, because there was a lot of it. I'm going to roll it into balls, roll it in the sugar, and freeze the dough like that for later baking. I never thought I'd see the day that I could bake cookies faster than I could eat them.
• [Upon finally uploading the picture to this post and coming back to it, I report the results of freezing the cookies: instead of 10 minutes to bake, it takes 13. The cookies spread less, and they're softer on the inside (while still being crunchy on the outside) - a little closer to my ideal, actually. I don't think I can overstate how impressed I am at this result. You can do all the work of cookies far ahead of time, stick them in the freezer, and then have hot, fresh cookies right out of the oven any time you want. The dough balls held their integrity really well in the freezer, too - they didn't smash together pre-freezing and be hard to peel apart at all. They're just... hard dough balls. Easiest cookies ever; I am so totally doing that more often - mixing the cookies, rolling all of them into balls and in sugar, baking just enough for the day's cravings, and then freezing the rest of them.]
  

Remaining questions:

Did I get a bum coconut extract? Is it really not powerful enough, or are the spices too strong? (I meant to halve them, but I forgot.) I'm going for a very unsubtle coconut flavor, without resorting to flaky coconut bits. I really hate the texture of those.

I don't know whether I'll try the next iteration with molasses or honey. I think I like the molasses better - perhaps from long familiarity - but the honey seems like it might let other flavors come through better.

Alternatively, at Joy of Baking they have a substitute table that suggests you could replace molasses with "3/4 cup (180 ml) light or dark brown sugar heated to dissolve in 1/4 cup (60 ml) liquid" - what if I used coconut milk for that liquid?