Heart Macaroons

   In January I shared a Dutch macaroon that was simple, light, airy, and tasty.
   I went ahead and paleo-fied it into this version for a valentines day treat! It's still simple to make, but if you're not paleo, look over here for the regular recipe, but instead of just scooping the cookies onto a baking sheet, pipe them out into hearts like these cookies! 

Paleo Heart Macaroons 

Ingredients: 

• 2 egg whites
  
• 3/4 cup of pure maple sugar
  
• 1 1/2 cups of shredded coconut
  
• Pinch of salt
  
• 2 Tbsp almond flour

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 300 Degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside
2. Using a hand mixer (or stand mixer), beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then slowly add in the sugar while continuing to beat
3. Keep beating until the sugar has dissolved. To test if it's dissolved you can pinch some egg white between your fingers and rub them together. It can still feel a bit grainy from the sugar, but not too much
4. In a separate bowl, mix the coconut, salt and almond flour together, then carefully fold this mixture into the beaten egg whites
5. To make into hearts, fill a piping bag with the cookies 'dough' (it's not really 'dough-y", but I think you know what I mean!) with NO tip attached. You can also use a large ziploc bag, and snip a corner out of it to make your own piping bag.
6. Now, pipe your heart cookies onto your prepared cookie sheets  
7. Bake for 13-15 minutes. The cookies will be all-over lightly golden when they are done. They may also seem a little underdone in the centre, but they will set up as they cool.

   So, the recipe itself is pretty darned simple, then you just do the tiniest bit of extra work and, voila! Valentine ready! :)  
   I'm not a big valentine hype kind of person. Ya know, demanding dinner out, a bouquet of flowers, a box of chocolates, etc. Although, I love a box of chocolates anytime, so I would always gladly accept one of those! 
   I do like to try to make valentines day fun for my kids though,  so I make things into hearts to thrill their little hearts. :) Along with these I also dyed some Rice Krispie treats pink, and spread into a large cookie sheet and then cut out into heart shapes. They loved those. 
   Adam and I ate out for lunch today, which is my kind of valentine date. The kids were in school so we didn't need to hire a sitter, it was 2 in the afternoon so the restaurant wasn't busy, and neither of us had breakfast or lunch, and so our late-afternoon "lunch" was filling and took care of our tummies for dinner! All three meals made up in one! Score! I just said score about a meal....
   Now I'm running out the door to a rehearsal! I didn't post all week for some reason....I lost track of the week in a serious way!!! Oh well, can't fix it now!
   I hope everyone has a great weekend, whatever you do, however you valentine! 

xo