Chocolate Cottontails

These are essentially coconut macaroons shaped into little eggs and dipped in semisweet chocolate, and they’re a brilliant use for leftover egg whites. The macaroon base is chewy and golden from brown sugar and pecans, with vanilla rounding out the toasted coconut flavor.

Shaping the mixture into egg shapes by hand is the way to go. The dough is sticky enough to hold together but loose enough that you can mold it without tools. A quick bake at low heat sets the outside while keeping the center chewy, then a full cool before dipping.

The chocolate coating turns these from cookies into candy. Dip each cooled egg using a fork or toothpick, let the excess drip off, and set them on wax paper to harden. They look like something from a fancy Easter candy shop, but they’re far simpler than they appear.

Kitchen Tips

• Beat the egg whites just until frothy, not to stiff peaks. You want them loose enough to bind the coconut without making meringue.
• Loosen the macaroons from the pan immediately after baking with a spatula. They’ll cement themselves to the sheet if you wait.
• Let the chocolate cool slightly after melting so it’s thick enough to coat without running off the eggs.
• If the chocolate thickens too much while dipping, reheat gently. Overheating makes it seize up and turn grainy.

Variations

• White chocolate version: Dip in white chocolate instead of semisweet for a more pastel Easter look.
• Almond joy style: Press a whole almond into each egg before dipping in chocolate.