Coconut Macaroons
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Soft and chewy on the inside, crisp and golden on the outside — these are the perfect coconut macaroons.
As a coconut lover, I’ve tried dozens of recipes for coconut macaroons over the years, and these are my all-time favorite. Chewy and rich on the inside, crisp and golden on the outside, they are delicious plain but even more irresistible dipped in dark chocolate. They also keep well for days on end, making them the perfect holiday cookie to bake ahead or give away. (Be sure not to confuse coconut macaroons with French macarons, which are delicate meringue-based sandwich cookies with a sweet filling.)
What You’ll Need To Make Coconut Macaroons
- Sweetened flaked coconut: The base of the macaroons; I recommend Baker’s Angel Flake for the best results, as there’s a lot of variability in coconut depending on the brand.
- Sweetened condensed milk: A key ingredient for making macaroons, sweetened condensed milk is a canned milk product from which water has been removed and sugar has been added. It’s sticky-sweet and makes the best macaroons. Many recipes call for it but, in my experience, they all have the same problem: too much liquid, which causes the sweet batter to pool around the edges of the macaroons and burn in the oven. This is because recipe developers want to keep their recipes neat and tidy with one whole bag of coconut and one full can of sweetened condensed milk. For this recipe, you’ll use just shy of one can. You’ll have to sacrifice some sweetened condensed milk (try adding it to you coffee!), but your macaroons will be perfect.
- Vanilla extract: Adds a lovely depth of flavor.
- Egg whites: Provide structure and help the macaroons hold their shape.
- Salt: Enhances the overall flavor.
- Semi-sweet chocolate (optional): For dipping or drizzling.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by combining the coconut, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla.
Mix until well combined.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form.
Stiff peaks look like this when you lift the beaters out of the bowl.
Add the egg whites to the coconut mixture and fold until combined.
Using a mini ice cream scoop or two spoons, form heaping tablespoons of the mixture into mounds onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart.
Bake for about 25 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are deeply golden and the tops are lightly golden.
Let the macaroons cool on the baking sheet for a minute, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
If you’d like to dip the macaroons in chocolate, melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl, stopping to stir every 30 seconds, until just smooth and creamy. (Alternatively, melt in a double boiler over simmering water.) Dip the bottoms of the macaroons in the chocolate and return to the lined baking sheets.
Refrigerate for about 10 minutes, or until the chocolate is set. That’s all there is to it. Enjoy!
Wondering with to do with those leftover egg yolks? Check out these recipes: Chocolate Cream Pie, Coconut Dream Pie, Millionaire’s Shortbread, Molten Chocolate Cakes, Tres Leches Cake, Rugelach, Banana Pudding Parfaits and Rum Cake.
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Coconut Macaroons
Soft and chewy on the inside, crisp and golden on the outside — these are the perfect coconut macaroons.
Ingredients
- 1 14-oz bag sweetened flaked coconut, such as Baker's Angel Flake (see note)
- ⅞ cup sweetened condensed milk (see note below on measurement)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs whites
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, best quality such as Ghirardelli, chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Set two oven racks near the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the coconut, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form. Use a large rubber spatula to fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture.
- Using a mini ice cream scoop or two spoons, form heaping tablespoons of the mixture into mounds on the prepared baking sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back, until the tops and edges are golden. Let cool on the pans for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- If dipping the macaroons in chocolate, melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl at medium power, stopping and stirring at 30 second intervals, until just smooth and creamy. (Alternatively, melt the chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water.) Dip the bottoms of the macaroons in the chocolate, letting any excess drip back into the bowl, and return to the lined baking sheets. Place the macaroons in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to allow the chocolate to set. The cookies keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week.
- Note: There is a lot of variability in coconut depending on the brand you purchase. For the best results, I recommend Baker's Angel Flake (see package in the first picture on this page).
- Note: ⅞ cup = ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons
- Note: Make sure to use parchment paper (NOT wax paper) on the baking sheets. The macaroons will stick to wax paper.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The macaroons can be frozen for up to 3 months. (If you plan to dip them in chocolate, wait until you thaw them to do that.) Let them cool completely and store in an airtight container separating layers with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Before serving, remove the cookies from the container and let them come to room temperature.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 1 macaroon (nutritional data includes optional chocolate)
- Calories: 134
- Fat: 8 g
- Saturated fat: 6 g
- Carbohydrates: 16 g
- Sugar: 15 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Sodium: 81 mg
- Cholesterol: 4 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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I’ve made this recipe over and over and it’s the BEST. I couldn’t locate the Bakers Angel Flake at one point I went with a different brand. They did not turn out. Follow this recipe exactly and they will be the best cookie you’ve ever made.
Thank you for the great recipe!
