Dessert On Hand: Coconut Macaroons

When I was cheating last night, I decided to make some macaroons for the boys and me.  On my meal plan it says that I can have a macaroon after dinner, thought I forget which day.  After looking at the store I decided to make them.  I had saved my egg whites from when I made those coconut smoothies, so I was good to go.

I got the Macaroon recipe from my copy of Nourishing Traditions, a necessity in my kitchen.  Full of recipes, sources for hard-to-find items, breakdowns of fats, carbs, and proteins, meal ideas, and deatiled instructions for soaking, sprouting, culturing and lacto-fermenting, it's one of those books you will use forever.  It covers all the basics.  Now I just need to get my hands on the two volume set of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child and I will be busy for a few years!

Nourishing Traditions is the book Sally Fallon and Dr. Mary Enig wrote before Eat Fat, Lose Fat.  The books share a few recipes, but I am glad to own both.  NT has hundreds of recipes and "how to"s, while Eat Fat, Lose Fat has practical meal plans and explanations of how to lose weight.  They complement each other.

A note on ingredients: 

• Always use grade B maple syrup.  It contains more trace minerals and nutrients.  Also make sure to get organic syrup, since conventional syrup is processed with formaldehyde.  
• Arrowroot powder is a handy item to use in place of cornstarch or white flour.  It thickens sauces without the phytic acid problem of flour, and replaces cornstarch that is most likely genetically modified. 
• Try to find pastured eggs in your area, asking the farmer if s/he uses soy in the feed for the chickens, and if the chickens spend their days outside in the sun.
• Vanilla can be wonderful, and I prefer bourbon vanilla from Trader Joe's.  It's cheap and has a fantastic flavor.  However, I did recently try my hand at homemade bourbon vanilla.  (It was easy!  And very cheap to make.)
• The cheapest dried, unsweetened coconut meat I have found is at Azure Standard, my online co-op choice.

Macaroons

makes 2 dozen

4 egg whites 

pinch of sea salt

2 tablespoons arrowroot powder

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups dried/desiccated coconut meat, finely cut

1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.  Beat egg whites with salt in a clean bowl until they form stiff peaks.  Beat in the arrowroot and slowly beat in syrup and vanilla.  Fold in coconut gently.  

3.  Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment.  Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, until lightly browned.  Then reduce heat to 200 degrees and bake for about 60 minutes, or until completely dry and crisp.  Store in an airtight container at room temperature.