Pina Colada Macaroons

By Texaschef11

Ingredients

• 5 cups Sweetened flaked Coconut
• 2/3 cup Sugar
• 6 TBS Flour
• 1 tsp Salt
• 5 large Egg Whites only
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 4 tsp Cruzan Coconut Rum
• 1 cup Pineapple Tidbits

Preparation

Step 1

* Mix dough: Measure out dry ingredients.
* In a separate bowl, fork-whip egg whites with vanilla and rum. Combine wet and dry ingredients, stirring until dry ingredients are completely moistened. If you are using the extract, you can bake the cookies right away. Note: if you are using real rum, then you must transfer the mixture to a covered plastic container and allow it to rest in the refrigerator overnight. Macerating like this will allow the flavors to fully develop; otherwise, the rum flavor will be very weak. While a rum extract version of this cookie is quite good, the real rum macaroons will give you a more powerful flavor and the cookie centers will stay moister longer (as long as you store your finished macaroons in an airtight container).
* Preheat oven to 350º F.
* To prevent cookies from sticking, line baking sheet with parchment paper or coat with cooking spray.
* The forming of the macaroon is the most important step. You want the coconut mixture to be really packed together. Some bakers use scoops. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet and use clean fingers to form tight little pyramids.
* Bake for about 20 minutes. You are watching for edges and tops to lightly brown (see photo). This will give you the perfect, slightly crunchy outside and soft, chewy inside that is the perfect macaroon