Coconut Macaroons

Years ago, I had boss who would bring me four coconut macaroons on a weekly basis from a little bakery that was near his house.

It only took me a couple of weeks to realize that those macaroons weren’t really for me. Well, they were, but they were for me in pretense only. It became a little routine that we had, every Wednesday morning the little bakery box would be sitting on my desk when I came to work. We would sit at my desk, and enjoy a macaroon…and we’d discuss the weekly report that was due on Friday. I would then leave the box containing the other two macaroons on my desk, and they would randomly disappear throughout the day.

It was an unspoken understanding.
One was for me.
Three were for him.

The other day I was sitting at my desk with my usual morning cup of tea, and I started thinking about the macaroons. It’s been so many years, but there are times that I miss that little routine. I miss that weekly macaroon. I don’t, however, miss that weekly report….

I came across some coconut in my refrigerator yesterday morning, and knew right away what I was going to do with it. Within a half hour, there were a dozen coconut macaroons sitting on my counter.

Coconut macaroons can be found in cookbooks from as early as 1725. Earlier versions were made up of leftover mashed potatoes, covered in chocolate and topped with roasted coconut. Once they became commercial, the mashed potatoes didn’t have a very long shelf life, and eventually, the potatoes were replaced with fondant.

According to Wikipedia, this particular recipe is most popular in the United States, Australia, The Netherlands, and Germany. It goes on to say that they’re commonly coated in chocolate, and at times almond slivers are mixed in. And apparently in Australia, raspberry jam or candied cherries are hidden in the center before they’re baked.

Almonds? Cherries? Chocolate? There’s a good chance I’ll be making these again very, VERY soon…

Coconut Macaroons
Makes One Dozen

A quick note:  Over the years, I’ve collected a lot of recipes, either by tearing them out of magazines, or newspapers.  Some I’ve acquired from friends.  Most of them I’ve changed up to suit my own taste.  This recipe was torn from a magazine, but I don’t remember which one, or when.

The original recipe actually calls for almond extract, but I actually use vanilla paste for this.  It is super fragrant, and the cookies are speckled with pure vanilla.  If you don’t have vanilla paste, you can use the almond extract, or vanilla extract.

2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla paste
¼ tsp salt
3 cups shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix together the sweetened condensed milk, egg white, vanilla, salt, and shredded coconut until well blended.

If you have a cookie scoop, drop mounds of the coconut mixture onto the parchment lined baking sheet. If you don’t have a cookie scoop, measure a heaping tablespoon for each macaroon.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Of course, I couldn’t leave well enough alone, and with a melted piece of a Cadbury’s Dairy Almond bar, I made a couple of Almond Joys with them. Luckily I only made two, or I would have eaten the whole batch!!

Enjoy!