Image is for illustrative purposes only.
Coconut macaroons are one of the simplest things you can make from a handful of pantry ingredients: desiccated coconut, caster sugar and egg white, warmed together so the sugar dissolves and the coconut softens, with a little cornflour to hold everything in shape. Piped or spooned into small mounds and baked just until the tips and edges take colour, they come out crisp and golden outside and chewy and moist in the middle.
They keep well in an airtight container, which makes them handy to have on hand for petit four platters, Christmas biscuit boxes and cake boards where you want a little something beside the slice. The mixture can also be piped into rosettes or small pyramids, and the bases are often dipped in melted chocolate once the macaroons are cold.
Ingredients
The weights in the recipe table below will yield the following 'weight per unit' and 'number of units'. If you would like to change the recipe to cater to a different 'weight per unit' and/or 'number of units',
you can use the Recipe Calculator Tool below the ingredients table.
Note: The Recipe Calculator Tool is available to subscribers.
Weight Per Unit: 1040
Number of Units: 1
Unit Size: tray of about 35 macaroons, roughly 30 g each
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WEIGHT
(grams)
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ALTERNATIVE METRIC
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INGREDIENT
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IMAGE
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CONDITION
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A
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300 |
10.6 ounces
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Desiccated Coconut
Desiccated coconut is coconut flesh that has been dried and finely shredded. It is much drier than fresh or moist shredded coconut, so it absorbs moisture from a batter or meringue and gives a fine, slightly sandy texture.
fine
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B
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500 |
17.6 ounces
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Sugar
Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. They are carbohydrates, composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose (also known as dextrose), fructose and galactose. The table or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide. (In the body, sucrose hydrolyses into fructose and glucose.) Other disaccharides include maltose and lactose. Longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides. Chemically-different substances may also have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugars. Some are used as lower-calorie food substitutes for sugar described as artificial sweeteners.
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C
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230 |
7.7 Egg Whites
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Egg White
Egg white is the common name for the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg. In chickens it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms around fertilized or unfertilized egg yolks. The primary natural purpose of egg white is to protect the yolk and provide additional nutrition for the growth of the embryo (when fertilized). Egg white consists primarily of about 90% water into which is dissolved 10% proteins (including albumins, mucoproteins, and globulins). Unlike the yolk, which is high in lipids (fats), egg white contains almost no fat, and carbohydrate content is less than 1%. Egg whites contain just over 50% of the protein in the egg. Egg white has many uses in food (e.g. mousse) and also many other uses (e.g. in the preparation of vaccines such as those for influenza).
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room temperature |
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D
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10 |
0.4 ounce
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Corn Starch
Corn starch, cornstarch, cornflour or maize starch or maize is the starch derived from the corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the corn kernel. Corn starch is a popular food ingredient used in thickening sauces or soups, and is used in making corn syrup and other sugars.
cornflour
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sifted |
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1040
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Recipe Calculator Tool
Using this tool, you can alter this recipe for your own requirements. Use the two fields below to generate new weights for the ingredients above.
STEP 1. Enter your Custom Weight Per Unit
The 'Custom Weight Per Unit' is already loaded with the weight per unit for this recipe but can be changed if required. If all you wish to do is change the number of units (or servings), just leave the current weight per unit.
STEP 2. Enter your Custom Number of Units
This is the number of units (or servings) you want this recipe to yield.
STEP 3. Click Calculate
The new weights for your adjusted recipe will be displayed in the table above.
Method
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STEP
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ACTION
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DETAIL
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CONDITION
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1 |
Prepare |
Line one or two flat baking trays with baking paper, or with edible wafer paper if you have it. Fit a piping bag with a large plain or star nozzle if you want to pipe the mixture. |
Trays ready before the mixture is warmed |
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2 |
Combine |
Put A, B and C (desiccated coconut, caster sugar and egg white) into a heatproof bowl and stir together with a spatula. |
Coconut evenly moistened, mixture thick and sandy |
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3 |
Warm |
Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir constantly as it heats. |
Mixture reaches about 45–50°C, the sugar has dissolved and it feels warm and sticky, not grainy |
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4 |
Mix |
Take the bowl off the heat and stir in D (cornflour). |
No lumps, mixture holds its shape on the spatula |
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5 |
Rest |
Leave the mixture to stand for 10–15 minutes so the coconut absorbs the syrup. |
Thick enough to pipe or shape without spreading |
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6 |
Pre-heat |
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (355°F). |
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7 |
Shape |
Pipe or spoon the mixture into small mounds of about 30 g, spaced a few centimetres apart on the lined trays. Wet your fingers and neaten the tips if shaping by hand. |
Even sizes so they bake at the same rate |
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8 |
Bake |
Bake for 12–15 minutes. |
Tips and edges golden, the centres still soft when pressed |
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9 |
Cool |
Leave the macaroons on the tray for a few minutes to firm up, then lift them onto a rack. |
Crisp outside, chewy and moist inside once cold |
Important Notes
The scaled recipe makes about 1,038 g of mixture, which is roughly 35 macaroons at 30 g each. Do not overbake them: they firm up a lot as they cool, and a few minutes too long turns them dry and hard. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week; they stay chewy if kept sealed. For a dressier finish, dip the cold bases in melted chocolate and set them on paper until firm.
Tools & Arrangements
Heatproof mixing bowl, saucepan for a water bath, rubber spatula, kitchen thermometer (optional), piping bag with a large plain or star nozzle, flat baking trays, baking paper or wafer paper, cooling rack, kitchen scales.
