Hey readers, friends, and family! At this very moment, I am writing this weeks post from 36,000 feet in the air. This marks my first time writing a post from an airplane and on an iPad. I must say that It takes some getting used to, this attempting to type an entire post on a larger touch screen, but very fun! I thought i would share this tidbit, but enough of that, onto food! Nothing brings me more joy when it comes to my cooking than tackling a recipe for one of my favorite foods. The icing on the cake is when the experiment turns out delicious and appetizing. In recent years, I have recreated some of my favorites at home. A few of my favorites include: my tomato basil sauce, mu shu, braised short ribs, the perfect roast chicken, and now, macaroons.
On a very positive note, recreating a favorite can save you tons of calories in and at the same time save money. In my home, these are two things that I am thrilled about and what continues to excite me about cooking. Passover was last weekend and although my mom told me of 4 desserts that were going to be on the table, I couldn't imagine her holiday table without coconut macaroons. My very talented sister had made some of the best macaroons I have ever eaten last year and she had mentioned how easy they are to make. From there, it was just finding the perfect recipe.
This recipe is courtesy of Smitten Kitchen's food blog. I read her recipes religiously and for good reason. She manages to make anything and everything sound accessible and doable by anyone that has a kitchen. I selected The Smitten Kitchen blogs take on macaroons because the author tried tons of different recipes to get to her own ultimate recipe. I followed the recipe to the letter and was very pleased with the end result. The only small issue I found with the recipe was that we only came out with somewhere closer to 30 cookies, not 50. Nevertheless, they were worth every penny spent on ingredients and every moment spent from start to end.
Raspberry Coconut Macaroons
Yield: Makes 30ish 1 1/4-inch cookies
Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 30-45 minutes
Ingredients:
14 ounces (400 grams) sweetened, flaked coconut
2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated sugar
3 large egg whites
Heaped 1/4 teaspoon flaked sea salt or level 1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 pint (6 ounces, 170 grams or 1 1/4 cups) fresh raspberries (if washed, patted very dry)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a food processor, blend the coconut for a minute. Add sugar, blend another minute. Add egg whites, salt and almond extract and blend for another minute. Add raspberries and pulse machine on and off in short bursts until they are largely, but not fully, broken down. (I counted 13 pulses. I might have been a little obsessive, what with the counting.) Some visible flecks of raspberry here and there are great. When you open the machine, you’ll see some parts of the batter that are still fully white while others are fully pink. Resist stirring them together.
With a tablespoon scoop batter into 1-inch mounds. You can arrange the cookies fairly close together as they don’t spread, just puff a bit. Scooping a little of the pink batter and a little of the white batter together makes them look extra marble-y and pretty.
Bake cookies for 25 to 30 minutes, until they look a little toasted on top. Let them rest on the tray for 10 minutes after baking (or you can let them fully cool in place, if you’re not in a rush to use the tray again), as they’ll be hard to move right out of the oven. They’ll firm up as they cool, but still remain softer and less dry inside than traditional macaroons.
Preheat oven to 325°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a food processor, blend the coconut for a minute. Add sugar, blend another minute. Add egg whites, salt and almond extract and blend for another minute. Add raspberries and pulse machine on and off in short bursts until they are largely, but not fully, broken down. (I counted 13 pulses. I might have been a little obsessive, what with the counting.) Some visible flecks of raspberry here and there are great. When you open the machine, you’ll see some parts of the batter that are still fully white while others are fully pink. Resist stirring them together.
With a tablespoon scoop batter into 1-inch mounds. You can arrange the cookies fairly close together as they don’t spread, just puff a bit. Scooping a little of the pink batter and a little of the white batter together makes them look extra marble-y and pretty.
Bake cookies for 25 to 30 minutes, until they look a little toasted on top. Let them rest on the tray for 10 minutes after baking (or you can let them fully cool in place, if you’re not in a rush to use the tray again), as they’ll be hard to move right out of the oven. They’ll firm up as they cool, but still remain softer and less dry inside than traditional macaroons.
* i adjusted Smitten Kitchens cooking time and baked them about 15 extra minutes because I wanted some extra color and crunch on the outside. I did find that the white was easier to brown than the pink parts of the cookie.
* don't be alarmed if you find the cookies to be a bit wet. The raspberries do make the cookie much more moist once baked off.
* we experimented a bit and dipped the bottoms of 1/2 the batch in dark chocolate. It turned out pretty well, but they are just perfect on their own.
All in all this was a no muss and no fuss macaroon recipe. I think that everyone at our Sedar enjoyed them. They certainly brightened the holiday table with their pretty pink color and tasted great! I would make them again next time I have a craving for coconut or for a get together with s coconut lover. The cleanup is a cinch too because you do all of the labor in the work bowl of your food processor. A bonus is using the parchment on your cookie sheets which makes for speedy cleanup too. Thanks Smitten Kitchen for another great recipe and for inspiring me to keep experimenting.
Until next time, happy eating!
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