Going Coconuts

(I apologize if you are receiving this for the second time. Some weird Blogger glitch...)

This time of year always makes me feel a little crazy.

I don't need to tell you how long the to-do list is. I'm sure yours is a lot like mine.

Shop for family gifts.

Bake.

Drink.

Eat.

Order stuff online for husband's family.

Bake some more.

Visit Santa.

Buy and set up tree.

Make teacher and bus driver gifts.

Struggle to fit into last year's black skirt.

Bake.

Plan and execute birthday party for youngest daughter.

Care for husband having hip replacement surgery.

Design, order, sign, address, mail 100+ holiday cards.

Create and sustain unique and wonderful holiday memories for children.

Decorate home for Christmas.

Decorate home for Hanukkah.

Make latkes.

Bake.

Take deep breaths.

Bake.

Eat. Drink.

In honor of all this nuttiness, I have been on a coconut cookie baking spree.

I know that coconut is not universally loved. But people who love it as I do, really LOVE it.

Plus it fits right in with my preference for all things chewy and chunky.

And, because sometimes it matters, these cookies are gluten-free.

First there was the almond-coconut macaroons. This recipe came from Cooking Light. I added the chocolate dip and drizzle.

Then, the macaroon mountains, aka chocolate coconut macaroons dipped in white chocolate.

I made them for our annual neighborhood cookie swap.

Don't they look like little snow-capped mountain peaks? I thought so.

And they're that perfect combination of a slightly crispy outside and chewy inside.

The recipe is pretty simple. So that's one less thing to drive you nuts.

One thing to think about before you start - the cookie dough needs to freeze before it's baked, so leave yourself enough time for that.

Also, instead of melting the chocolate over a pan of water, you could microwave it in 30 second intervals, being very careful to stir it in between so it doesn't burn.

Chocolate Macaroon Mountains

adapted from The Boston Globe and Clear Flour Bakery

9 1/4 oz. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)

4 1/2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)

5 egg whites

8 oz. sugar (about 1 cup plus 2 1/2 Tbsps.)

1 Tbsp. vanilla

14 oz. pkg. sweetened, shredded coconut

8 oz. white chocolate (optional)

Combine the semisweet and unsweetened chocolates in a large metal or glass bowl, or top of a double boiler. Place the bowl over a saucepan of about 1" of barely simmering water (don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water).

Melt the chocolate, stirring frequently. Remove bowl from over the water and set aside.

In a large clean bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Slowly add the sugar and keep beating until the mixture has the consistency of melted marshmallow. Using a firm rubber spatula, mix in the vanilla, melted chocolate and coconut until well combined. The dough will be thick.

Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper (or Silpat). Make sure the sheet will fit in your freezer. Using wet hands, form dough into balls, about 2 tablespoons each. Place on prepared cookie sheet, and repeat until all the dough has been used.*

Freeze the cookies on the sheet.**

Heat the oven to 350. Bake the frozen macaroons for 16-20 minutes, until the outsides have developed a delicate crust and the tops are set. Slide the parchment paper, with macaroons on it, off the cookie sheet and onto a wire rack to cool.

When cookies have cooled completely, they can be dipped, if you'd like.

Melt 8 oz. white chocolate in a shallow bowl. Dip the top of each cookie into the white chocolate, letting excess drip off. Place back on rack, and allow chocolate to dry completely.

* I couldn't possibly fit all those cookie sheets in my freezer, so I ended up placing balls of cookies on plates, and putting those in the freezer. When it was time to bake them, I just transferred them to cookie sheets.

** Once the cookies are frozen, you can store them on the freezer for up to 3 months, in a plastic freezer bag or container.

I Heart My Readers

In case you haven't heard, Valentine's Day is creeping up on us this weekend. Sure you could go all "bah humbug" about it, if you're in that kind of mood (and frankly, who isn't in mid-February?). Or you could go all out and declare your feelings with a run to the local market for a flocked velvet heart, filled with assorted chocolates. Exactly what does that say about your love?

I say let's use Valentine's Day as another excuse to bake something sweet and delicious. A day to eat chocolate without guilt, whether it was a gift from a friend or a gift foryourself. A day to send little love notes in lunchboxes and cupcakes for the class party.

