Almond Coconut Macaroons are about to become your new favorite coconut cookies. Read about the origin of a macaroon, the difference between a macaroon and macaron and how to make your own light and fluffy coconut macaroons!
Are you a coconut lover? Well you are in luck because the coconut flavor in these chewy coconut macaroons is out of this world delicious. They’re easy to make and great for gifting around the holidays too. The perfect classic cookie for curbing that coconut craving.
But before we get into how to make these perfect coconut macaroons, we need to talk about a few things first.
Macaroons vs Macarons
I can’t tell you how many folks ask about the difference between a macaroon and a macaron or how many are sorely disappointed when they expect one confectionary treat and end up with the other.
Both are equally as good, but are vastly different even though their spelling only varies by one letter.
Coconut macaroons are Italian, with the word macaroon being derived from the word ammaccare, which means “to crush.” This was in reference to almond paste historically used to make coconut macaroons. They are sometimes referred to as Almond Macaroons because of this.
Through the centuries the recipe has morphed into being an egg white and flour base or a sweetened condensed milk base and the almond paste has disappeared altogether, making them just shredded coconut and chocolate. Some don’t even have almond.
FACT: Italian and French Macarons use the same ingredients, but have a different process.
There are actually two types of macarons, a meringue style cookie sandwich. Italian and French macarons have the same ingredient list: egg whites, almond flour and castor (or powdered) sugar, but have different processes to get to the end result.
We’ll save those details for another post.
Coconut Macaroons Recipe
Right now we are focused on coconut macaroons. Almond has somehow been squeezed out of new age macaroons, so I wanted to introduce it back in, but in an easier (and cheaper) fashion than crushing it by hand, although I do like any excuse to use my mortar and pestle.
My Almond Coconut Macaroons use almond extract and chopped almonds instead of almond paste. I also used a combination of sweetened condensed milk and egg white to make a light, fluffy cookie that was more stable than using just one or the other.
Almond Coconut Macaroons are still super easy to make with only 8 ingredients. The coconut biscuit can be mixed and baked in just 15 minutes. The longest time will be allowing them to cool before dipping them in milk chocolate and chopped almonds.
Much simpler than their close friends, the macaron.
If you prefer one type of chocolate over another be my guest to substitute it. White chocolate, dark chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, milk chocolate- it is all welcome! You will need chocolate in order for the almonds to stick.
While you desire a light brown top with crunchy little coconut edges, you don’t want the bottoms to brown too fast. To prevent this, I suggest using insulated cookie sheets and parchment paper. See links below for some ideas.
Coconut Macaroons Ingredients
- Sweetened flaked coconut – The most key ingredient and easy to find at the grocery store- coconut! While you can use unsweetened shredded coconut for this recipe, the sweetened provides that little extra sweetness that you need. Use any extra to make easy no-bake coconut balls.
- Flour – We need a binding agent to hold these cookies together. All purpose flour will work just fine.
- Kosher salt – Different salts measure differently, so make sure you’re using Kosher salt or else your cookies might turn out too salty.
- Egg white – We only need the large egg whites for this recipe. Don’t throw out the leftover egg yolks though. Use them to make a custard or something else delicious.
- Sweetened condensed milk – We don’t use the whole can for this recipe, so use that leftover sweetened condensed milk to make dulce de leche or something delicious.
- Almond extract – This is where we get that delicious almond flavor. However, you can use coconut extract or even pure vanilla extract instead or in addition to if you’d like.
- Chocolate – You can use chocolate chips, melting chocolate or whatever you prefer. My favorite method for method for melting chocolate is the double boiler method, but you can also use the microwave.
- Almonds – We want these to be finely chopped so that they uniformly stick to the melted chocolate. You can have almond coconut macaroons without almonds!
How to Make Classic Coconut Macaroons
- Prepare oven and baking sheets. Preheat oven and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Dry ingredients. In a large bowl, combine coconut flakes, flour and salt, mixing well.
- Wet ingredients. Add egg white, sweetened condensed milk and almond extract to the coconut mixture. Mix until all is just wet.
- Scoop cookies. Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop out 12 macaroons onto a parchment lined baking sheets.
- Bake. Bake until the tops start to brown.
- Cool. Remove and allow to cool on a wire rack or cooling rack.
- Dip in chocolate. Dip bottoms of the macaroons in melted chocolate and immediately roll in minced almonds.
- Allow to harden. Return to parchment lined cookie sheet to harden. You may want to transfer to the refrigerator for 10 minutes to speed up the process.
