Winter Fruit Macaroons

Week 357. Winter 2023. I am 40 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like soup and bread and this is my life. This is the life I built.

The garden is sleeping under mulch, resting for spring, and I stood in it this week and thought about dirt and time and the way both of them turn nothing into something if you're patient enough.

Mason is 12 and reading everything he can find and examining the world under a microscope with the intensity of a tenured researcher.

Lily is 10 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.

I made sourdough bread this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.

The sourdough came out well — dense and tangy and exactly right — and I stood at the counter slicing it and thought: I want to make one more thing. That’s the feeling I keep coming back to, week after week, this quiet urge to keep my hands in something. So I made these Winter Fruit Macaroons, because they are small and unhurried and because dried fruit in the middle of January feels like a small act of hope. They are the kind of cookie that asks nothing of you except a little patience — and patience, it turns out, is something I have learned to give.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

2 2/3 cups sweetened shredded coconut
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup mixed dried fruit (such as cranberries, cherries, and golden raisins), roughly chopped
1/4 cup slivered almonds (optional)

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 325°F (165°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Combine the base. In a large bowl, stir together the shredded coconut, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract until evenly mixed.
Fold in the fruit. Add the chopped dried fruit and slivered almonds (if using) and stir to distribute throughout the coconut mixture.
Whip the egg whites. In a separate clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt using a hand mixer or stand mixer until stiff peaks form, about 2–3 minutes.
Fold together. Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the coconut mixture in two additions, taking care not to deflate them. The batter will be sticky and slightly loose.
Scoop and shape. Using a tablespoon or small cookie scoop, drop rounded mounds of batter onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Gently press each into a compact dome with damp fingers.
Bake. Bake for 18–22 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the macaroons are golden on the tops and edges. The centers should feel just set when lightly pressed.
Cool. Let the macaroons cool on the pans for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. They will firm up as they cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Winter Fruit Macaroons — The Food Always Continues