How to bake cardamom and lime coconut macaroons

Someone left their nuts in the kitchen! Coconuts, silly. To be precise, a giant 2.5kg bag of desiccated coconut was abandoned in the kitchen at work. I couldn't just leave it there ...

Switch on your oven and set to 160C. Line a baking tray with parchment or silicone mat. Coconut, welcome to the peak of your career. Say hello to your friends. This is as good as it gets for you babe.

Grind the cardamom to a fine powder. Coconut is a dominant lady so use 6 - 8 cloves to get a nice cardamom flavour or 4 - 6 cloves if you like it subtle, petal.

In a large bowl, whisk the two egg whites a little until frothy. Add 1tbsp lime juice and whisk for a minute then add the other 1tbsp lime juice and whisk until you have soft peaks.

From this point on add the sugar 1-2tbsp at a time and each time whisk until incorporated.

Continue in this way adding all the sugar 1-2tbsp at a time until it is all used up and your peaks are all stiff and shiny and stuff.

Fold in the ground almonds, cardamon and salt.

Next fold in the desiccated coconut.

Finally fold in the zest from two limes.

Fold, fold, fold until all ingredients are just combined. The final mixture will be sticky and that's the way we want it.

Using your hands or an ice cream scoop divide the mixture into 16 mounds of loveliness and place on the lined baking tray. Weigh them if you're a little OCD - mine were approximately 30g each.

My, my, my, my, my, my, my. Such mighty perky mounds you have.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden. Remove and leave to cool completely.

When you're ready to dip and drizzle over those mounds, melt and temper your chocolate using a double boiler or microwave.

Dip the bottoms or the sides into the chocolate. Or coat them entirely. Your mounds, your rules.

Leave your choco-dipped macaroons on a lined wire rack until the chocolate has set. You may wish to put them in the fridge or freezer to speed up the process.

Get creative with different flavours. I used dark chocolate with lime zest, milk chocolate with mesquite and white chocolate with extra ground cardamom.

Now go forth and be coco-nutty!