Recipe #8: "Family Style" Coconut Macaroons

Ever have one of those days where you feel like you’ve been treading water for a while and all of a sudden you could tread no more?  Yep.  That was my day today.

But in the aftermath of a good cry and a run with good company (thanks Traci!), I decided that I was going to end the day on a successful note….a feeling opposite of the one I have had for a good short while now.  Bring on the baking….

I have to confess that I have already made this recipe oh about 100 times.  It is my “go to” for any get together where I can bring a little something to share (and though I love love love this recipe, I hope this contessa journey expands my “go to” vault with both premade and self-created sweets).  It’s easy, it’s quick, and it is so so so yummy.  I get tons of compliments and recipe-requests for this one (but I always give Ina the cred)!

Since I have made this one so many times, I thought, why not try to tweak a solid base recipe and test the waters of making my own contessa creation!!!  So I decided to try and dip my little macaroons in some semi-sweet chocolate just for a little twist (I need to venture out on my own by taking baby steps).

I decided on semi-sweet chocolate because a) they didn’t have the baking chocolate squares in milk chocolate, but mostly because b) because I thought anything else would have been too sweet or too bitter (ooooh! Look at me and my developing contessa palate!). 

I waited for the macaroons to cool while I melted the chocolate.  I chose to dip just the top in the chocolate, and with fingers crossed, watched my hubby take a bite (he already likes this recipe a lot, so I wasn’t sure how he would react).  SUCCESS!!!!  People…this is a first.  He said he actually liked the recipe better with the chocolate!  WOOHOO!!!  I can’t wait to hear additional reactions tomorrow.

I think I will end this blog with the following:  a dear friend of mine gave me a card on my first day of teaching that said “do one thing every day that scares you” (Eleanor Roosevelt).  I hung it up in my classroom and have looked at it (and loved it) every day for a year and a half.  But today, I am going to put my own spin on it, just as I did with the macaroons.  No matter if you feel wonderful or if you feel defeated, do one thing every day that makes you feel successful.  Even when I thought I wouldn’t, today, I did.