Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, with a cloak of rich dark chocolate thrown over one shoulder, these are not your usual mushy, bland, overly sweet macaroons. The contrast in textures starts with the smooth, ever-so-slightly bitter layer of chocolate, then comes the crackle of thinly sliced almonds and shards of toasted coconut, and finally the pillow-y moist coconut in the center.
One key to getting the right texture is to form the coconut balls lightly, without compacting them. They should hang together, but just barely, and all those little pieces that stick out around the edges are the bits that will get golden brown and crisp, so don’t make the balls too perfectly rounded.
Remember the last time you made cookies that were dipped in chocolate or some other kind of coating? Did the recipe give you just barely enough of whatever the coating is, so that for the last couple of cookies you were scraping around, circling the bowl with the cookie and trying to pick up enough to cover it? These cookies are so craggy and have such an uneven edge, if you don’t have enough chocolate in the bowl — more than enough, actually – the last cookie will have nothing to wear.
The answer is to melt extra chocolate of course, so even the last cookie has a nice pool to dip into. But what to do with the leftover chocolate after all the cookies are dipped? I take a spoon and dollop the extra chocolate onto the chocolate edges already on the cookies, making it extra thick. Chocolate is expensive (and the best part) so scrape up every bit and the cookies will be better for it.
Speaking of which, use the best chocolate you can find for these cookies. I buy my baking chocolate from a local candy company that sells bars of the same chocolate they use for their amazing candies. If you have a premium chocolatier near you, that’s the way to go. If not, well-stocked grocery stores often carry premium brands of chocolate, such as Callibaut, in the gourmet foods/cheeses section. Experiment with different chocolates until you find one you like. Whatever you do, don’t use chocolate chips – they contain stabilizers and will produce a harder, less creamy coating.
When I make these cookies I sometimes make half a batch – just 7 or 8 cookies. There are only two of us after all. The recipe is extremely easy to halve, no fractions of eggs or anything like that. Use half the bag of coconut (3½ ounces, or about 1 1/3 cups loosely packed) and save the other half for another use. You’ll only need one baking sheet, so you can bake it on the center rack.
Making these ahead and what to do with leftovers:
- These cookies will keep a few days in an airtight container at room temperature. After the first day, the crispy edges of the coconut start to soften. They’re still good (and way better than store-bought macaroons), but as time goes by they’ll lose a bit of that great contrast of textures that takes them over the top. I prefer not to freeze these, but you could if you have leftovers you can’t use; they’ll be softer than fresh-baked.
To see this dish as part of a menu, and for a complete game plan including timing for all dishes, see my post for Saturday, November 9, 2019.
This recipe is slightly adapted from Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons by Susan Branch.
Chocolate-Dipped Macaroons
Source: Susan Branch
Ingredients
- One 7-ounce bag sweetened flake coconut
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- 4 egg whites
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 10 ounces highest quality semisweet chocolate, chopped
Directions
- Step 1 Heat the oven to 325 degrees with racks in the upper and lower thirds. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Step 2 In a large bowl, toss together the coconut, sugar, flour and almonds until they’re completely combined.
- Step 3 In a small bowl, beat the egg whites, vanilla and almond extracts lightly with a fork, just to loosen the egg whites and combine them with the extracts. Pour the egg mixture into the coconut mixture and use your hands to toss everything together until thoroughly combined.
- Step 4 Use your hands to scoop out a small handful of the mixture and gently form it into a ball about 2 inches in diameter. Don’t pack or compress the ball, just gently form it until it stays together. Place the ball on a baking sheet. Form the rest of the cookies and arrange them on the sheets, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Gently press down on the top of each cookie to spread it out just a little – not to smash it, just to flatten it a little so it’s not a tall round ball.
- Step 5 Bake the cookies for 25 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the centers no longer look wet. Halfway through the baking time, switch the baking sheets from top to bottom and rotate them front to back so they brown evenly. When the cookies are done, remove them from the baking sheets to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Step 6 Put the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. (Using a smallish bowl will give you a deeper pool of chocolate for dipping, just leave yourself enough room so you can stir the chocolate without spilling it.) Microwave the chocolate on low (30%) power for 2 minutes, then stir it. Continue microwaving the chocolate in increments of 1 minute, stopping and stirring in between, until the chocolate is almost completely melted. Stop heating it when just a few small chunks remain, and stir it until it’s completely melted and smooth.
- Step 7 Line a baking sheet with waxed paper or parchment. Dip one edge of each cookie in the chocolate, then transfer the cookies to the wax paper. When you’re done dipping the cookies, scrape up any remaining chocolate with a spoon and dollop it on top of the chocolate already on the cookies to thicken the chocolate edge. Let the cookies sit until the chocolate is completely cool and firm before serving or storing them.
