Fresh Coconut Macaroons

"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts deedle-leee deeee..." Okay so I just had one coconut, but that song [from The Lion King, for those of you wondering] has been stuck in my head ever since I bought the darn thing (almost two weeks!).  Anyway, I was at the produce store, and in the middle of the fruit display was a box of coconuts with a sign "$0.99 each" hanging over it.  I bypassed it by on a mission to get lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and garlic thinking "That's interesting; I don't think I've ever seen coconuts for sale here before."  On my way to check out I walked by the box again, and I couldn't help myself.  I reached my right hand out and snatched one up.  It felt like a hollowed tree branch yet slightly imbalanced so I shook it and heard liquid sloshing around inside.  "Oh I'm definitely buying this now", I thought.  "I have to see what this is about."  So I headed home with my coconut.  I proudly showed Ryan my new find when he arrived home from work.  He mentioned that it wasn't going to taste like the store-bought coconut flakes.  "What do you mean?" I naively said seemingly forgetting that mother nature doesn't infuse insane amounts of sugar in her produce.  "What are you going to do with it?", he asked.  "I have no idea."...and so the search for a recipe began.  There are very few recipes using fresh coconut aside from those that suggest it be used as a vessel for fruity drinks.  I think I have a pretty good idea why, but I digress.  Back to the matter at hand, I settled on a recipe for macaroons thinking they would be a perfect spring dessert.  Naturally, I could just make the recipe as is; I had to tweak it.  So here's my version.  While I don't recommend this recipe for those in a rush or those with little patience I will say that I had fun with the project and I've received numerous compliments on these delicious treats.

 


Fresh Coconut Macaroons

Ingredients  
 
3 cups freshly grated coconut meat (1 coconut yields about 3 cups of shredded coconut meat)
4 tablespoons coconut rum  
2/3 cups light brown sugar
2 egg whites
2 heaping tablespoons flour
Parchment paper


Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a bowl toss the shredded coconut with the rum.  Mix in the brown sugar, egg whites and flour.  Combine thoroughly. 
3. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Place teaspoons of the coconut mixture on to the parchment paper, spaced approximately 1/2-1 inch apart.
4. Bake approximately 22-24 minutes or until the macaroons are lightly browned.

Yields approximately 36 macaroons