Coconut Nest Cookies

Notes: You can make these cookies up to 1 week ahead; cover airtight and store at room temperature. In humid or rainy weather, they may soften.

Yield: Makes about 20 cookies

Ingredients

• 4  large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/4  teaspoon  cream of tartar
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 3/4  cup  sugar
• 1  teaspoon  dark rum or vanilla
• 1 1/2  cups  sweetened shredded dried coconut
• Egg-shaped candies or jelly beans

Preparation

1. Cut two pieces of cooking parchment to fit two 10- by 15-inch baking sheets. With a pencil, draw 10 evenly spaced 2-inch circles on each piece of parchment. Place each, marked side down, on a baking sheet.

2. In a large bowl or the bowl of a standing mixer, with a hand-held mixer or the standing mixer's whisk attachment, beat egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed until foamy. Add salt and beat until stiff peaks form, 2 to 4 minutes. Gradually add sugar, beating mixture until sugar has dissolved completely (rub a little between your fingers to check; if it feels gritty, sugar is not dissolved) and mixture is glossy, thick, and very billowy, 2 to 5 minutes. Beat in rum, then gently fold in coconut.

3. Mound mixture in 3- to 4-tablespoon portions in marked circles. Using a spoon, make a shallow depression in the center of each so it resembles a nest.

4. Bake cookies in a 250° regular oven (convection not recommended) until light golden, about 1 hour, switching pan positions halfway through baking. Turn oven off, leaving cookies inside, and let stand until dry and firm to the touch, about 2 hours longer. Remove from oven and let cool completely on sheets, then peel off parchment.

5. Set candies or jelly beans in each nest.

Note: Nutritional analysis is per unfilled cookie.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

59 (27% from fat)

Protein:

0.9g

Fat:

1.8g (sat 1.6)

Carbohydrate:

10g

Fiber:

0.4g

Sodium:

54mg

Cholesterol:

0.0mg