Coconut Macaroon Bark
I know better than to separate a whack of eggs at once without using a little dish as a buffer, in case I should nick one of the yolks and taint a half dozen whites. But I always get a little smug when I need to separate a lot of eggs into whites – it’s like my own private version of bungee jumping – and as if it’s a big deal to add one teeny more dish to the overflowing sinkful, I always just go ahead and live on the edge. And so the other day as I was making a hundred teeny pavlovas for my little cooking show at Stampede, I broke a yolk five eggs in. I tried to scoop out the offending yellow with a piece of cracked shell and thought I got it all, but those whites refused to reach their full potential and I was left with a bowl of flaccid meringue and nothing to do with it.
So I stirred in a capful of coconut extract, a cup or two of toasted shredded coconut, and spread it on two foil-lined baking sheets, then baked them in a 250 degree oven for an hour, as I would have had they turned out the way I intended. Once cool the slabs of meringue were easily broken into shards, which we have been nibbling on all week. I think I might be hooked. I’m dying to dunk some into melted chocolate.
Coconut Macaroon Bark
AuthorJulie
Preheat oven to 250° F and line two large baking sheets with foil or parchment. Stir the cornstarch into the sugar. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, beating until the mixture holds stiff, glossy peaks, like shaving cream. (If it doesn't get completely stiff, that's OK too.) Beat in the coconut extract, and fold in the coconut. Spread the mixture onto the sheets, about 1/2" thick.
Bake for an hour, then remove from the oven and cool completely. Peel off the foil and break the bark into shards.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 250° F and line two large baking sheets with foil or parchment. Stir the cornstarch into the sugar. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, beating until the mixture holds stiff, glossy peaks, like shaving cream. (If it doesn't get completely stiff, that's OK too.) Beat in the coconut extract, and fold in the coconut. Spread the mixture onto the sheets, about 1/2" thick.
Bake for an hour, then remove from the oven and cool completely. Peel off the foil and break the bark into shards.
(Dinner this week has more often than not been chili, scooped out of a big pot in the fridge and reheated as necessary in between events and trips down to the grounds. I made some for the Stampede party last weekend, and my chef neighbour brought over another vat as he cleaned out his fridge to leave town, and I mixed the two together. Unfortunately this means we can’t figure out what makes it so damn yummy. It has tons of beans, chick peas, chipotle peppers and beef – ground and in chunks. Of course it gets better by the day – deeper and more concentrated. Speaking of mac & cheese – have you ever had chili served over a bed of it? If not, please do.)
One Year Ago: Bison Back Ribs and Blueberry Bison Burgers
One truly blessed by the Culinary Gods can turn disaster into triumph…witness your Coconut Macaroon Bark! There’s hope for us all. I am particularly inept with eggs and often lose a chunk of shell that pollutes the mix. Tweezers are my implement of choice.
I’m a coconut addict and must make this!! Great accidental creation.
Coconut macaroon bark dipped in chocolate, sounds like heaven to me. I love coconut, but alas the other two humans that live in my house do not (not sure about the dog) so I hardly ever get a chance to eat it.
When my sister and I were young, we ate baked beans mixed with our macaroni (home-made of course) and cheese. It was great so I am sure chili on macaroni would be good too.
I’m off for the third time tomorrow to the Stampede and a fourth on
Saturday. Yahoo!
I can’t wait to get home to try the coconut macaroon bark! I have a batch of coconut cherry frozen yogurt (from Smitten Kitchen)ready to go in the ice cream maker, and this will be the perfect pairing!
In your defense, they just don’t make egg yolks the way they used too.
Have tried the combo via childhood, when stretching the meal meant….”Does this go with spaghetti?” Twas the pre-“pasta” days when spaghetti meant everything from elbows to vermicelli 🙂
I love that you have the imagination and wit to salvage the “loss” and produce something else that is so good you would make it again. I get those brain waves the day or month after. 🙁
Yes, macaroni and chili are great partners.
I’m seriously drooling over the idea of that Coconut Macaroon Bark dipped in chocolate! I’ve never made macaroons … maybe I’ll have to attempt it!
Chili is one of my favorite things! So many things to do with it! I’ve made Chili quesadillas, I’ve mixed it with rice (will have to try the M&C), I’ve made taco salads and of course just eating it the way it is! It’s one of those great (cost effective which is important for this household) meals that everyone loves!
Oh yummy! Any bark recipe always takes me back to christmas as a little kid, when my mother would make dark chocolate peppermint bark. This version looks absolutely delicious!
Oh my — I made this bark tonight — it is awesome. I chopped some Lindt milk chocolate and mixed it in with some unsweetened coconut. A keeper — but then again, (almost) all of your recipes are, Julie. Thank you!
I haven’t had mac & cheese yet this year (due to a diet), but with all the talk of it over the last couple of posts (and the cool summer weather), it’s constantly on my mind. I think I’ll have to give in and make some.
Mac’n’ Cheese and Chili were made for each other, star-crossed lovers… whenever you can re-unite them in your bowl, the gods of love smile on your fork as it lifts each morsel to your mouth. (picture a bowl with mac’n’ cheese and Chili, Yin and Yang, tiny droplet of chili in the place of an eye in the macaroni, sending fragrant waves to your happy nose)
*sigh* Harlequin should do a series.
This is unrelated to your actual post but oh well.
In Firefox, the video at the bottom left of your menu bar beneath “talk to me” flows over top of the text, obscuring whichever post is beside it. (In Internet Explorer that doesn’t happen, the video gets cut in half so you only see the left half and it stays nicely in the menu bar)