Secrets of a Southern Kitchen: Gifts from the Kitchen--Quick and Easy Coconut Macaroons

For my second installment in the Gifts from the Kitchen series, I'm including a cookie that's an easy, delicious addition to any gift box or goodie bag. These are not those horrible hard ridge squares that passed for coconut macaroons in my childhood. Chewy in the middle, crunchy around the edges, they're like a taste of sweet lightness with every bite.

Ya'll know that "quick and easy" is my middle name when it comes to recipes--I had no idea that coconut macaroons were so easy to make, but for some reason I felt so impressed myself when I first made them a couple of years ago.

Ingredients:

1 14 oz pkg sweetened flake coconut

2/3 c sugar

6 T flour

1/4 t salt

4 egg whites

1 t almond extract (I used vanilla)

The recipe I used stated to mix everything together in a bowl--it works better to get all of the ingredients evenly distribued and incorporated if you mix the last five ingredients first, then add in the coconut.

Placing heaping spoonfuls on your prepared cookie sheets. The hardest part was trying the mounds all close to the same size. (This will be easier if you have a cookie scoop.)

Bake at 325 degrees for 17-20 minutes.

This is not really a batter, it has the texture of a wet pile of coconut--but it smells wonderful. And tastes pretty good, even uncooked. Warning--it's extremely sticky, even after you lick your fingers. Don't ask me how I know this.

At this point, they smell so very heavenly. Remove from the baking sheet to a rack to cool.

The first time I made these, I followed the original recipe recommendation to grease and flour the cookie sheets. Can you see how the flour on the baking sheet starts to brown? When you take the cookies off, the spatula leaves big strokes of messed up flour. So you have to wash the cookie sheet before you can re-use it, but instead of greasing and flouring it again...