1.   Measure and prepare all the ingredients and pre-heat the oven to 340 F or 170 C. Also, place a piece of parchment paper onto a baking sheet

2.   Into a mixing bowl, add the egg whites and whip to light frothy stage

3.   To the same mixing bowl, add the coconut flakes, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract and the OPTIONAL almond extract. Stir well to combine

4.   Scoop out 1 tbsp of the macaroon cookie dough, and place balls of the coconut macaroon mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Make all 24 snowballs

5.   Put the extra coconut flakes into a bowl and roll each of the macaroons in the flakes. Place the coated macaroons back onto the parchment lined cookie sheet

6.   Place the cookie sheet into the middle position of the preheated oven. Place a sheet of aluminum foil on a rack and place this rack two rungs above the cookie sheet with the macaroons. Bake for approximately 10 minutes, with the foil cover, then remove the foil and bake for 10 more minutes uncovered, until lightly browned around the edges

7.   Immediately remove the cookies from the oven and slide the parchment onto a cooling rack. Let macaroons cool for 20 minutes, then gently remove from the parchment and place back onto cooling rack until completely cooled – overnight would be best

8.   Melt the chocolate truffle or the ganache and let cool to room temperature. Dip each macaroon to about 1/8 inch or 3 mm from bottom. Place back onto parchment and place in the refrigerator to allow chocolate to harden. Enjoy!