I read some reviews who said their macaroons came out flat and my advice is to really mix the egg whites for a while About 10-15 min. But also if the egg whites are “fluffy” while beating and are not becoming stiff, the macaroons will also fall flat. I had that before and didn’t think it would make a difference but it has. I started over when making this batch because half way while beating , I noticed the egg whites were not as stiff as needed. Second batch of egg whites were more stiff and the macaroons came out peaked and not flat. Hope that helps someone.
Macaroons are simple & scrumptious beings, containing just a handful of cheap and delicious ingredients, so it’s hard to get a macaroon recipe wrong. I had high hopes for this recipe because it claims to have “perfected” and improved on the more common recipes out there, which tend to use a full tin of condensed milk. The chef explains their reduction of condensed milk was in order to avoid a pool of moisture forming around the cookies while they’re in the oven. Their logic for this seemed sensible, and I’d never made macaroons before, so I trusted the recipe and went by the metric conversion of the measurements provided. As I was preparing the dough, however, it quickly became apparent that the recipe is colossally wrong: 2 parts coconut to 1 part condensed milk (which is approx. what this recipe calls for) is simply too dry, and even though I’d never made these before, I knew there was no way that texture could be right. I went by instinct and gradually poured in nearly the whole tin of condensed milk; if I’d been more confident, I would have used the whole tin and the macaroons would have turned out even better. They turned out fine in the end, but only because I defied the recipe and because I added one further step before baking: I rested my batter. I believe this is where the author of the recipe must have gone wrong and why the classic recipes out there didn’t work for them. From my experience with baking similar styles of recipe (like Italian amaretti), I can say that resting your batter is non-negotiable with ingredients like this. The coconut is literally dried to oblivion (we don’t call it desiccated for nothing); it needs a chance to absorb the moisture of the milk and the lovely vanilla flavour, otherwise the cookies will almost certainly turn out chewy and drier than they should be. When the coconut has absorbed the moisture, not only will your macaroons hold their shape better but you will not have the pooling problem when baking. I think the author of the recipe just omitted this crucial step and thought they were making an improvement on the classic macaroon recipe by drying it out…whereas they just needed a better method. My advice: rest your batter in the fridge for at least an hour before baking. And follow a more classic recipe with a higher moisture content; this one is just wrong.
I should also add that the advice to bake these for 23-25 mins at 165C is…inexplicable? These are cookies! 11-13 mins is the maximum amount of time they should stay in the oven. Predictably, my first batch came out as little coconutty coals. So for the remaining batches I baked for 10 mins, then turned the tray around in the oven and baked for a further 2-3 mins. That worked out just fine.
I think location might make the difference here, as in the States we don’t have “desiccated” coconut. The ubiquitous Bakers coconut the author suggests is actually fairly moist. This recipe worked great for me (including cooking time).
How many macaroons does this recipe make? We remember how wonderful these cookies are! Thanks!
Glad you like them! The recipe makes approximately 26 macaroons.
This recipe is for Americans and very patient Europeans, as the measures are in imperial only, with no metric conversion. I’m an impatient European so methinks I’ll try a different site for my recipes. Ciao!
Hi Charlie, The great majority of my recipes (including this one) include conversions to metric/weight measurements. To view them, scroll down to the recipe, and immediately under the recipe title on the right side, you’ll see a little toggle. If you move it from “cup measures” to metric, you’ll see measurements that will work for you. Hope that helps!
I have been making this recipe for years and it is always the biggest hit at the party! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
If I Google what’s 14 oz it says 1.75 cups. And that’s what I used. But then I see in the reviews, you said it’s just over 5 cups. How did this not happen to anyone else?
These did not turn out…
Hi Jessica, I’m sorry for any confusion regarding the amount of coconut needed for the macaroons. Fourteen (14) ounces is the weight, slightly less than one pound. The volume of the coconut is 5 1/3 cups. (If you take a look at the packaging on the bag in the picture of ingredients near the top of the page, they handle it in the same way.) Hope that clarifies!
The same thing happened to me, Jenn….twice! Maybe a quick side note would help avoid confusion in the future (like how you did for the condensed milk measurement). These are fantastic…when the recipe is followed properly! 🙂
One of the easiest recipes I’ve ever made. The macaroons turned out looking and tasting like they were professionally made. A big hit with my friends.
Chewy, sweet and hard to stop eating. Easy to put this together in no time and they’re great with a cup of coffee. I did not dip them in chocolate because the macaroons were great as is.
AMAZING recipe!!! I was anxious about how difficult it would be, but it was so foolproof that they turned out fabulously! I got rave reviews from my family and in-laws. An easy yet sophisticated recipe, I highly recommend bakers of any caliber to try this amazing recipe. I’d give it 6 stars if I could!!!