Coconut (Meringue) Macaroons

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.