Raspberry-Chocolate Macaroons

I, sadly, am a cook without a food processor. Living with roommates for years allowed me to avoid getting some of those tools that you really don't want to go without in the kitchen.

Several of them I replaced quickly. I had to have a saute pan and a pot large enough to cook noodles. A surprise housewarming party provided other essentials: a tea kettle, a lemon juicer, an ice cube tray and even a can opener (yes, moving to my own apartment left me short one of those as well).

At my old apartment, I used my roommate's food processor for everything. It made pizza and pasta dough making a snap. Pestos ground up in a matter of minutes. I no longer needed to chop chocolate for hours to make chocolate babkas. Hit "on" and the chocolate was chopped in seconds.

Though I've certainly adjusted to life without a food processor, there are just some recipes I can't make without it. I've had Deb's raspberry coconut macaroons bookmarked for months in anticipation of a visit home and access to my parents' food processor.

The wait was certainly worth it.

These macaroons are sweet and tangy at the same time, and you get a little bit of bittersweet chocolate in each bite. The simple coconut base allows all the flavors to shine through.

I can usually successfully keep my distance from cookies after I bake them, but I brought these on the airplane with me over the Christmas break and found myself cracking open the lid to the container again and again.

Happy 2013!


Raspberry-Chocolate Macaroons
recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

This recipe yields about 40 two-bite macaroons.

Ingredients
1 14-ounce package sweetened, shredded coconut
2/3 cup sugar
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup fresh raspberries, washed and well dried
1/3 cup bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a food processor, pour sweetened coconut. Process for one minute in the bowl of the food processor. Add the sugar, and process for another minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg whites, salt and almond extract. Process for an additional minute, and then scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add fresh raspberries and chopped bittersweet chocolate to the coconut mixture. Using the pulse feature, give the mixture 8 to 12 short pulses, until the raspberries are broken apart but not fully combined. There should still be streaks of white in the coconut/raspberry mixture.

Using a spoon, scoop even dollops of macaroon mixture onto the baking sheet. Feel free to place them close together. They won't spread out much at all while baking.

Bake in a 325 degree oven for 25 to 35 minutes, checking regularly after 25 minutes and removing when the tops of the macaroons are lightly browned and toasted.

Allow the macaroons to cool for at least 10 minutes on the cookie sheet before removing.

Store at room temperature in an airtight container.