Coconut Macaroon Cookies

Hello, everyone!  It's cookie of the month time!  I can't believe that it is already May.  Honestly, where does time go??  I'm even more surprised how quickly it has gone by, considering we're going on vacation next week!  My husband and I booked this trip months and months and months ago (seriously, like, August of last year...), and it is FINALLY here!
However, we're not here to talk about that today!  Today, we're talking about the cookie of the month!  A couple of months ago, we made some mint and chocolate macarons, which made me think about making some coconut macaroons!  

I love all things coconut.  Seriously, I'll just open a bag of sweetened shredded coconut and eat it out of the bag (...lets not talk about that...), so these cookies don't stick around my house for long!  They are a soft, chewy bit of toasted coconut goodness!

Not to mention that they are so easy to put together!  If you want to take the extra step and dip them in chocolate, I won't be offended!  I would have, except it was one of the rare times that my pantry was empty of all things chocolate.

Here's your grocery list for this one:
3 Tbs water

2/3 C granulated sugar

1 Tbs light corn syrup

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1 (14 oz) bag sweetened shredded coconut

2 egg whites, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

These are going to come together pretty quickly, so lets go on and get started!  To start with, put the sugar, corn syrup and water in a medium sized pot; over medium low heat, stir until the sugar has dissolved.

Once the sugar has dissolved, add in the shredded coconut, and stir well to make sure all of the coconut has been covered.  Set this aside to cool completely, about 20 minutes.  If all of this won't fit in your pot, just move it to a bowl, no worries!

Speaking of bowls, in a medium sized glass bowl, put your two egg whites in, along with the vanilla extract, and whip until foamy and thick.  I just whipped them by hand, it only took a couple of minutes.  I only have clear vanilla extract, that I use for baking (if you have something you want to keep white, for example, a frosting or a whipped cream, a clear vanilla extract comes in handy), so that's why my egg whites look a little foggy; its just the clear vanilla I put in!  Also, at this time, go on and preheat your oven to 375*.

After a couple of minutes, you'll see the that the egg whites really beat up into a lovely frothy blanket.

Add in the coconut mixture, and again, stir until everything is well mixed.  

Scoop your macaroons out, roughly golf ball sized, and place them on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper.  Don't worry about spacing them so far apart, these won't spread as they bake, so you can really place them fairly close together, but do make sure there is enough room for the heat from the oven to move around all of the cookies.  Bake them for 15-18 minutes; don't be afraid for these to get a little browned.  The toasted coconut flavor really brings a lot to these cookies!