Not to be confused with the dainty and ever popular French Macarons, these delightful flavor bombs are big and bold, jammed with sweetened coconut (and in this case mini semi-sweet chocolate chips), and made luxuriant with a mix of egg whites and pastry cream.
The base recipe is one from a favorite local chef of mine, and a HUGE supporter of Share Our Strength, Joanne Chang. Joanne is a wonderful gal, super dedicated to ending childhood hunger in the US, and a very successful chef and restaurateur. She is an owner (along with her husband Christopher) of the wildly popular Boston restaurant Myers and Chang, and also runs a growing empire of Flour Bakery and Cafe locations (currently 4 and counting) in and around the city.
She has two cookbooks to her name Flour
I use mini chips when making these as I like the way they get more fully distributed through the cookie. I also deviate from her recipe slightly by making my cookies just a touch smaller than what she calls for, using a 1 1/3 ounce cookie scoop to portion the little monsters as opposed to a 1/4 cup measure as Joanne does. Using my scoop yields 30 cookies whereas her measure yields 24. You can choose either method and they will turn out just fine.
Cheers – Steve
Ingredients
for the pastry cream;
- 1/2 cup (120 grams) milk
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar
- 2 tablespoons cake flour (I use all-purpose)
- pinch of kosher salt
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
for the cookies;
- two 14-ounce (400 gram) bags of sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 6 egg whites
- 1 cup (200 grams) sugar
- pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
for the pastry cream;
- In a small sauce pan, scald the milk over medium heat (bubbles start to form around the edge of the pan, but the milk doesn't boil). While the milk is heating, in a small bowl stir together the sugar, flour and salt. In a medium bowl whisk the egg yolks till blended, then slowly whisk in the flour mixture. The mixture will be thick and pasty.
- Remove the milk from the heat and slowly add it to the egg-flour mixture, a little at a time, whisking constantly. When all the milk has been incorporated, return the contents of the bowl to the saucepan and place over medium heat. Whisk continuously and vigorously for about 1 minute, or until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil. At first the mixture with be very frothy and liquid; as it cooks longer it will slowly start to thicken until the frothy bubbles disappear and it becomes more viscous. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla, pour into a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap, placing it directly on the surface of the cream. Let cool completely.
for the cookies;
- Position rack in center of oven and heat to 350℉. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment. In a large bowl, combine the coconut, egg whites, sugar, salt, chocolate chips, and pastry cream. Stir with a wooden spoon until well combined.
- Using a 1/4 cup measure of cookie scoop, scoop the dough in rounded mounds onto the prepared baking sheets. Cook each sheet for 25-35 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown all over. Let them cool on the baking sheet set on a rack for at least 20 minutes, then transfer the cookies to the rack to cool completely.