Remember my awesome boyfriend? He’s still awesome.

A couple of months ago, his teacher submitted one of his essays to something. Apparently that something was an undergraduate essay competition for the Women’s Studies Dept, and apparently he won. Wuh-wuh.

So, to thank the teacher for submitting his essay, I made macaroons. (Yep, that’s “macaroons” with the double “O,” because I’m not good enough for that single “O” culinary feat just yet.)

I grated my own coconut because unsweetened grated coconut is nearly impossible to find around here and death by sucrose isn’t my thing. Plus, cracking open a coconut, drinking the water, and grating the fresh meat—so worth it. If you’re not anti-sugar and don’t want to go through the 5 extra minutes of effort of grating your own, this recipe will work fine with flake sweetened coconut (just omit or decrease the stevia).

I’m not even sure if you would call these macaroons. It’s just something I started making a few years ago and figured that’s the closest thing to what they were. Tasty either way and they’re the perfect size to just pop 3 million into your mouth.

Lazy Man’s Dark Chocolate and Pecan Macaroons

Makes 1-2 Dozen (depending on how big you make them)

• 2 tbs maple syrup
• 2 tbs Whipping cream
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp stevia (to start with, add more to taste)
• Meat from 1 large coconut, grated (or 3 cups grated/flake coconut)
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips/chunks/pieces, chopped up if not already pea-sized

1. Mix everything but the bottom three ingredients, then add them. Combine well.
2. Form macaroons with hands (press tight) and drop onto a greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until the coconut starts to toast up.