My mom loves coconut so especially for her I made these delicious macaroons. I’ve never used almond paste before so I was apprehensive of what exactly it did and how it worked. I had some trouble shredding it, watch your fingers!, but used a microplane with large holes and shredded it right over the bowl. When it softened up and began to mush in my hand a bit, I just reformed it into a cylinder shape and kept on shredding.

©EverydayCookingAdventures 2014

I used a large flatware spoon and my hands to form the macaroon balls. This helped them stick together better and they baked evenly without oozing much. I love peeking at them through the oven window as they browned and they took the full 20 minutes to really set. After they cooled for about 30 minutes on a wire rack, I dipped half of them in a little semi-sweet chocolate melted over a double boiler setup with pots on my stovetop.

Ready for the oven! ©EverydayCookingAdventures 2014

I took the first bite and approved and had another! Now for my mom to give the final approval tomorrow! Here are my macaroons:

Odense Coconut Almond Macaroons ©EverydayCookingAdventures 2014

Chocolate Coconut Almond Macaroons

Recipe from: Odense.com

Yield: 20 cookies
Hands-on Time: 20 minutes
Baking Time: 18-20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup egg whites, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 box ( 3 1/2 oz.) Odense Almond Paste, grated
• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 7 oz sweetened flaked coconut
• Optional: Melting chocolate, to drizzle over cookies or dip them in

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment.
2. In large bowl beat egg whites and extract into soft peaks.
3. In separate bowl beat grated Almond Paste, sugar and coconut until the texture of small crumbs or use food processor. Gently fold egg whites into almond mixture.
4. Pressing dough firmly together, drop tablespoons of dough 1 inch apart onto cookie sheets (small scoop with wire release works well).
5. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until lightly browned on bottom and firm to the touch. Cool pans on wire rack. When cookies are cool enough to handle transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Store in an air-tight container between sheets of wax paper.