Ambrosia Macaroons

I have a confession to make. I LOVE coconut. It really doesn't need too much else, a bowlful of coconut and I'd probably be a happy camper. But these? They make coconut better. And they're easy.

I found this recipe over at Perry's Plate

Makes ~56 macaroons

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp finely grated orange peel
3 large eggs
24 oz sweetened flaked coconut (about 6 cups firmly packed)
6 oz chocolate, melted

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 325F
LINE baking sheets with parchment paper

BEAT butter until smooth
ADD sugar and salt, beat until blended
ADD orange peel, blend
ADD eggs, one at a time, blend after each addition
BLEND in coconut

DROP by teaspoonful onto parchment paper
BAKE for 20-25 minutes
ALLOW to cool on sheets
DRIZZLE with chocolate while cooling
CHILL in fridge until ready to serve

My Thoughts
1. I made a half batch, since I only had 3 cups of coconut. This was somewhat inexact as a "half an egg" is not a well defined quantity.

2. Blend the heck out of this mix. I blended and blended and blended and STILL ended up with lumps of butter in the last few macaroons. They turned out fine, just ensconced in the little puddles of melty sweet butter.

3. Which is part of why you really, really, really want to use parchment paper for these. The other part is because these are sticky little confections before they cool and you do not want to pry them off your baking sheets.

4. I intended to only leave these in the fridge to set up and then remove them. However, I left them in overnight as an experiment and they were still plenty soft the next day. (So much so that I would worry about not refrigerating them.) Plus it keeps the chocolate firm so you get a nice "snap" when you bite into them.

5. The orange adds a nice something to these. For others who may be unfamiliar with how much zest is on a piece of fruit, one (small) orange was more than enough.

6. The hubby declared these even better than the Coconut Chocolate Chip Chocolate Cookies we made recently. I am going to have to respectfully disagree, but it really is a close race.