Sugar Free Coconut Macaroons

Over the past weekend, I have tried three recipes with horrible results. Big failures. this has not been very good for my cooking confidence, and namely my bariatric cooking confidence. I needed a victory to put me back in the game. Also, after being at a family birthday part with lots of delicious bars and sweets, it make me long for something I could eat without guilt/dumping/the fear of dumping. I decided to flip through the Better Homes and Garden's Cookbook and see what I could potentially modify... in the cookie section, I came across a recipe for Coconut Macaroons. I decided to go for it - the Frankenstein version (meaning, deconstructed and reconstructed to be bariatric friendly). To my utter delight and shock (to be quiet frank), they are delicious. Really delicious. And, I was so excited I had to stop myself from making three more batches. I settled for one, and make myself enjoy the victory.

Here is the recipe:

2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup of flaked, unsweetened coconut (Bob's Red Mill is what I used)
2/3 cup Stevia (I used PureVia).

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form (I used my handy hand mixer), then add the vanilla. Continue to beat the mixture and slowly add the sweetener. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Fold in coconut.

Line a muffin tin (or non-stick muffin pan) with parchment paper liners/or muffin liners. Use a small ice cream scoop to form the mixture into cookies. Bake for 20 minutes - the tops will be browned slightly. Remove from oven, and allow to cool (I left mine out overnight, then put them in a resealable bag).

**From a health prospective, coconut is getting a lot of good buzz lately.**

Using unsweetened and unsulfured coconut in this recipe is hopefully a way of getting those benefits. For those unfamiliar with unsweetened/unsulfured coconut, it is naturally sweet - not super sweet - but still sweet. It is high in fiber and minerals, and like I said a bit ago, getting all the good buzz about the fatty chain acids good for brain and body health. According to the USDA, 2 tbsp of unsweetened shredded coconut has 4.6 g of dietary fiber.