White Chocolate-dipped Loony Macaroonies

Last week, I made Disco Coco Babycakes, but since I only made coconut afros on the frosting, and didn’t put any coconut in the cake batter itself, I had quite a bit of shredded coconut leftover. Perfect for making coconut macaroons in preparation for the start of Passover this weekend!

Alright, so, no, I’m not Jewish, but I am absolutely fascinated by all the history and tradition associated with Jewish religious holidays because many of the the customs are related to food. Not only are many of the holidays commemorated with a family meal (the way American Thanksgiving is celebrated at dinner), but the Torah presents strict dietary laws that are very much a part of the religion. Though I won’t be doing a Seder dinner this weekend, I’ll be trying my hand at some Jewish recipes as a personal lesson in the culture. Perfect since I’ve been feeling a little under the weather, and matzoh ball soup is considered “Jewish penicillin.” For now, I’m easing into Jewish foods with white chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons, which I am naming Loony Macaroonies – though probably not quite right for Passover with the addition of white chocolate ;)

With only four ingredients that are simply mixed together – coconut, sweetened condensed milk, egg whites, and vanilla – they’re fairly easy to make. Some other recipes include a tablespoon or two of flour, but according to my research, flour is something that is avoided at Passover.

A little baby ice cream scoop would have been helpful in making perfectly round macaroons that were uniform in size, but shaping them like *oooh, fancy word coming up* canelles with two large spoons worked out. Cheaper than running out to buy another kitchen tool! Of course, shaping them by hand would have been a sticky disaster of a mess to say the least. The gooey little things bake in a 325 oven for anywhere between 8 and 25 minutes – quite a large window of time to be “checking for doneness,” but these babies were roasty toasty after about 15 minutes. On the very last one that I scooped out of the mixing bowl, there was a little too much condensed milk, which ended up weeping out into a burnt caramel-y around the bottom edge. Oh well, the best thing about baking? Eating the mistakes :)