Coconut Macaroons

One really good thing about attending a pot luck dinner once a week is that you have a reason to use up stuff from your pantry. Like the time you needed 1/2 cup of coconut but the smallest bag of coconut you could find was much bigger so you wind up with this rogue container of coconut. So I asked myself what I should do with this coconut and, of course, the first thing I thought of was those coconut squares my mom made with raspberry jam, but then I'd have to buy jam. Macaroons! Coconut macaroons. I found a recipe close to what I wanted then tweaked. You know I can't leave a recipe alone.

When you're beating egg whites, use a non plastic bowl. I use my stand up mixer, which has a stainless bowl, so that makes it easy and I rinse it out with a wee bit of vinegar before I start. Don't wipe it, even if there are a few drops of vinegar in the bowl after you swish. The vinegar rids any traces of fat from the bowl and the acid helps add volume to your egg whites.

4 egg whites (I buy the carton of egg whites and always have it on hand-use half a cup)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp coconut extract (you could go without or use almond extract but I think the coconut extract makes it smell like a tropical vacation)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour (no whole wheat)
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups coconut (shredded fine or coarse or flaked, sweetened or unsweetened-whatever you have is fine, but if you're going to the store for this recipe-unsweetened flakes)

Preheat oven to 300F. Grease and flour cookie sheet.

Beat egg whites, vanilla and coconut extract until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar, and whip until stiff. Toss together flour, salt, and coconut in a separate bowl; fold into egg whites. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.
Bake 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until slightly golden. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for easy removal.

Try not to eat them all before the pot luck.