ZINGY CHILLI CHOCOLATE COCONUT 'CAROONS

I use coconut a lot in my baking that it seemed strange to me that I had never made coconut macaroons before. Having read up on how these little spheres of joy were made I was surprised at how easy it was so it seemed like a no brainer that it was going to be the next bake for me to try. My twist? It's a small one but by adding in some lime zest as well as dipping your balls into some melted chili and lime flavored chocolate, you give them an added zing as well as some heat which give these coconut macaroons something of an grown up edge.

So the macaroon recipe is basic so don't go fiddling around with anything too much. One thing I would suggest is that if you are not a fan of lime then you can leave the lime zest out and make yourself some perfectly delicious vanilla macaroons instead. You could even replace the lime with some lemon or orange zest instead if you want to mix up the flavor to your own liking.

With that in mind, if you cannot get hold of any lime and chili flavored chocolate (try online, large supermarkets or world food stores!) then you can use just a chili flavored chocolate instead which tends to be more readily available nowadays. If you do mix up the recipe with a different zest to lime you may also wish to compliment it with a similar flavored chocolate. Orange zest with orange chocolate would be a yummy combination for me as I love orange chocolate but have an experiment with what you can get hold of and come up with your own range of flavored macaroons. You can also forget the chocolate altogether if you wish however that would make you a crazy person!

Recipe below will give you roughly 12 macaroons (maybe the odd one more if you're lucky!) and they can be whipped up in just over one hour, perfect for a last minute emergency bake!

Chili, Chocolate And Lime Coconut Macaroons

160g Desiccated Coconut

50g Ground Almonds

60g Runny Honey

55g Melted Coconut Oil

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Zest Of 1 Lime

100g Lime And Chili Flavored Chocolate

1. Begin by turning your oven on to 140 degrees (120 fan) and line a baking tray with grease proof paper (or you can use a silicon baking sheet if you have one!).
2. Add in 120g of the coconut in a bowl with the ground almonds, honey, coconut oil, vanilla and lime zest and give everything a good mix until everything is well combined.
3. Take around 20g of the mixture, roll in a ball and squeeze so that the mixture is nice and compact (you might want to wear gloves for this as the coconut will stick to your hands). Place on the baking tray and then repeat with the rest of the mixture, spacing the balls about 1 inch apart.
4. Pop the tray in the middle shelf of your oven and bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to the macaroons to cool fully before moving them as they will still a bit fragile when warm, they will firm up when they are cool.
5. Once the macaroons are cool, melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan over simmering water ensuring that the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water.
6. Once melted, tip the remaining coconut onto a plate, dip the flat base of the macaroons into the chocolate and then into the coconut and then place them on a wire rack, coco-nutty chocolate side facing up. Repeat with all the macaroons and then leave on the wire rack until the chocolate has set.

If you have any chocolate left over in the bowl after you have dipped all the macaroons in, you can do as I have done in the pictures and drizzle it over the top of the macaroons, Or you can pour it straight into your mouth. As long as you don't just throw it away as that would be criminal. Grab a cup of tea and bite through the zingy balls, filled with delicious coconut and be prepared for that little kick of chili that will come through once the sweet lime flavor has initially danced across your taste-buds. Its such a simple sweet treat to make and so tasty that you're going to go crazy for these 'caroons