Chocolate Coconut Macaroons

Whoops, I baked again. Yes, I know this means three days in a row.

You know how sometimes, you look down and see that bowl of [insert cookies or chips or grapes or etc. here] is completely empty? And then you realize you must have unwittingly ate it all without paying attention?

I do that, except in the reverse. I look down to realize I'm suddenly carrying a fresh pan of cookies or cupcakes. It's lucky that I don't sleepwalk, or else I'd probably end up sleep-baking.

Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating, but I really didn't mean to bake today, especially since I just made cupcakes yesterday. But honestly, I've been going out of my mind waiting for grad school admission decisions, and I had to do something to distract myself (and playing Pokemon was only going to make the tendinitis in my wrist worse).

Plus, I had leftover condensed milk from my fudge sandwich cookies that needed to be used, so I made a quick little recipe I found in my cookbook: chocolate coconut macaroons.

Coconut macaroons are not to be confused with regular macarons - both start with an egg white base, but then coconut is added to the macaroons, while almond flour is added to the macarons. The macaroons end up being all coconut-y and lumpy, while the marcaron sandwiches are smooth and delicate.

This particular recipe uses condensed milk instead of egg whites as the base, so I guess that can't really be considered real coconut macaroons. But they were easy to make and helped me use up some ingredients that I've had sitting around (the condensed milk and the coconut).

These turned out decent, except for the fact they glued themselves to the parchment paper and refused to come off. I should have either baked them for less time or removed them from the parchment immediately after pulling them out (which in hindsight, is what the instructions said...guess I was too easily distracted tonight).

Instead, I ended up cutting them off the sheet as best as I could. I had to leave the entire base behind and just take the rounded tops, so I guess I have more of a coconut truffle than a macaroons. But still, tasty.

Now, off to do other things that are distracting...

Chocolate coconut macaroons (makes about 16-20)
Recipe adapted from Best-Loved Chocolate Recipes

• 1 oz of semi-sweet baking chocolate (I used Baker's)
• 1 1/3 cup of shredded coconut
• 1/3 cup/102 g of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp of imitation vanilla (I ran out of extract - if using pure vanilla, use 1/2 tsp)

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Melt chocolate, either in microwave or saucepan over the stove. Stir until smooth. 
3. Mix in coconut, milk, and vanilla. 
4. Drop 1 tsp balls of the mixture onto cookie sheets. Even if using parchment paper, I'd suggest greasing them well. This is a sticky recipe!
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set. 
6. After removing from oven, remove the macaroons immediately from the cookie sheet (before they cool and become permanently stuck).