coconut macaroons....bottoms dipped in chocolate...then dipped in toasted almonds!
man! i used to love (and still do) almond joy candy bars as a kid! these are way better...and i'm glad, now, that i was too busy during the holidays to make these....because i made them tonight...FOR DINNER of course!
1 c. egg whites (about 6 large eggs)
2 1/2 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla
2 T. honey
double-boiler fashion, bring the above to temp. i whisk and whistle while i work. heat this mixture to the point where the sugar has just dissolved. how do you know if it's dissolved? well, stick yer fat finger in it, brainiac, and rub it between yer fingers...or lick it off your finger. this isn't rocket science for cryin' out loud! if it still has a granular feeling, then keep going.
in another large bowl, mix the following:
2 1/4 c. flour
1# shredded coconut...nothing fancy...the cheap stuff from the grocery store
once the sugar of the first mixture has dissolved, pour it into the flour/coconut bowl. mix well. chill out! since i refuse to wait any longer than necessary, i spread this gooey mess out onto a cookie sheet and throw it in the fridge. wait 5 minutes and you're ready to rock-n-roll!
ok, so you've pre-heated your oven to 300 degrees. next, i use a little icecream scoop...oh, i dunno, 'bout a tablespoon size scoop or so...spray'er down w/ a little PAM so the gooey mess slips on out easy-peezy-lemon-squeezy. place the scooped ooey-gooeys on a cookie sheet just so. having chilled down properly, these blobs won't spread all over the cookie sheet when baking so you can put'em kinda close together. and, i recommend using parchment paper....or a silpat. MOVING ON....(we have cookies to eat!) throw those babies in the oven (midrack) and set your timer for...well, let's start with 20 minutes. DING! are they done? probably not, but good to check just in case your oven is running hot. my oven certainly was not running hot...i baked my babies for 24 minutes...nice golden bottoms and slightly golden on top! precious! let them chill out a bit before trying to remove from parchment/silpat....they need to set up a smidge.
now, if you wanna hunker down on the cookies as-is, knock yourself out. me? there's gotta be more...it can be better...we have the technology! ok, so while the babies are bakin' away, do the darned dishes!
now, into your original bowl...the one w/ the egg whites-n-stuff...all nice and clean now, throw about half a pound of chocolate chips in it...milk chocolate...dark chocolate...i don't care...whatever you like, and just throw that puppy back onto your double-boiler...or pot of simmering water. it doesn't need to be on...just put it there and let it melt. i said, "let it melt!" reading between the lines, "just let it be...don't be messin' with it...stirring it up ever 5 seconds....just put it on there and leave it!" then, grab a handfull of nuts (easy there, buddy!) like almonds! oh...maybe a cup of nuts or so. throw those DIRECTLY INTO THE TRASH! (you chef/baker folks out there will, i hope, get that totally hilarious joke!) no, but seriously, throw yer nuts into a skillet and pop those into the oven with the cookies....or do this before...or do it after...i don't care...point is, toast yer nuts and give a good chopity-chop!
OK...MOVING ON...so, your chocolate is meltin' away....the coconut gooey-butts are bakin' away...the nuts are toasted, chopped and waitin' for further instruction....most of the dishes are now cleaned and you can almost taste the nummies already. we're in GOOD shape!
the last part is a no-brainer...you know what to do. take your chilled out cookie and dip its little golden booty into the melted chocolate...then dip'er down onto those chopped nuts, place on another cookie sheet lined with parchment...wait a bit for the chocolate to set and CHOW DOWN!
MMM'MMM! SO GOOD! SOOOOOOO EASY...I MEAN...REALLY! i only baked off 30 of these tablespoon-sized cookies and easily consumed 20 of them in 90 seconds. oh..no...what i meant was that i was about 1/3 of the way thru my "dough". so, yer lookin' at about 6 dozen cookies.
now that creating this post as well as catching up on my correspondence has taken half of the night, it's almost breakfast time...and you know what that means? MACAROONS!
UPDATE: i doubled the size of my cookie and cook time was 32 minutes.