Coconut macaroons

It is always a pleasant surprise when after years of not liking a particular food, you eat something that changes your mind about it. My first time eating coconut macaroons was like that. Since I can remember, I have avoided coconut in sweet preparations. I can eat as much coconut chutney as one possibly can, and I love coconut-based curries, but the combination of coconut and sugar has always been problematic. Even though I really enjoy the flavour of coconut, I find its texture too dry when it is dessicated. It feels, much like it is with soaked almonds, that you could chew it till the very end of eternity, but make absolutely no difference to it. In macaroons, the crunchy outside and dense inside both do wonders in masking the dryness of coconut flakes. Of course being dipped in chocolate doesn’t make matters worse either.

I hadn’t eat coconut macaroons in at least a couple of years and only remembered them once again while thumbing through our brand new copy of Irma Rombauer’s classic cookbook Joy of Cooking. With only five ingredients, they are a very easy cookie to make. I really wanted some chocolate in my macaroons, but didn’t have the patience to melt chocolate and dip each one in it, so I cheated a little. In half the cookie dough, I tipped some chocolate chips and proceeded as usual after that.

Coconut macaroons
Adapted from Joy of Cooking
(makes about a dozen and a half cookies)

⅓ cup condensed milk
½ egg white
1 tsp vanilla
A pinch of salt
1¾ cup shredded coconut
½ cup chocolate chips (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a bowl, combine the condensed milk, egg white, vanilla and salt. Then add the shredded coconut and until combined.

3. At this point, if you like, add the chocolate chips to half the cookie dough.

4. Drop about a tablespoon of dough for each cookie, about 2 in. apart on to the baking sheet.

5. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and then store in an air-tight container.