Chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons

Last year, my friend Caroline on Crack hosted a Holiday Treat Exchange — a gathering of holiday sweets and recipes and excessive sugar-highs — and I completely overextended myself by attempting to master the French macaron.  It took about 12+ hours of baking to churn out a decent macaron, with plenty of burnt and deflated batches as collateral damage.

For this year’s Holiday Treat Exchange, it seemed fitting that I follow up that ambitious project with an equally tasty but deceptively simpler one: the macaroon.  Yes, there is a difference between a macaron (the French almond cookie) and a macaroon (a cookie typically made with coconut and egg white).  I was inspired by Penny Ann Habeck Shawana’s recipe that I found on All Recipes, which I tweaked a bit to make my own.

For other recipe ideas, check out the desserts shared by the other Holiday Treat Exchange guests — I’ve included links to their recipes at the bottom.

Makes 15-18

3 c sweetened flaked coconut
4 T all-purpose flour
1/4 t salt
4 egg whites
1/2 c sugar
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t almond extract
12 oz. semi-sweet or dark chocolate

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the coconut, flour and salt.

2. In another mixing bowl, make a meringue: beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form.  Slowly add the sugar in three parts until the meringue is glossy — it should look like Cool Whip as it appears in commercials (not in real life!). Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts.

3. Fold the meringue into the coconut and flour mixture.  The meringue will deflate slightly; the mixture will become gooey.

4. On baking sheets lined with parchment paper (or oiled with nonstick spray), spoon the mixture onto the sheet by the tablespoonful.

5.  Bake in the middle of the oven for 18-20 minutes, taking care to make sure that the bottoms of the cookies do not burn.  Take out of the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

6.  Prepare the chocolate.  In a double boiler (or a glass bowl suspended over a large pot of water), melt the chocolate until it becomes smooth and creamy.  Dip the macaroons in the chocolate and place on baking sheet.  Cool in refrigerator for at least 1 hour; these can be stored overnight.  Let come to room temperature before serving.

Holiday Treat Exchange recipes:
Caroline on Crack’s Persimmons Crumble
LA OC Foodie’s Chocolate Bourbon “Pousse” with Drunken Cranberries
Busy Beth’s Praline Grahams and her sister’s No-Bake Chocolate Haystacks

All the recipes (and videos!) in one convenient spot: Blogger Holiday Treat Exchange 2009