Choco-coco Macaroons

Okay, I recognize that these do not photograph very well... 

This year my husband and I celebrated four years of marriage.  We have known each other much longer than that, but we hang out hat on celebrating only our wedding anniversary. Of course since Scrunches came along, anniversary celebrating has taken a slight back seat to birthdays and mothers day and fathers day.  My husband is a wonderful man, but gift giving is not always his forte.  He usually ends up asking me what i want for whatever event and I drop not-so-subtle hints and get what I basically asked for.  It works out well.  This year for our anniversary though, he said he had this gift in the bag. 

[side note: he totally did.  he got me guitar lessons.  I bought myself a guitar when I graduated from grad school as a gift to myself.  I never took lessons.  So the darn thing has sat in my possession for the last... oh... 8 years only being goofed around with and not actually played.  Unless you count when I taught myself to play Silent Night... which is a stupid song to learn when you don't celebrate Christmas.]

This picture may be worse than the first one.  I apologize.  I promise amazing pictures in the next post.

Cue my panic for not having a clue as to what to get him.  Being very preoccupied with family emergencies that arose, a first birthday party for Scrunches (post on that forthcoming), and day to day life... I never had time to think of a gift.  So i figured I would turn (in part) to what I knew best: baking.  I thought I would make him a dessert he loves... macaroons.

There are two types of macaroons in the world.  The fancy french macaroon (or macron) like these ones I posted here, and the more casual everyday coconut macaroon.  While I am a fan of type number one, my husband is a fanatic for type number two.

These macaroons are not like your everyday typical coconut macaroons.These are a sort of hybrid between a french macaron and a coconut macaroon.  There is a chewy meringue like cookie with coconut mixed in.  Its the best of both worlds.  Marrying the french macron I love with the coconut macaroon my hubby loves. [how is that cheesy metaphor for you?]

Lets get baking!

Choco-coco Macaroons

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces semi or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 3 large egg whites
• 1/4 dutch pressed cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 package dried sweetened flaked coconut

Directions:

In a double boiler melt chocolate, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and allow to come to room temperature.

So much chocolate and delicious vanilla.  Mmmm.

Beat egg whites lightly with a whisk.  Do not allow to foam up, but a little froth in the whites is okay. Mix in the cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and vanilla until well combined.  Stir in the coconut, taking care to completely coat the coconut with the wet mixture.

I could have just sat and ate this as batter with a spoon.
 But raw egg whites and all... so do so at your own risk (I totally did this).

Refrigerate for one hour, or until the batter is firm.  In the meantime go watch some tv or read a book. Or chase the baby around the house to protect the cat from having his tail pulled.  Whatever strikes you.

Preheat over to 325 degrees.  I used a small cookie scoop to portion the cookies, but you can use a tablespoon if you do not have one.  Drop heaps of batter on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet (you will probably need two for all the batter) about two inches apart.  Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies seem to be just set.  They will be shiny when they are ready.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for ten minutes before removing from the pan and devouring.

Seriously my husband and I ate the entire batch in one sitting.  One batch makes about 24 cookies.  Um, yeah.

Enjoy!

Source: Joy of Baking