Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Chocolate Dipped Macaroons

I admit that this entry is long overdue. My sisters are going through BBB withdrawal, or so they tell me on Facebook. I know I haven’t posted since the beginning of the month. I also haven’t been baking. There were no birthdays for work and I was sick (baking while sick is frowned upon in my book). And let’s be real here: March has been a roller coaster month, hasn’t it? You know that saying, “March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb.” Well, I think it’s been true for more than just the weather this month. I am certainly glad that March is almost over because it means Spring Break is in sight! Just a few more days, then I finally get a break…a chance to live the life of leisure that I’d grown so accustomed to when I started this blog.

Last week was just one of those weeks, the kind that pushes almost over the edge. Recognizing that, I was out of the office on Thursday before 3:00pm. It was an absolute miracle given that I had stayed for 11 and 12 hours the past two days. I left work telling people that if I didn’t leave then, I was going to start hating my job. Okay, so I exaggerate, but I really needed some “me” time. And as you all know, that means I wanted to bake in peace. I wanted to bake for no other reason than because I had a recipe I was dying to try from Brown Eyed Baker. And here it is: Chocolate Dipped Macaroons.


I have been planning to make these for months. My cousin Shannon adores all things coconut and chocolate, and as I have come to realize, so do a lot of people. I’d never made a macaroon, let alone had a homemade one that I could recall, so it’s been on my list of things to bake for a while. I bought the ingredients for this recipe about two weeks ago, but couldn’t find the energy or the time to make them. And this is just ridiculous when you see how easy the recipe is!

I think the hardest part of this recipe was dipping them in the melted chocolate chips. It was hard to wait for the macaroons to cool before dipping them in chocolate, but it was necessary that they firm up on the pan and on the cooling rack to avoid breakage. My little pyramids weren’t strong enough to hold up to the force and weight of the chocolate I was dipping them into. Maybe I didn’t leave them on the pan long enough. I’ve pondered other ways of covering in chocolate, but I’ve been rather uninspired. I was getting chocolate all over everything, which made the photography process difficult.

Anyway, my roommate Pam described these cookies as “the best thing I’ve ever made” and let me keep some at home—which was kind since she refused to let me make her a birthday cake…oh the audacity of her! One of the teachers at my school said he wanted to cut his cookies into smaller pieces to make them last for a week. I don’t know if compliments get any better than those. :) They are delicious and so easy to make. As always, I added more vanilla because I think it makes everything better. I hope you enjoy these as much as my friends and coworkers did!

Macaroons
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg white
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
3½ cups sweetened flaked coconut

Chocolate Dipping
2 cups (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir together the sweetened condensed milk, egg white, vanilla and salt until combined. Stir in the coconut until well blended.
First mix the wet ingredients.
Then add the coconut. Easy peasy.

Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto the cookie sheets. Form the cookies into loose pyramids with your fingertips, moistening your hands with water as necessary to prevent sticking.
Shape the coconut mixture into little pyramids.

Bake, one sheet at a time, until the cookies are light golden brown, 15 to 2o minutes.
THIS is golden brown...in case you were wondering.

Cool the cookies on the baking sheets until slightly set, about 2 minutes; remove to a wire rack with a wide metal spatula.
These cookies really, really need to cool and firm up before you dip them in the chocolate.

Once the cookies are cooled to room temperature (about 30 minutes), line baking sheets with parchment paper again.

Melt 1½ cups of the semi-sweet chocolate chips in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of almost-simmering water, stirring once or twice, until smooth. Remove from the heat; stir in the remaining ½ cup of chocolate chips until smooth.
Melting those chocolate chips!!

Holding a macaroon by its pointed top, dip the bottom and ½ inch up the sides in the chocolate; scrape off the excess chocolate and place the macaroon on a prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining macaroons.
Dip baby dip!

Refrigerate the macaroons until the chocolate sets, about 15 minutes.
Chocolate Dipped Coconut Perfection!!! :)

Enjoy and try to share them‼

Thanks for reading!

<3 Buttercup

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