COCONUT MACAROONS

TOO MANY MACAROONS ARE SWEET WITH little real coconut flavor. They also can be dry. We wanted to create a coconut macaroon that was moist without being sticky. We also wanted the macaroon to have a strong coconut flavor with only enough sugar to complement the coconut, not overwhelm it.

There are three styles of coconut macaroons. The simplest recipes combine coconut, egg whites, and sugar. Another recipe style calls for the making of a meringue (the egg whites are beaten with the sugar until stiff) and then the folding in of the coconut. A third style combines the coconut with sweetened condensed milk.

We made all three styles of coconut macaroon and concluded that simpler is better. The macaroons made with a meringue were too light and airy—like a meringue. The macaroons made with the sweetened condensed milk were sticky and much too sweet and dense. The cookies with just coconut, unbeaten egg whites, and sugar had the best texture and flavor, although they needed improvement.

We first focused on increasing the coconut flavor. We quickly discovered that sweetened flaked coconut, the kind sold in supermarkets, is part of the problem. The cookies need a certain amount of sugar to hold together and using sweetened coconut makes it impossible to get the sugar to coconut ratio in balance.

When we switched to grated unsweetened coconut, which is sold in natural food stores and some gourmet shops, the flavor of the cookies improved dramatically. Because this product is grated rather than flaked, the texture of the cookies was also smoother and more appealing.

At this point, our macaroons were still a bit dry. However, we found that a small amount of corn syrup kept them moist and even a bit gooey, but did not make them soggy. However, don't use more than one tablespoon of corn syrup or the cookies will be too wet and sticky.