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Coconut Macaroons
1 egg-white
⅓ cup thick condensed milk
1¼ cups sweet coconut
½ teaspoon vanilla
Beat the egg-white until stiff, then fold it into the mixture of coconut and condensed milk. Add flavoring. Drop by spoonfuls on a greased baking-sheet and shape into cakes. Bake in a moderate oven 350° F. until lightly browned.
A three-ingredient macaroon that depends entirely on using the right milk. Everything else is technique.
- "Thick condensed milk" means sweetened condensedThis is the syrupy canned milk sold in 14-oz cans, not evaporated milk. Evaporated milk has no sugar and will not bind or set, and the macaroons will spread into puddles.
- "Sweet coconut"Sweetened shredded or flaked coconut, the wording suggesting a pre-sweetened packaged product rather than plain desiccated. Unsweetened desiccated coconut can be used but the macaroons will be noticeably plain and drier, as it absorbs more liquid.
- Fold, do not stirThe beaten white is the only lift in the recipe. Combine the coconut and condensed milk first into a stiff paste, then cut the white through it in a few strokes; overworking gives flat, chewy discs rather than domed ones.
- Oven and timing350°F is right as printed. Expect 12 to 18 minutes for tablespoon-sized mounds; pull them when the tips and edges are golden brown and the bases are set, since the sugar in both the coconut and the milk darkens fast at the end.
- Line the sheetThe recipe calls for a greased baking-sheet. Parchment is far better here, because sweetened condensed milk welds itself to metal and the macaroons tear when lifted.
- ShapingWet or lightly oil the spoon and your fingertips; the mixture is very sticky. Space them about an inch and a half apart, though they spread little.
- Yield and keepingAbout 12 to 15 small macaroons. Cool completely on the sheet, then store airtight for two or three days; they soften as they sit.
Macaroons began as almond confections, the name coming through French from Italian maccherone, and for centuries they were made by pounding almonds with sugar and egg white. The coconut macaroon is a later, cheaper cousin, made practical in American kitchens by two industrial products: packaged sweetened shredded coconut and canned sweetened condensed milk, the latter generally traced to Gail Borden's process of the 1850s and a staple of the pantry by the time this book appeared. Condensed milk does the work that a cooked sugar syrup or a larger quantity of egg would otherwise do, which is exactly why a recipe this short can succeed.