Last week I was in search of the perfect macaroon recipe for a holiday shin-dig we threw this past weekend. I tried one by Ina Garten, but found the use of sweetened coconut and sweetened condensed milk to be explosively sweet and sticky (I was bummed, I usually love the Contessa's stuff!). Well, we had holiday cookie bake-off at work the week before our party, which provided some much needed inspiration. The blue ribbon winner were in fact macaroons, shaped like pyramids, dipped in chocolate and topped with gold and silver and were neither too sweet nor too sticky; I knew this was the recipe.
I chose to make the little pieces of heaven as small snowballs rather than the larger pyramids, as most party goers prefer small bites of lots of little treats; and while I did dip them in chocolate, I chose to keep it simple and forgo the gold and silver. Well, it was quite the hit, and I had a couple people request the recipe; gotta share the love! The key ingredient here is unsweetended coconut. It's really hard to find – my coworker got it for me from a co-op in town – but it's the must-have ingredient that makes these particular macaroons so yummy. You can also purchase the kind featured in the photo here on Amazon.
Ingredients:
5 1/4 C unsweetened coconut
1 3/4 C sugar
7 large egg whites
pinch salt
2 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 t almond extract
1 t vanilla
Dark chocolate morsels
Preheat the oven to 350. Mix the coconut, sugar, egg whites and salt by hand until well blended. Blend in the butter and extracts. Refrigerate for at least an hour (I refrigerated for a couple hours, and they stuck together really well!). Scoop a small tablespoon onto your hand and form a ball. Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, about 1" apart. Bake until edges are golden, about 15 minutes. Cool completely before taking them off the parchment. Heat an handful of chocolate morsels in a small bowl in the microwave until melted, and dip each macaroon so half is covered by the chocolate. Place back on parchment until chocolate dries.
I forgot to take a photo in the mad rush to prep for the party, so sorry about that! But trust me, they were fab!
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