Food Network Magazine (December 2010)
Every December, you can count on the holiday issues of all the food magazines to be overflowing with cookie recipes.
Maybe it's us, but this year's issues seem to have even more cookies than usual, dazzling arrays of snickerdoodles, shortbreads, thumbprints, haystacks, gingerbreads, iceboxes, meringues, Linzers and on and on and on.
We're not complaining.
After all, if you're ever gonna make a cookie, now's a good time to do it!
Also, call us crafty, but "making holiday cookies" sounds a little fun, and we start to imagine a day spent making all kinds of beautiful creations that get wrapped up in little boxes and given to friends.
Well, that's not going to happen, but we thought we'd do our part with these Snow-Capped Macaroons from Food Network magazine. We love coconut, and the notion of a classic macaroon dipped in chocolate and topped with sugar sounded too good to pass up.
The recipe for these is pretty simple -- mix everything in a bowl, spoon onto baking sheets, bake for 20 minutes, then cool. Then you make a super-easy chocolate glaze and dip each cooled macaroon halfway in.
As you can sort of tell from our photo, we didn't have the large-crystal sugar called for in the recipe, so ours ended up being "Macaroons with a Light Dusting of Snow." But the lack of a beautiful snow cap didn't stop anybody from eating them!
The result is delightful -- lovely little bites of toasted sweet coconut with a semi-sweet chocolate cap. For us, it doesn't get much better than that. Although we're happy to keep sampling other kinds of cookies, just to make sure...
What cookies are you planning to bake this year? Let us know in the comments!
Snow-Capped Macaroons
Food Network Magazine (December 2010)
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(This Photo: Food Network Magazine)
- Cook Time: 20 min
- Level: Easy
- Yield: 36 macaroons
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 2 large egg whites
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds, crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups sweetened shredded coconut
For the Glaze:
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- Coarse sugar crystals, for decorating
Directions
Make the cookies: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly beat the egg whites in a medium bowl until frothy, then stir in the granulated sugar, almonds, vanilla and salt. Fold in the coconut.
Drop tablespoonfuls of the batter 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Dampen your hands and form into tall pointed mounds. Bake until the edges are golden brown and the macaroons look dry, 16 to 20 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Make the glaze: Put the chocolate, corn syrup, butter and 3 tablespoons hot water in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave until melted, about 2 minutes. Whisk until smooth.
Dip the tip of each macaroon about halfway into the glaze, then place on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse sugar, then refrigerate until the glaze sets, about 1 hour. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.
