I spent a great deal of this past week (or at least from last Wednesday on) laying on the sofa feeling sorry for myself as I suffered from my illness. In between bouts of coughing myself inside out and blowing my nose, I watched episodes of Martha Stewart on You Tube.
Doesn't everyone? 😟😟😟
I was not up to cooking anything for myself. I was not up to eating anything much either. But, ever the foodie, I was quite into watching Martha cook, and wishing she would bring some of it over as well.
I have a real soft spot for Martha. First of all, my daughters and I used to watch her program on the television when they were growing up.
One year my oldest daughter (who is developmentally challenged) decided she didn't want to go to school, but that I could home school her. I think she was getting picked on. Watching Martha Stewart became Home Economics class.
My late mother then offered my daughter $10 for every week she went to school. How could she resist! Our Home Economics classes with Martha ended, and my girl went back to school. But we often talk about the "Home" Economics classes we enjoyed together, and with a great fondness.
On one of the episodes I was watching, Martha was making cookies. You can catch that episode here. She made these huge breakfast cookies, a browned butter refrigerator slice and bake cookie, some graham crackers and delicious looking coconut macaroons.
I have a great fondness for Coconut Macaroons. I was especially fond of Mrs Crimble's Coconut Macaroons in the UK. They were not cheap, but they were worth every penny. I liked the ones drizzled and dipped in chocolate.
So for the last almost week I have been laying on my sofa and thinking about coconut macaroons, and maybe trying Martha's recipe when I felt better. With only four basic ingredients, they sounded super easy. I felt they wouldn't tire me out. (My energy is at an all time low.)
I was feeling a whole lot better today, although still not 100%, and so I decided to make them. (Sunday as I write this.) How hard could they be?
Really. How hard could they be? Well, looking at these photos, they actually don't look too bad, but . . . I would consider my attempt at making Martha's Coconut Macaroons to be an unmitigated failure. You are seeing the best bits, and they are quite laughable!
I decided to dip the bottoms in melted chocolate. If you look closely at the photos you will see little pools of melted sugar. I used sweetened coconut, which Martha said you could use. You just don't use any sugar in the recipe, with the exception of 1 TBS.
They looked crisp and brown on the outsides, but were very chewy in the middle. Well, chewy macaroons are not that bad I guess. I think they are supposed to be somewhat chewy.
Deciding to dip them into chocolate like the Mrs. Crimble's ones was probably a bit too much. When I tried to dip the tops like Martha suggested, the tops came off right in the chocolate. When I tried dipping the bottoms, likewise (for the most part.) I then tried lifting them out of the chocolate with a fork. Not so easy.
I was getting somewhat tired by then and so I decided to just flick some chocolate over some of them after fighting to keep them whole.
Some ended up with torn chocolate bottoms. Some ended up with no tops, and the rest had chocolate flicked over top of them. The chocolate bottom ones were difficult to peel off of the waxed paper I put them on while the chocolate set.
I am not sure what I did wrong. But I suspect that either the oven temperature on the recipe is wrong, or they are not cooked long enough. Either way this recipe is a dud.
I do want to try to make them again, but using another recipe. This one looks rather promising. Martha's recipe did not call for Sweetened Condensed Milk, but most other recipes that I have looked at do. I think I will try to make macaroons again, but with Sweetened Condensed Milk, and see how they come out.
I hate feeling defeated!
I have made Almond Macaroons many times without any problems. So delicious too. Have any of you made coconut macaroons and experienced the same thing? I wonder if the age of your eggs matters? These were really fresh eggs.
Anyways, my promise to you has always been transparency and honesty wherever possible. So, although it only ever rarely happens, I like to share my failures with you also. Just so you know that not everything I make or bake comes out as it should! I am quite capable of falling short of my goals as well!
Sometimes you just have to laugh! If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Watch this space.
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