Coconut Macaroons

I love coconut macaroons or Somanas which means gladness in Thai. I remember my grand aunt (who had huge influence on my interest in cooking - I will talk about her later) telling me that Somanas was another way to make use of the left over egg white when only yolks were needed for other main puddings.

However, I do not think she had ever made them. My mother bought Somanas from shops. In the old days sweet shops stored the macaroons in a huge glass jar with heavy glass lid (sometime wrapped in muslin) and picked out as many as you needed when customers bough it.

I toast dessicated coconut chips quite often for easy snack and for pudding topping. This morning I toasted them for Bob and as I had shredded coconut left over from chocolate truffles I thought I might as well toast it for macaroons.

I make my macaroons Thai-ish way with no flour. This recipe yields about 15 macaroons.

Ingredients
1. 1 egg white (size 6 or 7)
2. 80 grams shredded coconut, toasted (10 minutes in the baking tray in 160 degree (c) oven, stir from time to time so it gets brown evenly, keep an eye on it as it will brown quite quickly towards the end)
3. 60 grams caster sugar
4. 1 teaspoon of good quality cocoa (dutch ones are very good)
5. a pinch of salt

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees (C)
2. Beat egg white until forming soft peak, gradually add sugar and then salt and cocoa powder.
I find it the egg white fluffs up better in stainless steel bowl.
3. Fold in the toasted coconut until combined and drop on the baking paper lined tray using 2 teaspoons. The mixture should yield 12 - 15 drops. Flatten them a little bit with back of the spoon.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes. Bob likes them crispy so I reduce the temperature to 160 (c) and bake for 5 minutes more but if you like them a bit chewy in the middle 12 minutes should suffice.
5. Leave them to cool in the tray for 5-10 minutes before transferring to the wire rack to cool completely. Pack in an air tight jar.