A swing and a miss....

Well, folks.  I had good intentions, really, I did.  I have made these probably 6 times in the last several years.  Most recently I made them for my father-in-law for Father's Day (last year) and they were perfect every time.  Crisp on the outside and soft on the inside with a dark chocolate ganache drizzle on the top....Heaven.

I had this grand idea that I would make my favorite macaroons for all of my son's teachers.  I had little bags ready with red, black and white ribbons to seal them.  I even had enough for their assistants and 4 to spare for us.  I mixed the ingredients, scooped them onto baking sheets, put them in the oven, made the ganache and...forgot about them.

I started helping my son with his homework while doing the dishes at the same time.  A classic recipe for disaster.......

I had forgotten to set the timer and only remembered them when I smelled a "toasted coconut" aroma wafting from the LG.

The loud, long NOOOOO that flew out of my mouth sounded a little like the Zurg character from Toy Story 2.  According to my kids, that is ;)

One tray that went in first was completely black.  The other 3 were just kind of brown.  I would eat them but I am sure as S#!T not giving them away!  That would look really good...."Hey my Mom, you know who has the food blog, made you these yummy cookies"...I can just hear my sons now.

But I do want to share my recipe because these normally are really, really good cookies.

Coconut Macaroons with Dark Chocolate Ganache

3 C unsweetened shredded coconut (you can use the sweetened kind but with a slightly different taste)
1/3 C sweetened condensed milk
pinch salt
3/4 tsp almond extract
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
Ganache: 1/2 C dark chocolate chips and 3 TB heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 and lightly spray cookie sheets with Pam or use a Silpat.
add coconut to bowl.  In a little bowl mix the other wet ingredients and salt.  Add to the coconut.  With a spatula mix what you have until it is sticking together.  With a cookie dough scoop (sprayed with Pam) scoop out balls of the mixture (pressed a little in the scoop to make a hard ball) about 1 inch apart.

Bake at 350 for 12 minutes or until they are just barely a little brown.  Not like these:

Now you may say that they look OK, and to me they taste OK...but they are overdone.


Let these completely cool before you drizzle with your ganache.  TO make a ganache you melt the chips in a glass bowl with the cream in a microwave.  Just heat 20 seconds at a time then stir and continue this until it is smooth and melted.  Allow to cool a bit then put in a piping bag or a zip lock with the end cut off which is what I did.  I was sloppy since they were going to be staying at our house, now :(

Brown but GOOD :)  SO I guess it wasn't a total loss....

I said that I wanted to share my culinary hits AND misses...so here you go :)