Coconut Macaroons

recipe from Barefoot Contessa

I'm always very anxious to get things moving along to spring after a cold winter.  This year has been unreasonably warm this winter, but I was still ready to swap out winter decor for imitation grass and bunnies.  

Coconut macaroons make me think of springtime.  Is it the coconut?  Or the fact that it's officially spring tomorrow and I had an urge to make these on the eve of?  For whatever reason, I made these and think they're delicious.  I also wanted to try out a different spin on these cookies and make them festive-looking.

How cute are these??  They're supposed to resemble little robins egg nests.  It only takes one simple step to make these ones different, and I'll tell you how a little later.  Here is the recipe!

I N G R E D I E N T S

(keep in mind, these amounts are doubled because I made two different batches, so if you want to make just one recipe, make sure to half everything!)

--2 14 oz. cans sweetened condensed milk

--2 tsp. vanilla

--1/2 tsp. salt

--2 14 oz. bags shredded coconut

--4 large egg whites, room temperature

(not pictured)

--green food coloring

--semisweet chocolate, melted

--mini Cadbury eggs

D I R E C T I O N S

--Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, toss in egg whites...

 --And don't forget the salt!  And mix these babies on high until medium-hard peaks form.

 --In a separate bowl, dump in the coconut,

 --sweetened condensed milk,

--and vanilla and mix together until completely combined.

--Like so!

--To make the nests version, just add the LITTLEST BIT of green food coloring to the coconut and stir it until it's evenly distributed, then continue on with the steps of adding in the milk and vanilla.

--Add in the egg whites and gently fold them into the coconut.

--With an ice cream scooper, scoop the coconut batter onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and pop them in the oven for about 25-30 minutes, or until the tops turn golden brown.

--Take them out and let them cool for a minute before adding a little chocolate to the top of each one (completely optional!!!!)

 --To finish the nests, take a small 1/4 tsp. spoon and create a compression in the middle of the cookies.  These cook for the same amount of time, 25-30 minutes.

 --Once they're done, add some color by sticking on a few Cadbury chocolate eggs and call it good!

 --They could honestly stand in for Easter decorations.

XOXO