Coconut and Cherry Macaroons

Several posts ago, I mentioned that three beautiful chums of mine have recently found themselves wearing mopeypants, stressjackets, and/or whimpershoes. I spoke a little bit about how I’ve tried to make life shimmer more brightly for them, but I didn’t give you the whole story.

After all, writing shout-outs of support to friends through my blog might be nice in a virtual and symbolic way, but it’s not quite the same as doing something in the living-breathing-physical world. So I thought I’d tell you a bit more about this living-breathing-physical world, because then you might realise that you, too, can come to me if you need a hug or a lift. I like you folks a lot, and would be honoured to help you fight back the mean reds in any of the following ways:

For example, if you ever needed it, I could write you a poem akin to what I composed for She Who Takes Me To Spin Class And Helps Me Survive It:

Dearest Sparkly Paddlepop
You fill my heart with glee,
And whene’er we have our playdates
I feel glad I’m not a tree.

- Hannah “Poet Laureate” Wayfaring Chocolate

Or, as I’ve mentioned before, I could sneak into your workplace early to put Googly Eyes on your computer, like I did for Jenni:

However, if your yearnings during hard times tend less towards the literary or the artistically-jazzy and more towards the sweet, then I could bake you a batch of Cherry and Coconut Macaroons. These particular Cherry and Coconut Macaroons were made for m’lady who, as a result of getting a fantastic promotion, has been rather frantic at work of late. I wanted to remind her that there is sweetness and light beyond the doom of overtime.

That aside, these sweetly-rich, dense yet moist, perfect-for-a-children’s-party-but-equally-appropriate-for-a-dinner-party-because-of-the-tartness-of-the-dried-cherries macaroons are just as perfect on a good day as they are on a tough day. Which means they’re perfect anytime.

Here’s to happy days.

Coconut and Cherry Macaroons

Adapted from Taste
Makes 10-12

• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 egg white
• 3 tb dried tart cherries, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F), and line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Combine the coconut, caster sugar, and dried cherries in a bowl. Lightly whisk the egg white (this is my suggestion, as I found the egg white [unwhisked] difficult to mix through at first. I think whisking may help in that regard) then tip into the dry ingredients, along with the vanilla extract.
3. Mix really, really well*, then roll into small walnut-in-the-shell-sized balls and place on the baking tray.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until crisp and slightly golden on the outside.

* It may seem at first that one egg white doesn’t provide enough liquid to bind the mixture, but I found that mixing well then pressing spoonfuls of the mixture firmly together with my fingers worked well. I didn’t want to add another whole egg white for fear of making the macaroons taste “eggy”, but that might have been a silly fear!

I’m submitting this to Lisa’s Allergy Friendly Lunchbox Love #5!

Tagged as: baking, cherries, coconut, dairy-free, gluten-free, macaroons