The recipe: Chocolate-Dipped Triple Coconut Haystacks
Why you should bake: Because they're a better, more decadent version of a Mounds bar. Another bonus: they're dairy- and gluten-free. "Although you're not sacrificing anything," said baker Ron Traxinger.
Degree of difficulty: Surprisingly easy.
What we didn't tell you: We have been known to substitute bittersweet chocolate for the recipe's semisweet chocolate.
Fun fact: When Traxinger prepares batches of this favorite cookie, most inevitably end up as gifts. "But not for the office," he said with a laugh. "They're too good for the office."
CHOCOLATE-DIPPED TRIPLE COCONUT HAYSTACKS
Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
Note: This 2003 finalist is from Ron Traxinger of St. Louis Park. He likes to add lightly roasted, coarsely chopped macadamia nuts (about 3/4 cup) into the final coconut mixture, dropping cookies into mounds rather than forming pyramids.
1 c. (canned) coconut milk (not cream of coconut)
1/4 c. sugar
2 tbsp. light corn syrup
4 egg whites
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
3 c. unsweetened, shredded, desiccated (dried) coconut
3 c. sweetened flaked or shredded coconut
14 oz. semisweet chocolate
