This has not been my year for making sweets. First, I completely botch a gift batch of Never Fail Fudge (oh, sweet irony… pun intended) and then I make these cran-crackle bars for my cookie swap and the crust just simple falls apart. They should be called cran-crumble bars. I have a fix idea for them, but I didn’t want to risk it one night before the swap, so I looked to Rich’s recipe for coconut macaroons to save my sorry baker’s butt.

Me being me, I healthed them up something good, and honestly, they are a complete dream. They’ve made up for my December cookie-baking foibles and I feel worthy of writing for a food blog once again. When you make them, you’ll know just what I mean, and you’ll be petitioning to be the Next Iron Chef.

Healthy Chocolate-Coconut Macaroons

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup spelt flour
• 2 3/4 cups (about 8 ounces) shredded un-sweetened coconut
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• 2/3 cup coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons agave syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup grain-sweetened chocolate chips, finely chopped (I used my Pampered Chef equivalent of the Slap Chop)

Mix together the dry ingredients (the first three), then stir in the rest. I found that letting the batter sit a few minutes before making the cookies allowed the liquids to soak into the dry, making them hold together better. I completely agree with Rich — you’ve got to mush these suckers into balls yourself. Simple dropping them onto the cookies sheet doesn’t make a pretty cookie or one that stays together well.

I rolled balls about 1 to 1.5 inches, and cooked them at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

These are so good that I’m making another batch tomorrow to replace the Completely Fail Fudge that I tried to make as gifts. I actually feel a lot better about gifting a recipe that won’t wreak havoc on the recipients’ liver and glycemic load too.

Just so you believe me that I actually can bake, this recipe for cardamom snaps is also a complete winner … I promise.