Coconut macaroons

Three pieces of my universe came together to create these macaroons. 

First, I have this idea that when I was young we baked macaroons. I can't think of why that would be, because it doesn't precisely fit into my cultural cuisine heritage, but for as long as I can remember, I've made them on my own. And my thinking is that that had to have started somewhere. 

Second, and similarly, for as long as I can remember, I've been on an earl grey kick. Earl grey tea. Earl grey truffles. Earl grey macarons (not yet macaroons, mind you). 

Finally, I have this notion about coconut macaroons that they must be made with almond paste (almost marzipan), and not just condensed milk, as many recipes call for. Recently, I was spending way too much time at the grocery store—which, candidly, I always find fascinating—and I noticed that Odense Almond Paste was suddenly labeled gluten-free. [For context, it contains some number of ppm of wheat starch and, as such, had been out of my reach for a long time.]

Thus the origin of these coconutty items.  

Ingredients

1/2 cup egg whites, room temperature
1+ teaspoon pure vanilla bean paste
1-7 oz box of almond paste, grated
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1-14 oz package sweetened flaked coconut

Milk chocolate
Earl grey tea

White chocolate
Lime, zested

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. 

2. Using a mixer, beat egg whites together with extracts into soft peaks.

3. Grate the almond paste. In a separate bowl (or, ideally, in a food processor), beat grated almond paste, sugar, and coconut until crummy. 

4. Fold egg whites into almond mixture.

5. Pressing the dough firmly together, shape and drop hefty tablespoons of dough onto the parchment paper.

6. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until lightly bottoms around the bottom edges. Broil for top color as desired.

7. Cool entirely before embellishing as desired.


Some flavor/decorating ideas (the first two of which I ended up doing)

Mix finely ground earl grey tea into melted chocolate. Dip half of each macaroon into the mixture. 

Melt white chocolate. Stripe melted chocolate on macaroons. Sprinkle with lime zest for a tropical complement to the coconut.

Mix cocoa into batter before baking.

Press an almond into the top of the macaroon before baking. Once cool, stripe with milk or dark chocolate.

Press a craisin into the top of the macaroon before baking. Once cool, stripe with white chocolate.

Dip the base of each macaroon in chocolate.

Don't do that

Not thinking, I used foil instead of parchment paper. Foil is less than ideal for an especially sticky base. Don't do that. Instead, use parchment paper.

I painstakingly grated the almond paste by hand. Only to have it clump together as soon as I manually and then with a stand mixer with the coconut and sugar! Don't do that. Instead, crumb the dry mixture using a food processor to keep the ingredients evenly distributed.

Envisioning massive, bakery-size indulgences, I use a 1/4 cup measure cup to portion my macaroons, ending up with 16 macaroons! Don't do that. If you use a either a heaping tablespoon or an 1/8 cup, you'll yield 30+ macaroons that are significantly less likely to intimidate all the other macaroons around them.



These are great. They are moist and sweet and big and beautiful. And again, on an earl grey kick here, so these really do work for me.

For next time, I'm considering using unsweetened coconut so I can actually eat more than one. Perhaps a great coconut macaroon experiment will be in order.

Adapted from www.odense.com.