Storage, Make Ahead and Freezing
Make ahead: You can definitely make this coconut macaroon recipe ahead of time. Just be mindful that just like with any cookie, they are best served within the first 24 hours.
Storage: Store your macaroons in airtight plastic containers in a cool and dry place at room temperature. Making sure it is dry is imperative to not growing mold. Separate layers with parchment or wax paper. They stay good for about 5 days if stored correctly, but I doubt yours will last that long!
Freezing: have never had to freeze my delicious coconut cookies, but I am sure you can. Simply package in an airtight container or plastic bag and they should stay good for up to 4 months.
More Homemade Desserts
Almond Coconut Macaroons
Ingredients
- 7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 1 egg white
- 7 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
- 2 ounces chocolate , melted
- 2 tablespoons almonds , finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine sweetened flaked coconut, flour and salt, mixing well.
- Add egg white, sweetened condensed milk and almond extract. Mix until all is just wet. Do not over mix.
- Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out 12 macarons onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the tops start to brown.
- Remove and allow to cool.
- Dip bottoms in melted chocolate and immediately roll in minced almonds. Return to parchment lined cookie sheet to harden. You may want to transfer to the refrigerator for 10 minutes to speed up the process.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to serve. Best 1-2 days after baking.
- After you’ve tried this recipe, we welcome you to come back and let us know how it went! We love comments and it helps other readers.
Let me preface this by saying I LOVE salt. I have 20 different salts in my cupboards and often sprinkle fleur de sel on my desserts. I used kosher salt as called for in the recipe and it was way too salty. I ended up throwing them out. I really enjoyed your description, but this still needs some tweaking. From a fellow salty sweet fan, this is too much salt and I’ve never said that before now.
Thanks for the feedback- we’ll do a double check on the recipe!~
My aunt used to make these without the chocolate, and they were so good. I can only imagine that with the chocolate they’re even better!
Loved these macaroons. The best part was definitely the coconut! Was really easy to make and will make them again!
Big fan of macaroons. Loving the way these are dipped in almonds. Makes these a step above the rest.
Macaroons are one of my favorite sweet treats, and I love almonds and coconuts. I can’t wait to make this one!
Hi there. do these freeze well? I’m making them ahead of time and would like to freeze them to then gift them to my clients.
Hi! I have not tried to freeze them, but they should do well. There isn’t anything in the recipe that would make me think otherwise. You might want to do the chocolate dip after freezing because they can crack or get a weird grey-ish haze to it. It is still safe, just not as pretty.
So good! We will be making this again.
Salty
I should have checked the comments first… and now I realize the website is called savory experiments! Otherwise nice recipe but indeed way too salty!
I did 3/4 teaspoon instead of the 1 in the recipe but I think 1/4 would be enough!
Sorry to hear that! Quick question, what type of salt did you use? Iodized salt will give a much saltier result than a fine sea salt or large crystal Kosher. If you used a finer grain, you do want to reduce the volume by at least half. I also LOVE sweet and salty together, so it might be my taste buds. It might just be a matter of preference 🙂
Just made them. Way, way too salty! I tsp salt must ba a typo. 1/4 tsp would be plenty. Had to throw the whole batch away.
Sorry you did enjoy them, Bill. Just curious as to what type of salt you used? I’ve made them several times and never felt they were too salty.
Lol so true! I’m still trying to explain the difference between a macaron and a macaroon to my mom…she never remembers which is which. 🙂
I love homemade macaroons. The store-bought ones are always a bit too sweet for me. Homemade is definitely best. These look lovely!
Macaroons are one of my favourite cookies!
These look so yummy! I love that you used almonds and extract instead of almond paste. I always have them in my pantry, so no special trips to the store. Yay!
So much easier to find than almond paste!
What a great cookie! I love coconut macaroons and adding almonds is bound to be delicoius!
Thank you!
I have NO idea why I have never thought to make my own macaroons before!? These sound amazing and look super easy to make. Thanks for the inspiration 🙂
You know, I hadn’t either, but they are so easy and so good, there is really no reason not to!
I just LOVE everything about this recipe, it is really a different twist and I would love to make these one day, just to feel that crunch, I love how they seem so tasty and crunchy! 🙂
The crunch compliments coconut so well.
I love that you’re re-introducing almonds to macaroons, it adds an entirely different level of flavor of texture to the cookies.
Thank you! Back to the roots, right?