Macaroons, Macarons (Coconut Macaroons for Passover)

While in Nantes, France, I was introduced to the delicate, delicious dessert called a macaron for the first time. Nothing new to French palates, but brand new to me. Mmm, so good! That was a few years ago, and now the little macaron sandwiches are becoming hip across the pond and replicated in many locales (to the chagrin of some). Multiple of my repatriated friends started making them, trying -  successfully, so I've heard! - to imitate the deliciousness found in French Pâtisserie shops.

Since I was introduced to macarons in France, the French pronunciation of the word is what I'm used to. For English speakers, though, "macaroon" is much easier to say, and seems to be the default pronunciation for either spelling. However, a "macaroon" to me is synonymous with the coconut dessert I've had since childhood and which is consumed in particularly large quantities over Passover. Even better, coconut macaroons are super easy to make, in contrast with the finicky macaron.

On the left we have the French macaron mini-sandwich, which comes in many flavours and colours (from Flickr user yuichi.sakuraba). On the right is a plain coconut macaroon (from Flickr user paige_eliz). Both of these treats measure about 1.5" or 4 cm in diameter.

If you've never had a coconut macaroon, they are bite-size desserts that take regular, dry coconut and transform it into a lightly-chewy dessert which bursts with flavour and sweetness. Baked until golden brown, the edges might get a little crispy, but the inside of macaroons stays soft and nearly gooey.

All this to say: both types of desserts are delicious, but this blog post is about a coconut macaroon recipe I created.


Coconut-Almond Macaroons
Airy and not sickly sweet, these are suitable for Passover but can be enjoyed throughout the year. I created this recipe after looking at other ones on the web and not being satisfied. The singular egg white makes them light and semi-fluffy without making meringues. The almond flavour is light; you may want to add extra almond flour.
Makes 2-3 dozen
preparation:10 minutes
baking: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups shredded or dried coconut (found near the chocolate chips in the baking aisle)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4+ cup almond flour/almond meal (I found this in the 'health foods' section)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg white

Directions:

• Preheat over to 350°F
• Stir ingredients vigorously together in a bowl until well-mixed and sticky
• Spoon out (or let's be honest, I used my hands) a tablespoon at a time onto a lightly greased cookie sheet
• Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the edges start to colour.
• Let cool, and enjoy! Store in an air-tight container for up to 5 days. 

N.B. - I did not whip the egg white before adding it, and they turned out great. One less step! Also, I used parchment paper and lightly sprayed that with nonstick cooking spray.

My finished product. It's easy to split the recipe in two and add in chocolate to half (or more). I made regular and chocolate chip macaroons.

Optional additions (aka, do you want chocolate with that?):

• Chocolate chip macaroons - mix in 1/4 cup of chocolate chips before spooning out on to the cookie sheet. I would suggest mini-chips, because it was hard to make my regular-sized chips stay together with the rest of the macaroon during forming.
• Chocolate-covered macaroons - after letting the baked macaroons cool, melt some chocolate and dip them in! Half-covered, wholly dipped, it's up to you.
• Chocolate almond macaroons - melt 2 squares of unsweetened (baking) chocolate and mix it in before spooning them out onto the cookie sheet.

Happy Passover!