Chocolate Caramel Macaroons

And Threads.

So I don’t know about you, but I’ve been Threading. In the 24 hours since I realized I had access to Meta/Instagram’s new competitor to Twitter (and Substack’s very own Notes platform that recently launched) I have been having some fun. I stopped Tweeting a few years ago, pretty much around the time I left the corporate media world (I was a social media editor at TED Conferences before taking easygayoven full time.) I spent a lot of brain power trying to write funny or important tweets that would break through, and I spent hours doom-scrolling and wading through batshit takes until I realized my mind was becoming warped by the extremes that rose to the top of the feed. So I pretty much quit looking at Twitter, unless some major, major news was happening. And I was much happier to not have to keep up with the minutiae of petty New York media drama, or being disappointed that my meme post got just 5 favorites.

So when I got the notification that an acquaintance had posted something on Threads, I was curious. I explored and started “Threading” like everyone else. It’s kind of like the early days of Twitter over there. Also kind of like a high school reunion, but they’re the same people you’ve been talking to on Instagram, it just feels novel to say hi in a new place.

And while it’s fun so far, I’m experiencing a little bit of unease as well. Of course, I think any platform run by Meta is going to have the same problems Instagram and Facebook do: misinformation, content that depresses teens and gives them eating disorders, and just general toxicity where enragement is engagement. (By the way, I will say my Instagram comments are always, always much kinder than TikTok comments.)

But it’s not just that. I think everyone who doesn’t like Elon Musk, or doesn’t like what he’s done with Twitter, and therefore doesn’t want to see that platform succeed, it cheering on Mark Zuckerberg and Threads to take them down, or simply take market share. I’m all a crazed billionaire — who has spread toxicity, racism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. online — getting dunked on. But I think we should all be wary of the consolidation of power under tech companies.

Musk has effectively ruined what was one stalwart against Meta’s expanding grip on the social universe. Substack (which, I like so far) and Instagram have swooped in to take advantage of their weak position and consumers’ desire to flee the app to greener pastures. Competition is good, but not when it comes from the worst offender of buying up any competition that threatens them, which Meta has done. And with the potential of a TikTok ban, that would be another major threat gone. So I am not about to start rooting for Zuck in any cage match, IRL or in the digital market.

I know I work on Instagram a lot, so some of this might feel hollow, but that’s the life of so many creatives who don’t have a better option. And by the way, that’s one big reason I started this newsletter, so I didn’t have to rely so much on the Instagrams and TikToks of the world. I could go on speculating about how I think creators and social media managers don’t really need or want this (it might just be another way for platforms to sell ads against totally free content and harvest the data of its users, right"?) or how it’s going to affect people’s social media and phone addictions (which I fully have). On the other hand, I know creators who work primarily on Instagram who think that this will be an opportunity to express themselves more fully, with friends and colleagues, on a less toxic platform that feels like social media used to feel. Or, like the Metaverse or so many other of Zuckerberg’s pet projects, it might just fizzle.

EGO Recommends

📺 TV: The Curious Case of Natalia Grace on HBO Max
An absolutely bananas true crime doc about a seemingly-perfect family who adopts a girl with a rare form of dwarfism. She was born in Ukraine, allegedly, and was supposed to be six years old, but then the family begins to suspect she might might be older. Much older — as in, an adult. Is she an sociopathic, adult con-woman? Or a just a very troubled kid who has been abandoned too many times? Are the couple who adopted her the real victims, or are they abusers? What follows is a years-long struggle (involving CPS, police, and two court battles) to untangle those questions — which might not have clear answers at all. Very dark, upsetting at times, but riveting.

📱Social Media: @PlaceAndSpace on TikTok
I stumbled upon this account a few months ago — and they recently started posting after a brief hiatus. I remembered how much I love what they offer: Beautiful, aspirational pictures of homes from all kinds of interior design/architecture sources, some old, some new. It’s just carousels like “Sandra Bullock’s Historical NY Townhouse Renovation” to “90s Stockholm Apartment” set to chill music. Very relaxing and inspiring for any design-minded folks.

