Chocolate-dipped Coconut Macaroons

These are light and airy-but still have plenty of coconut yumminess!

Chocolate-dipped Coconut Macaroons
Ingredients:

2 egg whites
2/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
parchment paper
Semi-sweet chocolate pieces
crisco

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 and line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Trust me - you want to have parchment paper on there or you may not get your cookies off!

1. Whip egg whites on high speed until good and foamy.
2. SLOWLY add the sugar while continuing to whip at high speed. The end result will be a stiff-peak consistency and glossy. Add vanilla.
3. Gently fold in coconut with a spatula until thoroughly incorporated.
4. Drop by mounded teaspoon (note - these will rise slightly while baking... you CAN make them bigger, but you will need to adjust your baking time and be careful not to burn...) onto parchment-lined pans with an inch or two space between.
5. Bake for 20min at 325 on the middle rack(you may want to check at 15min if your oven runs hot...). Allow to cool a few minutes before removing to rack to cool completely. NOTE - if you eat one right away, you may notice it is still a bit gooey inside. No worries! It continues to cook while cooling and will be just fine!


Dipping:
Place chocolate pieces in a microwaveable dish with short-ish sides (you will need to get your hand in there to dip the cookies!) and microwave 30 min intervals, stirring inbetween, until melted. I add a teaspoon or two of crisco to make the chocolate thinner for dipping.
When completely cooled, dip bottoms of macaroons in chocolate and set on parchment to cool.