Cookie Calendar: Toasty Coconut Macaroons

I don't think a whole lot of my family members give coconut its just due. It's delicious, sweet, and tropical-tasting. Coconut also has a nice chew to it, enough to give you time to contemplate the wonder that is coconut as you consume a bit of macaroon.

I know some of you out there like coconut. Scott professes an undying love for it, after all. But I sure wish you'd eat more of my coconut macaroons.

Coconut macaroons are a perfect Christmas cookie! Not only are they rich and sweet, they look like a mound of snow! How can you beat that?

I forget every year which recipes I've tried more or less successfully in the past (it's often the same way with cut-out sugar cookies, though I'm certain I've used yesterday's Crisco recipe before). I may have used this one in the past -- I do have it saved, after all -- but I don't know if I've every taken the time to toast the coconut before baking the cookies. They get toasty enough while baking, I think, and besides, I want them to look like snow!

If you are testing various recipes, I'd recommend avoiding the macaroon recipe in my dearly departed (as in seemingly lost forever) baking book, How to be a Domestic Goddess, by Nigella Lawson. I made them at least twice, and they always turn out to be a sticky mess.

Cookie Tip #13: When you're planning a pre-Christmas baking blitz, look carefully at your selected recipes before you begin. Not only will you want to evaluate your pantry and make a full shopping list, you'll want to decide when exactly you'll make all these cookies. Doughs meant to be chilled can be made first and parked in the refrigerator until you have the time to bake and decorate them. Drop cookies can be made whenever you have a pocket of a couple of hours. Delicate cookies such as macaroons and those with intricate frosting, though, should be saved for the last minute so that you can store them flat at room temperature. Plan on freezing the rest (after they've cooled!) as you bake them off to keep them fresh-tasting.

Toasty Coconut Macaroons
Source: Alton Brown
Yield: 40 cookies

• 4 large egg whites


• Pinch salt


• ½ cup sugar


• 1 package (8-ounce) sweetened shredded coconut, lightly toasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixer fitted with a whip attachment. whip egg whites and salt until they become white and begin to stiffen. Add sugar in 3 parts. Continue to whip until the egg whites are very stiff. Using a rubber spatula fold in toasted coconut.

On parchment lined cookie sheets, drop a teaspoon of the mixture leaving 1 to 2 inches around each cookie. Place into the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The outside should be golden brown but the insides should still be moist.

Download Toasty Coconut Macaroons into MacGourmet.