I heard on the radio that macaroons were going to be the new hip food this decade. The following recipe is so much more than the sum of its ingredients. These toasty chewy gooey cookies take only a few minutes to prepare and they are staggeringly delicious.

I can only assume that the macaroon's future as "cookie of the decade" will be enhanced with all sorts of extra flavors like pineapple, candied ginger, peppermint bits, who knows? I like them just the way they are.

I have based this recipe on one from the back of a bag of coconut I once bought .

Step 1: What You Will Need:

1 14 oz. bag of Sweetened Coconut
1 14 oz. Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 tsp Vanilla
1 pinch (1/8 tsp) Salt (preferably kosher)

A scoop (like an ice cream scoop but smaller, or use a spoon with the deepest "spoony" part you can find.
Mixing bowl
Mixing spoon
Cookie sheet - buttered or use a "Silpat" (a silicon coated non stick cooking mat (I have had mine for about 15 years so it's a good thing to own.)

Step 2: Mix

That is what the bowl and spoon are for.

The difference between a mixture and a compound is that a mixture is like this macaroon which will never become its ingredients again, unlike a compound witch will go back (with some help) to the things which made it up. This recipe is so simple I had to throw some high school science in.

Step 3: Pick a Scoop

Step 4: Scoop and Smoosh

The trick here is to get as much stuff sticking out of the scoop as what's in it. As you fill the spoon part of the scoop, bring it to the side of the bowl and smoosh it against the side making sure it looks like a mess. The mess sticking out from the edges is what will get toasty/crunchy. Mmmmm.

Step 5: Bake

About 20 minutes (those are American minutes, you can google to convert to your country's minutes).

Step 6: Where to Cook

Place cookies in the top third of your oven but keep your eye on them after about 10 minutes (half way) and if they are getting too brown move them to the middle shelf. Where you cook things in your oven makes a huge difference and sometimes you have to change levels. Never put two trays of cookies of any kind in your oven if it is not a convection oven as the uneven distribution of heat will make one batch burn (baby burn).