Updates

[Serious Eats/Vicky Wasik]

New Work on Serious Eats: 12 Great Kitchen-Related Housewarming Gifts
Gift-giving can be tricky. Hard-to-please friends, people who say they “don’t want anything” but don’t mean it, coworkers you don’t know well enough. But with housewarmings, I think it’s a little easier. Everyone needs *something* when they move into a new place, and for many people, that something belongs in the kitchen. I gathered gift options (that have all been tested by Serious Eats, including some by me) from cheap to splurge-worthy, and that could please anyone — even if they aren’t a cook. Some are super practical (oven thermometer) some are superfluous (really nice vanilla). Take a read!

This Week’s Recipe

When summer hits, food bloggers and recipe developers lean into fruit flavors, ice cream, etc. But when I get a great idea, I just have to do it, even if it’s not super seasonal. (To be fair, like, this recipe has coconut, coconut is tropical, tropical flavors are good for the summer. That’s how I’m justifying it.)

These were inspired by the Levain Bakery Caramel Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookie, which I have actually never had — only seen the sandwich board outside their Williamsburg outpost. It apparently was so beloved by customers that the seasonal flavor is now a permanent fixture on their menu, so I guess I still have time to get it.

Of course, this isn’t a chocolate chip cookie, it’s a very simple macaroon (not macaron) base with sweetened shredded coconut, egg, sugar, vanilla and salt. And we’re making salted caramel! I know caramel is scary, but if you have an instant-read or candy thermometer and follow the directions closely, it’s easier than you think. Or you can use store-bought dulce de leche, which would be almost as good.

Chocolate Caramel Macaroons

Makes 13-14 cookies

Ingredients

Macaroons

7 ounces sweetened shredded coconut (about 2 cups)

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (75 grams)

1 large egg 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Salted Caramel and Chocolate topping

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (137 grams)

1/4 cup water (60 milliliters)

3 tablespoons heavy cream (45 milliliters)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter (28 grams)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ounces dark or semi-sweet chocolate, very finely chopped (optional)

Flakey sea salt (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a half sheet tray with parchment paper and. Once the oven is pre-heated, spread out the coconut shreds on the tray and toast them in the oven for about 8 minutes or until at least half of the shreds have become just lightly golden brown. Set aside to cool.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg, vanilla extract, and salt just until combined. Once the coconut shreds are just barely warm, fold them into the egg and sugar mixture.

3. On the same half sheet tray lined with parchment, dole out around 13 or 14, 1.5 tablespoon-sized balls. I like to use a .7-ounce cookie scoop for this. Try to shape them them into domes.

4. Bake the cookies on the middle rack for around 8 minutes. Remove them from the oven and make a indent in the top of each using the back of a round half-teaspoon, or, carefully, your thumb. It should be deep enough to hold the caramel, but not so deep that it disturbs the bottom.

5. Continue baking the cookies for 3 to 4 more minutes or until the coconut is golden brown on the bottom edges and tops. Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes on their trays then carefully transfer to a wire rack.

6. While the cookies cool, make the caramel. Heat the water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir just until melted, then stop. 

7. Once the sugar mixture turns a deep amber color and you begin to see wisps of smoke, take it off the heat. 

8. Pour in the heavy cream, butter and vanilla all at once, continuing to stir vigorously until it comes together. Stir in the salt and vanilla.

9. Return to the stovetop and cook on medium-low until a candy or instant-read thermometer reads 240°F. Immediately take it off the heat and allow to cool just slightly.

10. When the caramel thickens up a bit, spoon about a teaspoon into the indent of each cookie.

11. Once the cookies and caramel are cool, melt the chocolate. In a small, microwave-safe bowl or measuring cup, heat about two thirds of the chopped chocolate in 10 second bursts, stirring in between each, until there are just a few pieces of unmelted chocolate left. Stir in the rest of the chocolate, allowing the heat from the vessel and melted chocolate to melt the remaining chocolate. If it doesn’t all melt, heat in 5 second bursts in the microwave, stirring in between, just until it is melted.

12. Spoon or pipe drizzles of chocolate over each cookie and top with flakey sea salt, if desired.