It's that time of year - the time when I see a lot of pink, hearts and chocolate all over food blogs and food link sites. Let's do something completely different, shall we?
The recipe I have to share with you today is for coconut macaroons; delicious melt-in-your-mouth meringues that are easy to make and even easier to eat. This is a recipe from 1999 that my Mum has written down in her recipe book and it's an absolute classic in my house!
Ingredients
3 egg whites
167g caster sugar
60g desiccated coconut
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp corn flour
Method
1. Preheat your oven to 110 degrees C (230 F).
2. Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks.
3. Bit by bit, add the caster sugar, beating well in between. Once all the sugar is added, beat the eggs until they form firm peaks.
4. Beat the vanilla essence and corn flour into the eggs.
5. Gently fold the desiccated coconut into the mixture.
6. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag with a star tip and pipe swirls onto a baking tray covered with baking paper or a silicone mat. You can make these whatever size you like (just make sure that you adjust the baking time) - I like to make mine so that you can eat it in one to two bites.
7. Bake the macaroons for about 50 minutes to 1 hour or until they are lightly golden, dry and firm on the outside. You really want to dry these out so they're good and crunchy and don't stick to the baking paper/silicone.
Usually at my house we bake them then turn the oven off and open the door and let them sit in there (as we steadily snack on them) to dry out completely.
8. Let the macaroons cool and enjoy!
When straight out of the oven, the macaroons will be chewy in the middle but once cooled, they are crunchy all the way through. You can eat them by themselves or sandwich them with ganache or Nutella or something of the sort. I like them plain because you can just pop them in your mouth and munch.
This blog has been running for many moons now, and I'm not entirely sure why I haven't ever posted this recipe. For years, I supplied a cafe with this particular lemon slice and was making it at least once a week (and with a long time of this, I was a little tired of it). After I stopped supplying the cafe, I usually only made this slice once per year, for my brother's birthday. However, since it's been so long, the wounds have healed and I'm ready to dive back in to lemon slice and fully embrace its delicious beauty once again! Given that it's one of the favourite desserts of most of my family, this comes as a joyous occasion for all of us.
The slice itself is so simple to make, no baking required, and tastes absolutely wonderful! It also suits a range of tastes because it's not overly sweet - the fresh lemon of the icing blends perfectly with the sweet biscuity base.
Ingredients - base (21 x 31 cm (8 x 12 inch) brownie tin)
250g butter
1 x 400mL can condensed milk
2 x 250g packets Marie biscuits
2 cups desiccated coconut
Ingredients - icing
500g icing sugar
50g butter
Approx 8+ tablespoons lemon juice
Extra desiccated coconut for garnishing
Method - base
1. Melt the butter and condensed milk, mix until combined.
2. With a large Ziploc bag, crush the Marie biscuits with a rolling pin. Make sure to use a sturdy bag and squeeze all the air out, because it may burst if you aren't careful! You want the biscuits to be in small-ish chunks.
3. Combine the crushed biscuits, coconut, as well as the butter and condensed milk mixture in a large bowl.
4. Once everything is mixed (ensure that the biscuit crumbs and desiccated coconut are all combined with the wet butter and condensed milk), press the base into a brownie tin lined with baking paper. It needs to be well compressed for best results - I use a plastic rice scoop for this!
5. Put the base in the fridge to begin firming up, and start making the icing!
Method - icing
1. Using a firm spatula, use wiping motions to incorporate the butter into the icing sugar. I use a smooth plastic rice scoop for this, and press the butter into the icing sugar as if I was spreading butter on toast.
2. Add the lemon juice one tablespoon at a time, mixing in between. You want the icing to be spreadable but not sticky - so you can form it into a smooth ball.
3. Press and spread the icing onto the base until it's of an even thickness.
4. Score lines in the top of the icing with a fork or some other spiky implement. I have a plastic scrapy...thing...that makes it easy to get quick lines.
5. Sprinkle the icing with desiccated coconut and leave in the fridge to set completely.
6. Once the icing has hardened, chop the slice into bars or squares (or little bite sized pieces for easy consumption).
Enjoy!
This recipe was my first experience with browning butter and it was quite an education. I loved how the butter smelled after it was browned, and the dough tasted absolutely divine! Unfortunately, I thought that the baked biscuits didn't have as much of the browned butter taste, but they were still delicious and chewy and coconutty.
Recipe Adapted From: Joy the Baker
Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp bicarb soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup choc chips
Method
1. Preheat oven to 175 C (350F).
2. Line a baking tray with baking paper and spread the coconut out on top. Put it in the oven to toast for about 5 minutes until golden brown. I leave the oven door open and keep a sharp eye on it, because it can burn easily! Once the coconut's brown, take it out of the oven and set aside.
3. Brown your butter! Place the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. It will bubble for a while and then start to brown.
Once the butter is well browned, remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the butter into another receptacle and allow it to cool. I was terrified of burning my butter so it ended up as this golden colour, but yours can be darker that that!
4. Beat the cooled browned butter, white sugar and brown sugar together in a mixer. The mixture will look grainy, but don't worry!
5. Add the egg and egg yolk and beat until combined. The mixture should now look smooth.
6. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.
7. Add the flour, bicarb soda and salt and incorporate.
8. Stir the coconut and chocolate chips into the dough.
9. Bake tablespoon-sized balls of dough and bake in your preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. They should still be soft in the middle! Let them cool on the tray for a bit and then transfer them to a wire rack.
Or, you could just eat them.
These are the best blondies that I've ever tasted. They taste a lot like these choc chip cookies due to their brown sugar base, but they're chewy from the coconut, crunchy and nutty from the macadamias, and the white chocolate adds a bit more sweetness.
Plus, this recipe can be done completely by hand - no intense beating required!
Recipe adapted from: Brown Eyed Baker
Ingredients (20 cm (8 inch) square cake tin)
115g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
95g butter
135g brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 tsp vanilla essence/extract
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup macadamia nuts
85g white chocolate or white chocolate chips
Method
1. Toast your coconut - either under the grill setting of the oven, or in a frypan - until golden brown.
2. Preheat the oven to 175 C (350 F).
3. Chop your chocolate and macadamia nuts into large chunks.
4. Melt the butter in a large bowl.
5. Whisk the brown sugar into the butter until combined.
6. Add the egg and vanilla, whisk until combined.
7. Fold the flour, baking powder and salt into the batter with a spatula until just combined.
8. Stir the coconut, white chocolate and macadamias into the batter.
9. Working quickly, pour the batter into a 20cm x 20cm square pan lined with baking paper.
My batter turned very thick after I added the coconut so I had to spread it out to the corners.
10. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the top looks cracked and golden brown.
11. Allow to cool in the pan for a bit and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Then, go ahead and chop it up into whatever sizes you choose!
