Coconut Macaroons with Bittersweet Chocolate

I’m in denial these days.  No, not the river {although I have been there…}.  I’m in Christmas denial.  I’m crouched in the corner, fingers in my ears, chanting “La, la, la, la, la!  I can’t hear you Christmas!  You can’t catch me!”  I’m working under the assumption that it’s inherently better to just pretend that Christmas is still a whole month away and it’ll get here….eventually – at a pace that meshes better with my procrastination and budget.

If we’re going to be honest, with that attitude my Food Blogger Cookie Swap matches are really lucky I even remembered to bake these macaroons and mail them out.  I still have to BEGIN Christmas present-making for my family, let alone complete strangers!  But that’s what I love about this year’s Food Blogger Cookie Swap.  It gets me in the holiday mood.  Or at least starts.  Excitedly waiting for the mailman to come with little tightly wrapped packages of sweet, sugary goodness; furiously clicking “F5” so that the USPS Track and Confirm page updates and I can see if my matches have received their cookies; tracking #fbcookieswap and sharing in the excitement of others.

When I was younger, Christmas was all about receiving.  As kids, we don’t yet have an understanding about how good it feels to give, not just receive.  Our worlds are so me-centered. Christmas morning is all about good breakfast and tearing open that pile of gifts that everyone bought you.  And that’s ok; we’re kids.  But now as an adult, I have learned to appreciate and even anticipate giving things I enjoy to others and seeing (or reading) their excitement and joy.  I could feel my excitement and impatience building not only to receive my cookies, but for my matches to open and enjoy the ones I mailed out on Monday.  I was excited to be a part of a complete stranger’s Christmas and to make someone’s day just a little bit more exciting.  And I think that’s far better than any Barbie or movie or book I ever tore open as a kid.

And now I’m on my way to start cooking and baking and crafting for my family.

These tasty cookies went out to Anita at Confessions of a Foodie,  Nick at Macheesmo, and Christine at Ruminations on Food!

Big thanks to Veronica from Veronica’s Cornucopia for her Sneaky Snickers, Hannah at Cats and Commas for her cranberry-chocolate biscotti, and Lisa at Tequila Cupcakes for her ginger spice cookies!  All were SUPER yummy!

To participate next year, sign up here.

 
Coconut Macaroons with Bittersweet Chocolate
From Two Peas and Their Pod
Makes 18-20

2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg white
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups sweetened coconut
About 10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (or chips)

Preheat an oven to 325°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. The parchment paper is very important here. You cannot substitute aluminum foil, as the cookies WILL stick to the foil!

In a medium bowl, mix together the sweetened condensed milk, egg white, vanilla and salt until combined. Mix in the coconut until all the coconut is coated with the sweetened condensed milk mixture.

Using a spoon or small ice cream scoop, form 1 1/2 to 2 Tablespoon size balls and place them on the parchment lined baking sheet, leaving 1 inch between the balls. The balls won’t grow much at all, so make them the size you want the finished product to be.

Using damp fingers, squeeze the “dough” together and form the balls into little mounds.

Bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Let them cool on the tray for 5 minutes as they firm up and then remove them with a spatula to a cooling rack.

While the cookies are cooking, place the bittersweet chocolate (either chopped or chips) in a heat proof bowl and microwave for 30 second bursts, stirring between each cycle.

When there are only a couple chips still formed, remove the bowl from the microwave and stir the chocolate to finish the melting process.

Once the cookies have cooled, dip them one by one in the chocolate and place them back on the (now cool) parchment lined cookie tray.  After dipping all the cookies, you can use a spoon to drizzle more chocolate on top of the cookies.  Let them cool on the counter or in the freezer for a few minutes so the chocolate will re-solidify.