Coconut Macaroons

"Coconut macaroons tend to be rather chewy affairs. Super sweet. Super chewy. Like the inside of an Almond Joy bar. (My dad, by the way, loves Almond Joy, gets tons of it to give away at Halloween knowing that the rest of us won’t touch them and he’ll have more for himself.) Me? Not a big fan. That is, until our pastry chef neighbor Evie brought over her macaroons. Soft and smooth on the inside. Lightly sweet. No texture issues. Lovely. The secret ingredient? According to Evie, baby food applesauce. That’s right, baby food. It’s just the smoothest applesauce you can get, and it comes in conveniently small jars. You don’t need that much. I found after multiple batches and lots of experimenting, that you also need to use unsweetened coconut, somewhat finely ground. Sweetened coconut won’t do, because you won’t be able to break it down enough even in a food processor. I also experimented a bit with the ingredient amounts. I found that you get a smoother cookie through and through if you use 2 cups of the coconut, but if you want a more crunchy, textured surface, you need to add a little more, perhaps another 1/4 cup of coconut to the mixture...."