Adventures in Coconut Macaroons

I say adventures because for me it has been an adventure making these coconut macaroons!  I had gotten 2 coconuts from Bountiful Baskets, which were a lot of work to prep.  First, I poked a hole in each coconut in one of the eyes to get out the coconut water.  Once each was drained, I then tapped around it with the back of a heavy knife (not the sharp side).  Then, I used a knife to pull the meat away from the shell.  There are a few different methods to do all this, and this article, 8 Ways to Open a Coconut, explains it well with lots of pictures.

Once I got the meat of the coconut, I left the husk  on (lighter brown part) ran each one through my food processor.  I considered hand grating it, but decided the food processor would be fine.  I got it fairly fine like this:

Then, it sat in the refrigerator a few days until I could get to it again!  When I had time, I got out one container (each coconut yielded approximately 3 cups of grated coconut) and started on a coconut macaroon recipe that was straightforward and easy.  And, the first pan turned out like this:

Gooey, stuck to the parchment paper, overly sweet coconut macaroons.  Boo!  It was too runny, probably because of the moisture content of the fresh coconut.  The other half of that batter I put in the fridge overnight.  The next morning, I put it in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirred constantly, for about 15 minutes.  That yielded macaroons that looked like this:

Much better structure, but still too sweet, too much sugar. I still had 3 cups of coconut, so it was time for one last attempt.  This time, I started by toasting the coconut in a large skillet on the stove since I didn’t want to heat up my house too  much using the oven.

Then, I made sure to beat the egg whites well, halved the sugar, and this time got a much better result:

So, here is my final combination of ingredients and methods:

Coconut Macaroons

What you need:

3 cups fresh coconut, or 3 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
3 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (make sure it is gluten-free, if needed)

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Toast coconut in a large skillet over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, for 15-20 minutes, or until coconut becomes slightly browned.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk egg whites, sugar, and vanilla extract until frothy.   Stir in coconut until just moistened.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Use a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon to drop mixture into small balls onto parchment paper.  Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Tags: coconut, cookies, gluten-free