Macaroons

My general approach to picking recipes for baking had long included avoiding anything that would require me to separate egg whites from yolks and especially anything calling for the magic of whipped egg whites or yeast for that matter. At school, I don't have an electric mixer so I avoid any recipe requiring whipping. But, at home with an electric mixer at the ready, I got gutsy. . . sort of. . . and it was time to conquer my fear of separating eggs.


I did so with a recipe from this very '80s cookbook:Many of my parents' cookbooks are "classic" like this. I decided to make the "french coconut macaroons." I prepared half the recipe due to a limited supply of coconut.

Here's how it went down:

I separated two eggs with my (clean) hands. (The yolks were remarkably reluctant to burst.)

I whipped the egg whites with a hand held electric mixer until (miraculously) stiff peaks formed. (I think they were stiff peaks, they didn't fall when I moved the beater. The whites whipped really easily, kind of like when I discovered that it's easy to whip whipping cream. That's why it's whipping cream, I guess.)

I added a half teaspoon of (my parents' artificial) vanilla extract. I beat it some more. I added 1/2 cup of icing sugar in several additions, beating well in between. I beat the whites some more until they were stiff and glossy.

I folded in a quarter cup of (whole-wheat) flour and a cup of coconut flakes.

I dropped 14 cookies onto a greased and floured cookie sheet and popped them in a 325 F oven. The recipe said to leave them 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Mine were brown after about 15 minutes and looked like this after I let them cool a little and lifted them off the sheet with a spatula.

These disappeared rather quickly as my family enjoyed their light, soft texture and coconutty flavour. I think they were pretty successful and the perfect way to conquer my fear of separating eggs. I still don't know if I could whip the whites by hand though. . . perhaps I will find out.