Coconut Macaroons
Golden, crisp-edged coconut macaroons with chewy centers, made with just a handful of ingredients and sweetened with maple syrup. The always-stocked cookie for your dessert tin.
Yield: About 24 macaroons · Active: 15 min · Total: 2 hr 15 min · Year-round · Best eaten: early afternoon
Looking for a no-bake version? Try my No-Bake Chai Coconut Macaroons with Cacao Cream.
Ingredients
4 pasture-raised egg whites, at room temperature
Pinch of Baja Gold sea salt
2 tbsp arrowroot
½ cup maple syrup
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups unsweetened finely shredded coconut
Optional: 3 oz dark chocolate, for dipping
Method
Prep. Heat the oven to 300°F, and line a baking sheet with buttered parchment.
Whip the whites. In a clean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt until they form stiff peaks.
Add the arrowroot, and beat it in, then slowly beat in the maple syrup and vanilla.
Fold in the coconut gently by hand.
Shape. Drop heaping spoonfuls onto the parchment, about 1 inch apart.
Bake 30 minutes at 300°F, until lightly golden.
Dry. Lower the oven to 200°F, and bake about 1 hour more, until completely dry and crisp on the outside.
Cool completely on the parchment before lifting them off.
Dip (optional). Gently melt the chocolate in a bowl over barely simmering water, dip the bottoms of the macaroons, and set them on parchment until firm.
Tip: Room-temperature egg whites whip up taller and faster than cold ones, and any trace of yolk or grease in the bowl will keep them from whipping, so separate your eggs carefully.
Save the yolks: Use them in my House Mayo or Homemade Ice Cream.
Storage
Airtight at room temperature up to 2 weeks.
Nourishment Notes
The slow, two-stage bake (30 minutes hot, then an hour at a low temperature) is what keeps these crisp in the tin, rather than going soft by day two. It’s the same idea behind meringues: the outside sets in the higher heat, then the moisture leaves the inside slowly in the low heat, for a crisp shell and a chewy center.
Arrowroot is a starch from the root of the Maranta plant, used by Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean and South America long before it reached European kitchens, where it was prized as a gentle food for the sick and for infants. Here it does the job cornstarch would do in a conventional macaroon, with a finer texture.
Egg whites are an underused ingredient, since most home cooks don’t separate eggs often. If you make yolk-rich recipes, like mayo, custards, or ice cream, save the whites for macaroons and meringues.
Coconut — fiber, manganese, copper, and lauric acid.
Pasture-raised egg whites — lean protein, selenium, and riboflavin.
Maple syrup — manganese and zinc.
For your cycle: A light, satisfying treat in any phase, especially paired with a cup of tea in the afternoon.
Sourcing
Eggs — organic and pasture-raised, from a local farm or Alexandre Family Farm
Shredded coconut — organic, unsweetened, and sulfite-free, finely shredded
Arrowroot — organic
Maple syrup — organic Grade A dark
Vanilla — organic pure vanilla extract
Dark chocolate (optional) — organic, 70% or darker, ideally sweetened with coconut sugar, like Hu
Salt — Baja Gold sea salt
— Anna aka Food Marshall