Coconut macaroons might be the simplest cookie to paleo-ify. They’re practically paleo as they are, coconut and egg whites make up the bulk of these tasty morsels, both of which are pretty paleo. No flour substitutions necessary- score!
And of course there is no shortage of macaroon recipes out there. The best macaroons I’ve had are an Ina Garten recipe; that woman knows her desserts. Her recipe includes sweetened condensed milk and sweetened coconut, two things I’d rather not use. Luckily, adapting her recipe was almost as simple as it is to whip up these cookies. I used unsweetened coconut, of course, and replaced the sweetened condensed milk with coconut milk combined with a bit of honey. And in my humble opinion, no macaroon is complete without a good drizzling of chocolate.
all the ingredients.
Chocolate Drizzled Coconut Macaroons
4 cups unsweetened finely shredded coconut (about 12 ounces)
1 can full fat coconut milk
1/4 cup honey
2 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1 tablespoon coconut oil
- Preheat oven to 325˚
- In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt until medium peaks form. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan, bring the coconut milk and honey to a simmer over medium heat. Don’t walk away from it; it will boil over. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla. Add the shredded coconut and stir to combine.
- Gently fold in the egg whites.
- Drop onto a parchment lined baking sheet with a small ice cream scoop, about 2 tablespoons per cookie.
- Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes or until they’re golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Save your parchment lined baking sheet, though- it will come in handy for catching the chocolate that doesn’t land on the cookies!
- Once the cookies are cool, melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a double boiler over simmering water.
- Place the wire rack(s) over the baking sheet and drizzle the chocolate over the macaroons. Allow the chocolate to harden before eating. Yeah right. Let me know if you can wait, and I’ll send you some kind of willpower medal.
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Rachel says
Your coconut is so fluffy! Trying a finer shred may take my Mexican Chocolate Macaroons to the next level. 🙂
zenbellyblog says
Mexican chocolate macaroons sound amazing!
Donna says
STUNNING…the photography alone merits an Oscar…the lighting…the formatting..Awe-inspiring as well as inspiring me to get into the kitchen to whip these babies up..Gee…Paleo is somehow not so “rough” with your brilliant, wit-filled posts to get me out of the “poor-me-I-do-paleo” mindset!..
By the way…you toasted those little suckers to perfection…and I am quite certain that Ina’s version has absolutely NOTHING on your riff….Bravo!
zenbellyblog says
Wow Donna, thank you so much! Sweet comments like this really are what make this little blog worth doing. Thank you!
Rick Nielson says
I havent made them yet, but they look brilliant.
Greg says
OMG I’m making this this weekend!
SariInJerusalem says
yeah… i couldn’t wait..ate one while it was still warm! Deeeeelicious! My girls loved them too and had a great time making them!
Shonnie says
This looks amazing. 😀
Laura says
These made me very happy!! Phenomenal….thank you. You are very talented! Will be making more of your recipes.
zenbellyblog says
Happy is the goal! 🙂 Thanks Laura!
Theresa says
Just made them….heaven…
Marissa says
what size can of coconut milk did you use?
zenbellyblog says
It’s 13.5 ounces.
Grandma says
How do you store them? They taste good. They will be better when I use the fine shredded coconut as you said. I re-read that after I made them. Now I understand why they didn’t keep their shape very well.
zenbellyblog says
They store well in an air-tight container, or in the fridge if you want to keep them for more than a few days.
Grandma says
I made them again tonight. Delicious. My husband likes a little sweetier taste, so I increased the honey to 1/3 c. It worked perfect (along w/ the fine shredded coconut).
alexia says
These were good, but mine kept falling apart as soon as I picked them up. I did not make any changes. Any I dea as to what happened?
zenbellyblog says
I’m not exactly sure… Were your eggs really small, or your coconut very dry? Those are the only things I can think of as the culprits. Sorry they fell apart on you!
Marilynn says
Wow…these are really good and so easy to make. Rave reviews from the dinner guests. It’s nice to find a delicious dessert item with such clean and simple ingredients. Thank you for sharing!
zenbellyblog says
Thanks, Marilynn! I’m glad your dinner guests loved them 🙂
Melissa says
About how many does the recipe make? I need to make a specific amount, so I’m just wondering how many batches I should plan for 🙂 sounds delicious!
zenbellyblog says
I think this recipe makes somewhere btwn a dozen and a dozen and a half. I’ve since gotten better about including the yield on recipes, but was still slacking on it when I wrote this post! Sorry :\
Rebekah says
Oh wow, yum!!! We love coconut so this was perfect. I didn’t even do the chocolate drizzle. 🙂 My oven runs hot, I think, so I only baked them for 20 minutes.
zenbellyblog says
Hooray! Glad you loved them 🙂
Juan Carlo says
Awesome! I’m glad that I found this article and this is timely since I’ll be the one to host our family gathering this coming weekend. Anyway I mentioned this via comment that I am requesting for the recipes of the healthy desserts listed in this article: http://juancarlothecaterer.com/blog/eating-healthier-2014-desserts/
Mary says
Following the exact recipe, these were like soup and in no way form into a cookie. Disappointing.
zenbellyblog says
Did you use a standard (13.5oz) can of coconut milk? Did you beat the egg whites? I have made these several times, and haven’t heard that from anyone else! Sorry they didn’t work out for you; I’d love to figure out what went wrong!
Jennifer says
I made these tonight and they turned out delicious! I actually made them into “nests”, filled them with the chocolate and put little jelly beans in them for Easter birds’ nests. Thanks for the great recipe!
zenbellyblog says
What a cute idea! I love it 🙂
Vyk says
I got soup too..:( not sure what I did wrong, I beat the egg whites and followed recipe..I added a little coconut flour to absorb the liquid so fingers crossed they work. Will try again though…yours look delicious!
zenbellyblog says
So strange… My batter always come out on the dry / thick side… The only thing I can think of is the coconut milk maybe being thin? Did you use light coconut milk or regular? I’m sorry they didn’t work out for you! 🙁
Cindy says
Mine totally feel apart. What a waste of expensive ingredients.
zenbellyblog says
Sorry to hear that Cindy. I’ve made them many times and have never had that problem. Shredded coconut can vary in moisture so if it’s very dried out, I suppose that could happen.
Meghan Baker says
About how many does it make?
zenbelly says
I believe around 2 dozen!