This is a simple and quick recipe for macaroons that made their debut as band chow a couple of weeks ago.They’re gluten-free, very tasty and a breeze to make. The instructions are a guideline. If you find them too sweet try making them next time with half sweetened coconout and half unsweetened. You might prefer more almond extract -- or try making with marzipan. It’s up to you, but this is a good starting point.

You’ll need:

7 oz. shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg white
pinch of cream on tartar

6 oz. Ghirardelli 60% cacao chocolate chips
1 teaspoon canola oil

Preheat the oven to 350º
In a bowl mix the condensed milk and the almond and vanilla extracts. Then fold in the sweetened shredded coconut. (It comes in 7 oz. packages; hence the odd measure.)
Beat the egg white with a pinch of cream of tartar until you get soft peaks, then fold the beaten egg into the coconut mix.
Place a sheet of parchment on an oven tray -- and do make sure it’s parchment; wax paper won’t do -- spoon out the mix in little mounds of about 2 tablespoons. This should give you about a dozen middle sized macaroons. Place on the middle rack of the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Start keeping an eye on them at about 15 minutes; you want to get the macaroons browning slightly on top -- but don’t overdo it.
When the macaroons have baked, remove them from the oven and put aside to cool on a rack. Put the chocolate chips in a bowl with a teaspoon of oil and put in the microwave for about a minute, if you're doing it on a high setting. You can, of course, use any decent chocolate but I really like the Ghirardelli 60% cocoa chocolate chips. And chocolate chips melt easily in the microwave. (The amount of time you’ll need will vary with the microwave and its settings. I start with a minute and zap them about 10 seconds at a time until they’re partly melted.) Then mix the contents of the bowl and allow to finish melting. Dip the macaroons, bottom side down, into the melted chocolate and place them on another sheet of parchment to cool.