Recipe # 7: Coconut Nests

This is a recipe I found somewhere for our first ever cookie bake. I don't remember where I even found it, but they were a hit so we've made them every year since. They look different than other cookies and they're easy to make and more importantly, they taste good! One of my girl-friends who participated in the first few bakes brought her six-year-old daughter one year, and she enjoyed participating by counting out piles of eight chocolate chips for these cookies. Even if you don't have an available six-year-old for child labor, it's still worth taking the time to count them out and place the chocolate chips neatly in the Nests...at least I think so...and I'm not anal about my cookies...oh, no, not me! lol

Coconut Nests
3 large egg whites
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
14 oz flaked coconut
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (about a cup)

Grease 36 miniature muffin pan cups

In a large bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually sprinkle in sugar and beat in until whites stand in stiff glossy peaks. Beat in vanilla. Stir in coconut. Spoon mixture by heaping tablespoons into prepared muffin pan cups. With the end of a wooden spoon handle (or your finger), form an indentation in the center of each cup, pressing coconut mixture up the sides. Place 8 chocolate chips in each nest, point up.
Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool slightly, then use a fork to carefully lift the nests from the pans.