Coconut Macaroons

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Family Style

I made these one year for Passover and couldn’t believe how easy they were to make – and how much better they taste than the ones in the canister! This time around, something possessed me to melt a lonely bittersweet chocolate baking bar that had been skulking about in my cabinet. Do you have any idea how much chocolate that is when it’s melted down? It’s a lot. So I drizzled a few cookies. Then I dunked a few others in an effort to use up the chocolate more quickly. Then I just used a spoon to eat it. No need to get carried away. These are lovely just plain, too.

  • 14 oz. sweetened shredded coconut
  • 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 4 oz. bittersweet baking bar (60% cacao), optional
  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  • Combine the coconut, condensed milk and vanilla in a large bowl, mixing gently. Using an electric mixer (hand-held or stand), beat the egg whites and the salt until medium-firm peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture very gently, taking care not to deflate them.
  • Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop the batter onto the pans using a teaspoon. You should have about 20 cookies that are about 2 inches in diameter. Place one sheet on the middle rack and one sheet just below it on the next rung down. Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the pans. Bake for another 10 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on racks.
  • If you are using the chocolate, break it up and melt it over a double boiler, or in the microwave at 50% power. If you use the microwave method (which is what I did out of sheer laziness), warm it one minute at a time and check after each minute as not to overdo it. When most of the chocolate is smooth and just a few large chunks remain, continue stirring until smooth. Use a spoon to drizzle chocolate decoratively over the cooled cookies, or dunk half of them into the chocolate and allow them to dry on parchment paper.
  • Quick Tips
  • 1. I do a lot of my typical grocery shopping at Whole Foods. You will not find the coconut or the sweetened condensed milk there, probably because they’re not…um…whole. I could be wrong about this, but none of the three locations I’ve checked in the DC area have these items.
  • 2. I can never remember to take the eggs out beforehand so they’re room temperature. My trick is to set them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes. By the time you get the other ingredients out, they’ll be close to room temperature.
  • 3. The chocolate dunking wasn’t as easy as I thought. I had to finish them off by spooning chocolate over the halves to fill in the holes I couldn’t get with the dunking method. That’s the last time I answer the call of a beckoning bittersweet bar. Sheesh.
  • 3. Keep the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They’ll stay fresh for a few days this way.

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)

Cooking time: 25 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 20 cookies

One response to “Coconut Macaroons”

  1. Lynda says:
    March 22, 2013 at 3:08 pm

    Too funny – we do think alike! These look great. I’m going to eat one right now.

    Reply

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