Salzburger Kokosmakronen (Topfen Coconut Macaroons)

In my grandmother Eva's kitchen in Kent, the arrival of December meant one thing before anything else: Kekse. Christmas cookies. Eva and Gretel would take over the kitchen for days, working through a list of recipes that seemed to grow every year. Vanillekipferl first, always. Then Linzer Augen. Then whatever Gretel had brought back from her latest trip to Austria, scribbled on the back of a train ticket or a Kaffeehaus napkin.

Kokosmakronen were on the list every year. Coconut macaroons, crisp on the outside and chewy through the middle, baked on thin Oblaten wafers and packed into tins lined with wax paper. But the version I love best is one I came to later, after I moved to Salzburg. A Konditorin at the Grünmarkt sold macaroons that were different from any I'd had before. Softer. Creamier. They didn't dry out after two days the way the classic ones sometimes do. Her secret was Topfen, the fresh curd cheese that Austrians use in everything from Strudel to Knödel. She folded it into the coconut mixture before shaping, and the result was a macaroon that stayed tender for a week.

Topfen does two things here. The moisture in the curd keeps the interior soft while the outside still forms that gentle crust you want. And the slight tang cuts the sweetness of the coconut just enough that you can eat four of them before you realize what's happened. These are not complicated cookies. Egg whites, sugar, coconut, Topfen, a little lemon zest. You can have a tray in the oven in twenty minutes. But that Topfen makes all the difference, and it's the reason I make the Salzburg version now instead of the one I grew up with.