Do you have any honorary family members?  You know, people who are not actually related to you by blood, but who grew up with you and attended all of your family functions, etc.?  I have two such people, and my siblings and cousins and I call them our “fake cousins.”  Lauren and Leiya are the daughters of my mom’s best friend, Sherry, and while not actually related to us, it sure seems like they are.

When Lauren was little, I used to play with her like a little baby doll.  I used to dress her up and orchestrate “weddings” between her and our little neighbor boys.  She and Leiya come on all of our family Memorial Day camping trips, and I can’t remember a Christmas Eve without Lauren, or a childhood summer.

Anywho, today is Lauren’s birthday.  We are going out for dinner to celebrate tonight, and I wanted to make her something sweet as a little gift.  I know from Pinterest that she likes coconutty things.  Don’t you just love Pinterest?

Normally, macaroons are a process.  Separating eggs, beating egg whites until soft peaks form, cans of sweetened condensed milk, you name it.  This recipe was incredibly simple and easy, and I had them in the oven in five minutes.

They were absolutely perfect.  Follow the recipe exactly. Don’t be tempted to beat your egg whites, or change anything at all.  I will say that I don’t know what alternate universe this recipe makes 12 macaroons- I doubled the recipe below, and I still only got 10.  I would recommend doubling, or even tripling this recipe.  And as you can see, I also recommend drizzling them with melted chocolate, although they certainly are delicious without.

Recipe from Taste of Home