From The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion Cookbook
Yield: 32 cookies
Baking Temp: 300’F Baking Time: 25 minutes
Dough:
4 1/4 cups (12 3/4 oz) sweetened shredded coconut
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large egg whites, at room temp. (I used cold and it was fine)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
Topping:
1 2/3 (10 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup (3 oz) caramel (about 10 individual caramels)
2 Tablespoons (1 oz) milk or heavy cream (I used heavy cream)
~ Preheat oven to 300’F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets
~ To make the dough: In a large bowl, combine the coconut, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. In a seperate bowl, combine the egg whites, lemon juice, and salt and beat (whip) at medium speed until medium to stiff peaks form. Fold half of the beaten egg whites into the coconut mixture, then add the remainder.
~ Drop the batter by the tablespoon onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 25 minutes, until they are golden brown. Remove them from the oven and transfer to wire rack to cool.
~ When cookies are cool, to make the topping: Melt the chocolate chips in a saucepan set over very low heat or in the microwave, stirring frequently. When the cookies are completely cool, dip the bottoms into the chocolate (I found it easier to just take a knife and spread it on the bottoms) and set them on a rack upside down to let the chocolate set up (harden, putting them in the fridge helps speed this up). Keep any left over chocolate warm.
~ In a saucepan set over low heat, melt the caramel with the milk or heavy cream. Drizzle stripes of caramel over the tops of the cookies. Repeat the stripes with any of the left over chocolate.