Cookie Monster: Mini Macaroons

[Photograph: Carrie Vasios Mullins]

For most people, the month of January is a reprieve from the holidays. They stay in a few more nights of the week. They eat soup and vegetables and relax. Not me. As much as I'd love to just crawl into a hole and die recoup from holiday excesses, January is always a crazy, busy month. There's both my husband's birthday and my own, and now that I'm in the everyone's-getting-hitched stage of life, there have been a slew of weddings and engagement parties too.

Look, that stuff is fun, so I'm not complaining. But when someone asks you to bring a dessert to their engagement party, you know that for once, your go-to, deliciously over the top salted caramel cashew bars aren't the right choice. So what to make?

I settled on adorably tiny coconut macaroons. If you've ever had a coconut macaroon you'll know what these taste like, but just as a reminder, that's toasty, sweet coconut with a slight chew. I portioned out the dough by the teaspoon instead of the tablespoon, and pinched the tops to give them that classic macaroon shape. Laid out on a plate, they make the perfect inviting, one-bite sweet to end a meal that even New Years resolution-ers can enjoy.