Jan 22,2011--- National Blonde Brownie Day (And Macaroons and how to gain 1000 lbs this winter)

How to gain 1000 lbs this winter, by me

When trying to put your body into hibernation, one should first love carbohydrates.  Love your carbohydrates in any form you can get them...into your mouth.  You should also love to bake, or know where you can acquire baked goods.  If you know how to bake, bake a ton (under the premise that you'll share) and then just share with yourself...some more...and some more.  And finally, if you are going to meet your 1/2 ton quota, please be sure to have reasons to indulge yourself everyday (it is great if you have some unresolved emotional issues that you need to address or it is also fabulous if you have raging hormones, even better if you have both). 

All jesting aside (kinda), coconut macaroons are the bomb-diggity.  I've always wanted to try my hand at making them, and last night was the night.  Of course, they are only good for those people who actually like coconut, as they consist primarily of ...coconut.

I dug around the internet searching for a recipe (as I was too lazy to get off my couch to look through the 1700 recipe books I have) and found numerous recipes for coconut macaroons...with sweetened condensed milk.   Alas, I didn't have nary a can of SCM, so....I hunted some more and found Alton Brown's recipe...and only slightly altered it (the tail-end).  After you put the finished macaroons on a cooling rack, place the parchment paper underneath.  Warm choco in the your-crowave, put it in a ziploc baggie, nip the tip, and drizzle over macaroons.  All I could hear was Sinatra singing "Heaven, I'm in heaven.....blah de blah....cheek to cheek...."

They might not be beautiful, but my tongue thought they were a w e s o m e. 

Just two few small tips:

• For the love of all that is holy, please don't scorch the chocolate.  There is nothing worse in this life than wasted chocolate...and the smell that emanates from said scorched chocolate.

• Pay veddy careful attention to the coconut when toasting it.  Very quickly it goes from a beautiful white to a not-so-pretty black (no joke, like 30 seconds).  It will be in your oven, oh-so-innocent, and go to char in a blink of 70 eyes.

W