Toasted Coconut Macarons

This is my submission for this month's MacAttack, by the girls over at MacTweets. We were asked to try something new, and well, at least this was indeed new!

I really want to learn how to make a nut-free macaron. That's quite a challenge, since a macaron basically is an almond meringue cookie. I found a recipe that used coconut instead of almonds, which many people with nut allergies can eat, over at Baking Obsession, but as you can see from my photos, it didn't work out all that well.

Let me put it this way: it's an awesome coconut cookie. It's not a macaron. I think part of the problem was the ratio between nuts and sugar - next time, I'll try my regular recipe, just swapping coconut for almonds. And hope for feet - the little ruffled edges that is the mark of a true macaron. These sadly never got any.

I made two delicious fillings - both went beautifully with the toasted coconut: salted caramel and dark chocolate ganache. I have both stashed in my freezer, for lucky guests over the next few weeks...

Coconut Macarons with two fillings

(printable recipe)

Toasted Coconut Macarons:
5 egg whites
3 tbsp sugar
190 g coconut (dried coconut flakes, not the sweetened kind)
225 g confectioner's sugar

Heat the oven to 100°C, and toast your coconut for 5-8 minutes. It should be lightly golden and fragrant. Let it cool completely. Then mix it with half the confectioner's sugar and grind in a food processor for a few minutes. Sift through a fairly fine sieve, and mix whatever didn't go through with the rest of the confectioner's sugar in the food processor for another few minutes. Either sieve it again, or, like me, trust that it's ground fine enough.

Beat the egg whites with the sugar to a stiff, shiny meringue. Add the coconut and carefully stir into a thick, even batter. Pipe round, small cookies onto lined baking sheets. Top with some more coconut if you'd like.

Leave at room temperature for an hour, so that the cookies develop skins. Bake in the oven at 150°C for 15 minutes.

Cool, then fill cookies. Freeze the shells you won't use right away.



Salted Caramel:
235 g sugar
85 g salted butter
125 ml cream (full fat)
pinch of salt (optional)

Measure butter and cream and leave at room temperature for 1-2 hours before starting. Melt the sugar in a heavy pan (preferrably one with a light interior so that you can see what you're doing) and place over medium high heat. When all the sugar is melted and golden brown, add the butter and stir. It will bubble and spit, so be careful. Then add the cream, and stir until smooth. If some of the sugar seizes and crystallizes, just heat it gently again and stir until it's all smooth. Add some more salt if you'd like.

Let it cool to room temperature, then chill. It needs to be completely cold to be thick enough to use for the cookies.

Dark Chocolate Ganache:
80 g dark chocolate, finely choped
50 ml cream (full fat)

Place the chocolate in a small bowl. Heat the cream until boiling. Then pour it over the chocolate and stir until smooth. Chill it in the fridge for a few minutes so that it thickens, then fill the cookies.

Recept på svenska:
Kokoskakor med salt kolafyllning och chokladganache