Wright Eats

When there is ice cream, there are macaroons.  For years, I wondered what to do with leftover egg whites after making ice cream or a custard dessert.  Then I hit upon David Lebovitz’s coconut macaroon recipe and no longer have this problem.  These macaroons are what you imagine the perfect macaroon to be – chewy inside, toasted coconut outside, with a touch of honey flavor.  Now, I sometimes find myself wondering what sort of egg yolk recipe I can make just so that I can have some leftover egg whites.

Since we made ice cream on Saturday, I made a batch of macaroons yesterday afternoon.  Dipped in chocolate, they’re about the best use of egg whites I’ve found.

Coconut and Chocolate Macaroons
From Room for Dessert, by David Lebovitz
Makes 30 Cookies

4 large egg whites
1¼ cups sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey
2½ cups unsweetened coconut (see note)
¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

In a large skillet, mix together the egg whites, sugar, salt, honey, coconut and flour.

Heat over low-to-moderate heat on the stovetop, stirring constantly, scraping the bottom as you stir.

When the mixture just begins to scorch at the bottom, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Transfer to a bowl to cool to room temperature.

(At this point, the mixture can be chilled for up to one week, or frozen for up to two months.)

When ready to bake, line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Form the dough into 1½-inch mounds with your fingers evenly spaced on the baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until deep golden brown. Cool completely.

To dip the macaroons in chocolate, melt the chocolate in a clean, dry bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or in a microwave.) Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap. Dip the bottoms of each cookie in the chocolate and set the cookies on the baking sheet. Refrigerate 5-10 minutes, until the chocolate is set.

Note: We purchase our unsweetened coconut in bulk from Whole Foods.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 10:19 pm and is filed under Cookbooks, Recipes, Sweets.