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Chocolate Covered Coconut Macaroons

These are a fabulous sweet treat for adults or children that have problems with wheat or flour.  Be sure to have a good plan for how you will use the precious yolk from the egg (hollandaise?).

2 1/2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup honey or brown rice syrup
2 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces semi sweet or dark chocolate (baking chocolate)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 

Lightly oil a glass measuring cup to measure honey or rice syrup. Place sweetener in a pan over low heat until it begins to loosen.  The brown rice syrup will yield a slightly less sweet macaroon.  Add coconut and egg white. Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until it begins to collect (about a minute).  Remove from heat, stir in extracts.  Let mixture rest until cool enough to touch.

With moist hands, squeeze firmly to make small rounded mounds.  If the mixture falls apart in your hand, return it to the pan and add more coconut. Place the balls side by side on the cookie sheet.  Bake about 20 minutes, or until lightly golden.  Allow to cool to room temperature on cookie sheet.

Chop up the chocolate into small pieces.  Put 3/4 of the chocolate in the top of a double boiler and heat, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is at about 110 degrees (just barely too hot to touch).  Remove from heat.  Stir in remaining chocolate. This will Temper the Chocolate.  Pour chocolate over the top of each macaroon.  Let chocolate set until firm before serving.  This will take about 1 hour at room temperature.  Refrigeration will hasten this process.  

Preparation time: 45 minutes
Makes 8-12 macaroons

18 Comments:

Christine Smart
LOVE this! HAHA So cute. I have to try this recipe. Thanks for such a great site.
April 23, 2009, 10:25 pm

MIchael Soule
Hey Cynthia, made your macaroons and there were easy and very delicious. I added a little ground almonds and they held together ok. Only I was out of chocolate so had to eat them plain. Bummer. Yummy anyway. Great recipe. GReat show.And no, I dint have any flashbacks to old girl friends in the process but I was interrupted by having to change the sprinkler three times.
June 2, 2009, 9:25 pm

Shelly N
So in my attempt to make these sugar free, I used unsweetened bakers chocolate and added agave nectar to it while on the double broiler. Before I knew it, it thickened up (alot) and there was no way to pour the chocolate. Not sure if the agave did it or if may have been heated too long. Any suggestions to make this work? (I definitely liked them and want to try again!)
September 18, 2009, 8:45 pm

Cynthia Lair
Shelly, Heated chocolate seizes up if you add things to it, especially water – and there is water in agave. I would suggest just using a 70% cocoa to keep the sugar low. Agave is NOT sugar free. Agave Nectar comes from the juice extracted from the cactus-like agave plant. The juice goes through en enzymatic process to transform the polyfructose into simple fructose and dextrose syrup that is 1.4 times sweeter than sugar. It is less viscose than honey, doesn’t crystallize and has a 2 year shelf life. Like honey and maple syrup, it retains moisture in baked goods. It is a processed sweetener with calories. It is claimed that it does not stimulate a glycemic response. Hope this helps. I am very affected by sugar. My rule is that I don’t eat sweets unless I make them myself. Because of that, they are not often in the house. When I do make a batch of cookies or macaroons, I always give 2/3 of them away to friends and neighbors. They love it and I keep my sugar intake low.
September 19, 2009, 7:21 am

Nicole Pita
I doubled this recipe and I'm glad I did! I treated my volunteers and all my friends to them because something so simple and decadent begs to be shared. The trick to make them over-the-top amazing is to use high-quality dark chocolate (fair trade if possible!), it will balance the sweetness of the macaroon and melt deliciously on your tongue. Thanks for this natural macaroon recipe!
November 8, 2009, 7:39 pm

Kelly Velotta
These were great! Thanks for the gluten-free, dairy free YUMMY recipe!
December 21, 2009, 3:46 pm

Mary E
Omg omg these are great ate them all before the chocolate used fresh coconut and raw honey
January 10, 2010, 10:36 am

chas corbet
instead of hollandaise you could consider caramel custards - not crèmes brulés ... !
March 28, 2010, 6:02 pm

Shelley Caddell
Is there anything I could substitiute for the egg whites?
July 4, 2010, 3:57 pm

Cynthia Lair
Shelley, I have not experimented with a way to get coconut to bind without egg whites. I have seen some recipes online that use energy egg replacer, one that uses dates and another that uses ground flax seeds and other ingredients to bind the cookie. Be well.
July 4, 2010, 5:00 pm

Sarah Kingston
I've been meaning to make macaroons lately, as I have started making fresh mayonnaise and end up with two egg yolks afterward. I love macaroons, they remind me of the bakery on my block as a kid. I've never had them made with honey, and am curious if there is a distinctive flavor to the macaroons. I may try these tomorrow, though I confess, I like them better without chocolate! (Also, doesn't a macaroon with ground flax sound terrible?)
July 7, 2010, 5:37 pm

Carolyn Carlstrom
These macaroons look so simple to make! My mom loves macaroons, and I'm sure it is much more economical to make them than buy one for $2.
July 10, 2010, 8:14 am

kyndale pease
My mouth is watering right now!
July 10, 2010, 7:13 pm

Anastasia Wiley
OMG i Loved your pouched egg video....but this is...macaroons covered with chocolate indulgence is my dream come true.
April 13, 2011, 7:46 am

Suzanne Nieman
I decided to make a double batch for an Easter dinner and shaped them like eggs. I used delicious fair-trade dark chocolate. What I wish I had done with the coconut before mixing it with the honey and egg white was to pulse it in the food processor to render a finer texture. You have to chew these forever to get them broken down for swallowing. Not that I mind chewing since I eat whole foods, but I think a dessert should be a little more refined in texture. I do love the honey-coconut-chocolate blend, though!
April 25, 2011, 8:44 pm

Cynthia Lair
Hi Suzanne, I buy finely shredded coconut and don't experience the problem you describe. Here is a link to my favorite brand: http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Do-Organic-Shredded-Unsweetened/dp/B000F4D5GC
April 26, 2011, 1:15 pm

Eve
This recipe for macaroons is terrific and easy! I love it! So much that I have to force myself to share when I make them. And, sometimes, I do. They are really somethin' nice. http://inchwormchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/chocolate-covered-coconut-macaroons.html
April 27, 2011, 1:12 am

Insiya Rasiwala-Finn
Dear Cynthia, I am a writer, yoga teacher, whole foods cook and a new mother, absolutely LOVE your Feeding the Whole Family book; and as evidenced by a few torn corners of the book, my baby loves it too :-) Seriously, I have tried recipes from most of the sections, have occasionally modified them slightly and they are always excellent. I just love that I am always inspired by the recipes to cook something healthy, easy and delicious, thank you so much!!! namaste, insiya
January 30, 2012, 6:33 pm

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