Coconut almond macaroons

Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 18 minutes Makes 35

These macaroons turn out crispy on the bottom, chewy in the middle. They can be drizzled with melted chocolate if you want to dress them up. The recipe is from Odense Pure Almond Paste.

Ingredients

1/2 cup egg whites (about 4 large egg whites), room temperature

1 teaspoon almond extract

7 ounces (one box) almond paste, grated

2 cups powdered sugar

1 14-ounce package sweetened flaked coconut

Melted chocolate to drizzle over cookies, optional

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment or foil.

In a large bowl, beat egg whites and extract until firm, but not dry. In a separate bowl, beat the grated almond paste, sugar and coconut until it is the texture of small crumbs.

Gently fold the two mixtures together. Drop by tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheets, leaving about an inch of space between each cookie.

Bake for 18 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom and firm to the touch.

Cool the cookies on wire racks. Decorate with melted chocolate if desired.

Per macaroon, without chocolate: 105 cal.; 1 g pro.; 14 g carb.; 5 g fat (4 sat., 1 monounsat., 0 polyunsat.); 0 mg chol.; 36 mg sod.; 1 g fiber; 10 g sugar; 43 percent calories from fat.

This story was originally published May 6, 2008 at 2:43 PM with the headline "Coconut almond macaroons."