A few weeks ago, I was able to tag along on my hubby’s business trip down to Los Angeles. While we love San Francisco, Gabe and I are recent additions to this busy, chilly city! Gabe lived in Southern California for 12 years, and I was born and raised there. Sunny weather and salty beaches are in my blood, and I was bouncing at the chance to wear my tanks and rainbows again!
We had been back in So Cal over the holidays visiting family and friends, but it had been so busy and so full! This time, I only gave my mom and one of my best girl friends the heads-up that I’d be on my way, and was able to spend three quiet days with each of them while Gabe rocked the socks off his colleagues.
Janell is one of my dearest loves, and we are both trying/encouraging each other to be healthy! But, one night after dinner, we both had a ravaging sweet tooth, so we packed her two adorable boys into the car and headed out to see what we could find to go with our coffee. We landed on some chocolate dipped macaroons, and they were AMAZING. The coconut smell always reminds me of long, lazy, warm summers by the water and the chocolate was rich and decadent.
This week, while drinking my morning coffee and thinking back to my time with Janell, I started to crave those macaroons again. So, I did some research on foodnetwork.com to see what I would need to make them. I scanned through several recipes (examples here and here) before deciding I would run with condensed sweetened milk and no flour.
In the end, I made a dozen macaroons, and they are delicious! Just a few bits of advice: I used a combination of Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 oz) and unsweetened baking chocolate (1 oz). I find that the Ghirardelli chips melt much more easily than other chocolate chips do, and the 1:1 mix with the baking chocolate provides a thicker chocolate shell. I also like my chocolate pretty dark (72% is my fav!), so adding the unsweetened baking chocolate balances out the sweetness from the coconut and condensed milk nicely. Enjoy!
Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons
Ingredients
7 oz sweetened shredded coconut
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 egg white
Dash of salt
1 oz Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 oz unsweetened baker’s chocolate
Directions
Preheat your oven to 325 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (So important! The condensed milk is sticky, and it’s much easier to get the macaroons off the parchment than the baking sheet!)
In a medium bowl, add coconut, condensed milk, vanilla, and salt. Mix until well blended.
In a second small bowl, beat your egg white with an electric mixer until stiff white peaks are formed
Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the beaten egg white into the coconut mixture.
With two tablespoons, create equally sized macaroons and place them on the baking sheet approximately one inch apart.
Bake for 25 minutes, until they are golden brown on top and underneath.
Let cool to room temperature.
Once cool, take Ghirardelli chocolate chips and baker’s chocolate and melt either using a double boiler, or in a microwave-safe glass bowl for 30 second increments, stirring between each 30 seconds.
NOTE: while the baking chocolate breaks into 1 oz pieces, the chocolate chips can be trickier to measure! I have a small scale from my chemistry teaching days (similar here)
that I use when cooking. Don’t forget, 1 oz = 28.35 grams!
Dip cooled macaroons into the chocolate, and then place on a wax paper lined baking sheet to cool in the refrigerator.
Enjoy!
