Dessert First

Yield: 3 dozen

Cook’s notes: After trying for years to like my food processor as a nut grinder, I’m back to what my mother brought me up on: the simple, $8 nut mill. With a hand crank below a hopper to hold the nuts, and a glass jar for chopped nuts to fall into, this decidedly un-techie gadget works the best at chopping nuts evenly and without creating a lot of nut dust. These macaroons are child’s play to put together; you can surely find fancier recipes, but for a quick treat, these do just fine. Dress them up with a ganache dip, if you like, or sandwich them together with some ganache (in which case you’ll want to flatten the balls a bit before baking). I prefer the contrast of salted cashews with sweet coconut (and especially if I use ganache), but you may use unsalted.

1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 egg whites from large eggs
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt
1 1/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup chopped roasted cashews, salted or unsalted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk together sugar and egg whites. Whisk in flour, vanilla and salt. With a spatula, fold in coconut and cashews.
Drop batter by heaping teaspoons (I use a small cookie scoop) onto a parchment paper-lined or greased baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, until light golden; cool on baking sheets set over a wire rack.