Tuckers

I’d never heard of tuckers before reading this recipe from Bon Appétit. They call it a cookie, but it’s more like a macaroon, as there aren’t any grains in the ingredients. In fact, there are very few ingredients! I used Bob’s Red Mill’s fine macaroon coconut for this, because I thought the texture would work better. I couldn’t find rose extract in stores, so I got it online (and for those of you wondering, rose water is actually rose extract diluted in water, so you really do want the concentrated stuff here); it’s a great touch. I didn’t have sanding sugar, so I used turbinado sugar – the color isn’t great, but it was good! You could also omit the sanding sugar completely if you wanted. As the Engineer points out, the combination of ingredients keep these tuckers moister than if they were just coconut. The recipe yields about 2 dozen; I got 27.

2 ½ cups unsweetened shredded coconut
4 large egg whites
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. food-grade pure rose extract (not rose water)
red liquid food coloring
white sanding sugar

Cook first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture is hot, dry to the touch, and starts pulling away from sides of pan, about 10 minutes.

Scrape dough into a heatproof bowl. Stir in vanilla and rose extract, if using. Add 1 drop of food coloring; stir well. Press plastic wrap on top of dough. Chill for at least 5 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 300 °F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and stack it on top of a second sheet (this keeps cookie bottoms from browning too quickly).

Roll 1 tablespoon of dough into a ball. With your fingers, pinch the ball to form a 3-sided pyramid that ends in a point (I made cones instead because I don’t listen). Dip into white sanding sugar.

Bake cookies until lightly golden on top and slightly firm to the touch, 25-30 minutes. Let cool on sheet on a wire rack.