Bonus Baby kindly offered her mom, the food blogger, to be Chief Cupcake Maker for the third grade class. I don't think they are allowed to call it a party, and they're not even supposed to have sugary snacks (the classroom being the new frontier in the fight against childhood obesity.)
But again, it's Valentine's Day, and I mean to keep it dedicated to all things sweet.

So we made chocolate cupcakes a la Martha Stewart. You can make them in one bowl, no butter required - it's almost too easy. We frosted them with the ooey-gooey marshmallow frosting I wrote about a few weeks ago. And we decorated them. So cute! And the sweetest part isn't the sugar - it's baking with the BB.

About

I'm all about the food. Eating it, writing about it, reading about it, talking about it, thinking about it.  And cooking it. I have no formal training whatsoever, and I don't claim to be an expert. But I feel comfortable and happy in the kitchen, either experimenting or cooking up an old favorite.

What I do know has come from many  sources - friends, a huge collection of cookbooks, an addiction to cooking magazines, the Food Network (hello Tyler Florence!) and other food bloggers. 

There's so much out there to taste! 

  I love anything hot and spicy, loaded with garlic and ginger and lime and chilies. I love all things Italian, from ribollita to granita. Je t'aime the art of French pastry (such as a mignardise) and the cafe life of Paris. I love a cold glass of Torrontes from Argentina and a prickly pear margarita from Arizona. And I love the flavors of my little corner of America - maple, fresh seafood, tomatoes from the September farmer's market.

And chocolate. Anything chocolate. You'll find me coming back to all kinds of chocolate recipes over and over. I just can't quit it. Nor do I want to.

Thanks for visiting me at  Mignardise.  I hope you'll enjoy what you see here, make comments and ask questions. I hope you'll visit often, or better yet subscribe (it's free!).

 And thanks for humoring me. It's not often I get to say whatever I want and no one interrupts.

What is Mignardise anyway?

Mignardise is something, charming, graceful and pretty, often referring to a sweet with your coffee after dinner. It feels good in your mouth when you say it out loud.
Mignardise may be a fancy French word, but it is also a new blog about food - all the food I love to eat, make, bake, read about, talk about and serve. Some of the things I love: chocolate, all baked goods, coffee, almonds, lemons, sweet potato fries, lobster rolls and onion rings. Most of these things are not mignardise at all, but I plan to write about them anyway. Food does not have to be precious, just delicious. A homely no-bake cookie is as worthy as a French macaroon from Laduree.

I'm told that as a child I was a picky eater. Maybe I wasn't offered anything worth eating. In my suburban home, a vegetable was chosen out of the freezer before dinner, an icy rectangle of green served with the t-bone steak or baked chicken. Dessert was the highlight, a square Pepperidge Farm cake also fresh from the freezer. My mother did not know how to cook any other way, nor did she have any desire to learn. But I did. When I was in college, a dear friend gave me The New McCall's Cookbook for my birthday, and I started to cook in the tiny kitchen of our off-campus apartment. Nothing extravagant or unusual, but I found the process to be truly enjoyable. And I became more adventurous and interested in all things food. This was the early '80's when the term "foodie" was not yet in use. Martha Stewart was catering bar mitzvahs in Connecticut and the only chef that most people could name was Boyardee.

Twenty-something years later, I am married and the mother to three great kids and the world's best dog, living life the way it should be. Martha rules the world. My cookbook collection has grown exponentially. I love to cook for my family, but not every night. When I don't, we eat burritos or bibimbap from local restaurants. I love to bake - for the lacrosse team, the football team, the birthdays and classroom celebrations, for myself. I hang out with my neighbor drinking wine and snacking on lemon-artichoke pesto and baguettes from Rosemont Market. I am constantly thinking about what I'm going to make for the next book group meeting, the Halloween party, the cookie exchange, for dinner tonight. I bike, walk and work out with a guy named Big Joe so I can continue to eat as I like.

Mignardise is definitely a work in progress. I'll be posting a couple of times a week. I hope you'll join me for stories, recipes, photos and more. I hope you'll comment on what you like. I hope you'll ask questions. Most of all, I hope you'll enjoy what I have to offer. Say "mean-yar-deez", and tell your friends.