Alton Brown's Macaroon Delight

Hi, I’m Alton Brown and I like cookies, and cake is fine. Pie is good. Ice cream, fantastic, moose and candy tarts that clears all -- very, very nice. But with the cookies, well, they are really the perfect dessert, snack, dinner, lunch -- hey! What can be better for breakfast? Now, there is one specific cookie that is so fattening, so stickily delicious, so downright wrong, that I only make it once a year and that’s at the holidays and I hide them somewhere in here, I speak of course of the Divine Chocolate-Covered Macaroons.

After considerable considerations, I’ve decided to share this recipe with the world not because I want to make a happier place but because I am hoping to protect my own suppy against the rotters and pillagers, so let’s bake.

It all begins of course with coconut. I am using here two 7-ounce packages of sweetened shredded coconut that I am adding one teaspoon of vanilla extract and of course a pinch of Kosher salt which makes everything taste better, at least I think so. Then, the secret ingredient -- two ounces of sweetened condensed milk and simply knead by hand. Then, time to deal with some egg whites, I have here four large egg whites in my stand mixer and I am going to beat those on kind of medium speed with the whisk until they become that relatively frothy. And then, we’ll bring the five ounces of sugar to the party. Do this slowly or else your white could become clumpy and nasty and we don’t want that. Now we are looking for medium peaks -- and medium peaks look pretty much like this. Good to go.

Now, our meringue, which is exactly what this is, is folded into the coconut mixture and stages and you want to -- and mix that best you can without deflating the eggs anymore than absolutely necessary. Once that is fully integrated, we will move that into a tablespoon size mounts. I am using disher to do the job onto a sheet panned lined with parchment. Now into a 325-degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes and you’ll have macaroons. Now let those cool.

In the meantime, put two inches of water into a four-quart sauce pan, and over that place a large stainless steel bowl containing 12 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips and an ounce of vegetable shortening. Stir with a spatula or spoon until it is melted and smooth and luscious. Remove.

Dip your cooled coconut balls into the warm chocolate and then apply chopped macadamia nuts if you like before setting them off to cool and set. You know, this is a kind of classic cookie that’s really best kept not in a jar but in a tin between layers of waxed paper where they’ll keep for like a two weeks. Heck, they’re so good. Sometimes, I eat the wax paper -- I shouldn’t have told you that.