Chocolate Sandwiched Coconut Macaroons

How to make Chocolate Sandwiched Coconut Macaroons | Easy Coconut Macaroons Recipe

Outside my window its a beautiful sight I marvel. Tender fresh leaves on trees are full grown and creepy green patches have embraced the ground covering every little stretch of open land available. As the skies cried over the past few days, the shrubs and weeds colonized themselves, densely populating our backyard as far as my sight can go. I wake up these days to sounds of birds tweeting in unison, winds swaying slowly, the leaves fluttering gently - it's music to my ears against the silence I have long borne. That makes me ridiculously peppy and dreamy. From dreary drizzle to swarm of bright pillow-y clouds interspersed with streaks of some sunshine, that's how the weather Gods have been lurching around for a while.

The past weekend, we saw an awesome weather. The kind that summers are like. The one that lets you feel less burdened with weight of clothes you put on. People fluttering around in sunglasses, hats, bright cottons, loose pants and floral prints. Sipping their ice tea and licking ice creams. Driving cars with their window panes down to let the mild breeze blow in. Parks flocked with family picnics and beaches busting in magnetic colors, rapt in sun-bathing. With traffic on the roads more than I ever saw. With people busy pruning their gardens and nurturing flowering shrubs as butterflies flapped by. It gave signs that the summer was here. Just a hint.

The met department forecast 9ºC yesterday. It rained and stayed dreary cold all day long. Today its 12ºC, warning us more cloud and showers for the day. This has been the case since the past three days. Though spring is in its full bloom it seems like summer will take longer than usual to make its way here. And mind you, I still have major challenges at conversions from ºC to ºF, grams to ounces, kilometers to miles, and all metrics American. Google at my rescue here, it's 54ºF today.

Back in India, I've hardly cared to read weather updates through any day of the year. Here it seems more evident to follow the weather forecasts. Honestly, I never thought I would speak so much weather here, but alas I am.

That clearly means we remain confined indoors. It wrapped up all my plans to take my daughter out on a walk to Walmart or the nearby mall and sign-off shopping gifts for my folks back home. Instead we stayed home and baked to feel cozy indulging.

So what if the summer isn't here yet, we baked some summer at home with these Coconut Macaroons today. I whisked the whites and sugar, while she threw in the coconut. We watched together as it baked, half in excitement and rest in ambush as these came out warm and golden from the oven. We just made up a good team together. These macaroons are crisp on the outside and sweet chewy inside. We felt mighty good adding a dose of Chocolate Ganache, made from the dark 70% bittersweet chocolate, that was gifted from a dear friend who visited us from Boston a while ago. Its optional and can easily do without, but icing on these darn little beauties is certainly a treat.

Chocolate Sandwiched Coconut Macaroons

INGREDIENTS

For the Coconut Macaroons:

1 1/2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt

For the Chocolate Ganache:

1/2 cup dark chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. sugar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites along with sugar, vanilla, and salt. Whisk them until the whites and sugar are completely combined and the mixture is frothy. Next add in the shredded coconut to the egg white mixture and stir until the coconut is evenly moistened. Shape the coconut macaroon mixture into small balls as shown above. Place them on a baking tray spacing them an inch. Bake the macaroons for 15 minutes. Check if they have turned golden brown, else bake another 2-3 minutes further till light brown. Remove the macaroons from oven and cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes. Then gently transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the Chocolate Ganache:

Heat the cream in a small saucepan. It just needs to get hot, not boiling. Add the sugar and the chopped chocolate and stir well till it's homogeneous. Cool the ganache and use it to sandwich the macaroons.