Macaroons (from Whole Foods)

So there I was... minding my own business... stopping by one of my favorite places (Whole Foods) to get a little salad to nosh on the way home, and I was being a good little girl and then I saw the cookie trolley - this cart that has all these bulk candy-type bins each filled with a yummy baked sweet treat.

I was fine, willpower in check, when I walked around it with that "No thank you, kind Sir, I shall not have any of you today" attitude and then I saw the most delicious thing ever... and in four different versions. I remember swearing as my feet brought to the trolley, and I picked up one of each (which were each one and a half to two times the size of a golf ball).

Damn you Whole Foods! Deliciously damn you devils!

*sings* I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts...

The first delicious treat we have is the good old fashioned coconut macaroon.

Oh you heavenly yummy creature you. You have given me so much joy over the years from various bakeries all over. I've even had you in cookie form. I have baked you for many cookie exchanges over the holidays. You are by bar one of my favorite tasty treats.

*sings* Do you like pina coladas...???!!!

Next up we have the pina colada macaroon. I can vaguely taste the pineapple in it. There are very few small chunks of (crushed) pineapple so it leaves me to think that there might be some pineapple extract added perhaps? And the icing is just sweetness overload. Dear gawd man. I'm a big girl already. LOL!

The lyric "She's my cherry pie" doesn't fit here, so I got nothing.

Third up on the tasting block is the cherry chocolate chip coconut macaroon. Duuuuude!!! Right away you get the taste of the cherry. The insides of the macaroon is a little darker than a plain coconut macaroon so I'm thinking either brown sugar was used or the chocolate chips and cherry slightly dyed this little guy, but it doesn't matter. Why? Cuz it's AMAZING!!!

HarryBurns: ... but I would be proud to partake of your pecan pie!

Lastly we have the one I was saving for last - the caramel pecan macaroon. Now since I'm obsessing over macaroons, y'all can pretty much guess I LOVE coconut, but another dessert that I love is pecan pie, and I never thought to put pecan and coconut together. (WHAT?! I know, right?!) Don't mind me, I just had a moment. OMFG!!! The pecans aren't crunchy - probably because they were soaked in the mixture and then baked in - but there is a distinctive pecan flavor, and the caramel is really tasty, too.

*******

Would I Ever Try This Again?: ABSO-FRAKKIN-LUTELY!!! I don't know why it never occurred to me to mix flavors. I mean, when I baked my own, sometimes I'd switch out vanilla extract for coconut extract or I even added chocolate chips at one point, but jimineychristmasman!!! This stuff is yum-yum-doodle-yumscious!!!  -- Overall, they were all pretty tasty, but they are all admittedly really sweet since they're basically sugar, coconut, egg white and vanilla extract, so if you can't take "too sweet" things or don't like coconut, these bad boys aren't for you. (But they're definitely for me!)

Macaroons purchased at:

Whole Foods Market
20955 Stevens Creek Blvd
Cupertino, CA 95014