Coconut Macaroons

I’ve never made macaroons before. My mom’s distaste for dried coconut banished them from our family treat menu growing up. As an adult, I’ve never had a hankering for food with this ingredient. I do like macaroons, however. They always seem fancy to me, and I like the light and airy texture. A chef in my office building’s kitchen makes an especially delicious coconut macaroon. I asked her before my attempt if there were any tricky steps. She said no—and was right.

Egg yolks: a lovely bi-product of this recipe

Mount Al'mond

Coconut Macaroons (Page 164-165) come together with the simple steps of whipping and folding. Whip stiff peaks of egg whites with salt, then add sugar until shiny. Ground almond and coconut give these treats good texture, folded in with flour and butter. This gooey mixture is spooned onto greased trays and baked for a quarter of an hour. That’s all there is to it.

An ice cream scoop makes nice round 'roons

I could take or leave the chocolate icing. While I’m a proponent of all things with heavy cream, dipping the macaroons in chocolate made them sticky and much more tricky to store or handle.

Chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons

As cookies go, they’re fairly healthy too. They have Vitamin E from the almonds, lots of nutrients and fiber from the coconut (and there’s a lot of coconut), and protein from a substantial amount of egg whites.