Snowballs

I have made these time and again since the recipe was first printed, and they always turn out beautiful and delicious. Now I have young children, and they enjoy helping. I have used the disks, and while delicious they make a much larger cookie that I find to be a bit too much. Instead, I have found that dark chocolate "chunks" that you find in the baking aisle are the perfect size, a good flavor, and help the snowballs maintain their cute factor. Careful not to overbrown, and also be sure to really squeeze the coconut mixture before shaping to help the balls maintain their shape in the oven. Great recipe!

• rturner

• Houston, TX

• 12/9/2011

Get some nice tins, or better yet, some inexpensive clamp jars from Ikea, don't skimp on the chocolate as far as quality, and get in the zone and make dozens of these. Your friends, family and other recipients will come to rely on these an essential part of their Christmas season!

• cityjason

• 4/8/2010

I've been making these cookies as part of my holiday cookie plates ever since the recipe was first printed in Gourmet. Instead of trying to chop or cut up chocolate bars, however, I use chocolate discs that I buy from a baking supply place. I tend to make a triple batch of these cookies, because as others have said, the recipe doesn't make the quantity stated, at least not at my house. I use a cookie dough scoop to make the balls of coconut mixture, then just slip a chocolate disc inside. When making them ahead of time, I just let them cool, and seal them up until I'm ready to assemble and deliver cookie plates, then I dunk them in powdered sugar. If you have trouble finding unsweetened coconut, try searching at a health food store, the regular grocery stores in my area don't carry it at all, but all the health food stores do. I give the recipe a 3 mostly because if you prepare it exactly as stated, it's hard to do, and the quantity's off. If you can't find the chocolate discs, use some chocolate chips instead, as others have said, but use the best quality chocolate you can find, it DOES make a difference. Cheapo chips just don't taste as good or perform as well as the higher quality chocolates.

• 匿名

• 7/10/2008

Delicious, beautiful and easy. I made tins of assorted cookies as Christmas gifts, and I used this recipe for one of the types of cookies. I put two chocolate chips (standard sized, semisweet) instead of chunks from a bar, and it worked out fine.

• 匿名

• Washington, DC

• 12/18/2003

Made these to serve at Christmas cocktail party, and they will become a Christmas tradition. They looked beautiful, and were very well received by my guests. The recipe did not make as many as stated, but that was ok - I just made more! I used El Rey chocolate disks, 65%, and they were very easy to shape the coconut mixture around. Very rich, sweet, and festive!

• 匿名

• Houston, TX

• 1/16/2003

2nd time around, the results were far better - I used a metal cooking sheet, doubled the water to the mixture, maintained the same heat and kept them in only 10 minutes. They still "weeped" slightly, but the finished product was far better and of course the flavour is very good!

• Sandra

• Calgary

• 12/22/2002

These are so easy, and have great results. I used 'just whites' and double chocolate chips in place of the pieces. All the teenagers love these cute little cookies.

• 匿名

• Bath, Maine

• 12/22/2002

I made this for the annual Christmas cookie baking. I followed the recipe exactly from Gourmet magazine. At first I measure the coconut, but decided that it wasn't a good consistency, so I went ahead and added more unsweetened coconut - the bag I had was 3 oz and that's what the recipe called for - but it measured out to a cup and a half, instead of a cup. Other than getting fewer cookies than indicated - I thought these were great. They taste a lot like a candy bar. My only recommendation would be to use a smaller chocolate than called for. I use airbake cookie sheets and had great results.

• 匿名

• St. Louis, MO

• 12/16/2002

The first time I made this recipe, it was runny and messy. Then I didn't use water, and cut the chocolate piece even smaller than suggested. This allowed the chocolate to be covered by the coconut mixture, and stay covered even when done. I do agree that it is sweet,and candy like. But it is fun to make!

• 匿名

• West Long Branch, NJ

• 12/15/2002

Mine turned out extremely well, and were well received at a cookie-exchange. Only a couple of the cookies spread, but most kept their shape. A word of advice: DO NOT USE AIRBAKE COOKIE SHEETS with this recipe! They take longer to heat up, and ofter the are cause for unwanted spreading. I might try cutting back the water content a bit, on the next try -- they seemed too moist when shaping.

• 匿名

• Costa Mesa, CA

• 12/12/2002

The whole time I was assembling these I though they would turn out a disaster, but I was wrong. Mine did weep a bit in the oven, but I let them cool on the parchment and was able to peel them off without any issue. The macaroons are still pliable when they come out of the oven, so if you have asbestos fingers like me you can coax them into a more rounded shape or seal up any cracks. My only complaint with the recipe is that the 1/2" chunks of chocolate can be hard to deal with. I used a bar of Ghiardelli chocolate which is quite thin...and it was too much trouble to try to make "cubes" of chocolate. I think next time I will use a few good-quality chocolate chips in each macaroon, or, you could just mix in some mini chocolate chips by hand after you've mixed in the water and egg whites. I rolled mine in non-melting sugar, which is less sweet and stays whiter longer than the traditional confectioners' (www.bakerscatalogue.com), so they look uniformly white regardless of what chocolate you use. These are really more like candy than a cookie (super rich)!

• Leanne Hockenberry

• Beaver, PA

• 12/12/2002

Good idea -- burying a morsel of chocolate in a coconut macaroon but I had problems with this recipe. In the oven, the egg and sugar mixture dripped down around the cookies. Perhaps the egg whites should be whipped with the sugar and salt before they are mixed into the coconut.

• 匿名

• Los Altos, CA

• 12/8/2002