Coconut Macaroons Dipped in Chocolate

After an unfortunate and unmentionable incident with some Malibu several years ago, I swore never to touch anything coconut related again. The thought of it made my stomach turn. Gradually the revulsion passed and now...Bounties have once again become one of my favourite chocolate bars and I don't mind the odd coconut cream in one of Luke's curries. Luke is a great fan of coconut and I suppose over time he has brought my taste buds back to life to enjoy its sweet goodness. We even have a whole coconut sitting at the bottom of the pantry, starring at us every time the door swings open. Its been there since the summer and will probably never be opened, but ah well, you cant have it all.
Anyway, I recently took a further leap and made macaroons which are just almost entirely made from coconut. Well, there's a bit of chocolate in there.
Okay, I lied.
I know I wasn't going to post any chocolaty recipes until after Easter, but here we have it.
I cant help myself.

Coconut Macaroons

COCONUT MACAROONS

7oz dessicated coconut flakes
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp. flour
small pinch salt
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp. vanilla essence
Chocolate for dipping

Mix coconut, sugar, flour and salt in a large bowl. Stir in whisked egg whites and essence, and stir until well combined. Form 24 roughly formed but firmly packed balls of mixture onto greased and lined trays. Cook for 15 minutes at 180C until the edges begin to turn golden. When cooled, dip the bottoms in melted chocolate and place on baking paper until cooled. Store in an air tight container.

NOTES: If you prefer your macaroons to be more golden on top but the bottoms are already browned enough, a few moments under the grill will colour the tops beautifully. During baking time, you may like to remove the trays and check that the macaroons have not crumbled on them selves and pinch the tops if they have collapsed a little. Sometimes the mixture seems a little crumbly.

yum!