Chewy Chocolate Macaroons

These Chewy Chocolate Macaroons are delicious pillows of soft coconut and cocoa that can be ready in under 25 minutes!

These delicious Chewy Chocolate Macaroons are my Mother’s recipe and have become a staple in our home. For as long as I can remember my Mother has been making these amazing macaroons for Passover sedars. When I started contributing to the sedar dinner, I took over baking these cookies. My recipe is nearly identical to hers because you should never mess with perfection. These macaroons are so good that I make them year round, especially when I’m baking for chocolate loving friends who have gluten allergies.

You may have seen coconut macaroons in the grocery store: they are the round coconut cookies often dipped in milk chocolate, and served around Easter and Pesach.  They are hard and dry, with only a hint of coconut flavour: absolutely nothing like these beauties.  These cookies are pillows of soft coconut with unsweetened cocoa folded in for a rich chocolate flavour.  They are a little sweet, with a deep chocolate flavour, and just enough chew to have an interesting texture.  These Chewy Chocolate Macaroons are a staple not only in my Pesach baking, but year round!

TOTAL TIME

• Preparation Time – 6 minutes
• Cooking Time – 15 minutes
• Total Time – 21 minutes

INGREDIENTS FOR CHEWY CHOCOLATE MACAROONS

All the ingredients for these Chocolate Coconut Macaroons are easy to source from any local grocer.

• 1 cup Sugar
• 1/3 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 3 Large Egg Whites
• 1 pinch Kosher Salt
• 2 cups Unsweetened Coarse Coconut
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

ARE MACAROONS AND MACARONS THE SAME THING?

Absolutely not. French macarons are beautiful sandwich cookies filled with jam or ganache. The cookie is made with almond flour and has a chewy texture and a beautiful crust. These coconut macaroons are made with whipped egg white merengue and grated coconut. If made correctly they are light, yet substantial.

CAN I MAKE MY MACAROONS SMALLER?

You can certainly make your cookies smaller if you wish, but I wouldn’t recommend it. I make these cookies larger to ensure that they remain soft, chewy, and fluffy in the center.

WHY DO MY EGG WHITES NEED TO BE ROOM TEMPERATURE?

In order to make the softest macaroons possible, you need to start with a light and fluffy merengue. In order to make a fluffy merengue, you need to start with well aerated egg whites. Room temperature egg whites will whip up fluffier than cold egg whites, so you always want to leave your egg whites out for a bit.

IS DUTCH PROCESS COCOA THE SAME AS UNSWEETENED COCOA?

Although the two products are often confused, they are different in both taste and appearance. Unsweetened cocoa powder is made from the dried cocoa solids that remain after most of the fat in the cocoa bean is removed. Dutch cocoa powder is made from dried cocoa solids that remain in beans that have been soaked in an alkali solution. Dutch cocoa is thought to have a smoother taste with less bitterness and tends to be more expensive.

CAN I MAKE THESE INTO HEALTHY COCONUT MACAROONS?

These delicious chocolate macaroons are made with unsweetened cocoa and unsweetened grated coconut. Additionally, they have no added fat in the form of oil or butter. The only thing that prevents them from being considered healthy coconut macaroons is the sugar in the recipe. If you’d like to make these coconut macaroons healthy, either reduce the amount of sugar or substitute a natural sugar alternative such as stevia in this recipe.

INGREDIENT SUBSTITUTIONS

CAN I USE FINE COCONUT INSTEAD OF COARSE?

In order for the macaroons to remain fluffy while still maintaining some texture you need to use either medium or coarse coconut. If you use fine coconut the texture will be overwhelmed by the merengue, and will not be as delicious.

CAN I USE A DIFFERENT KIND OF SUGAR IN THESE COOKIES?

Although I often use brown sugar in baking, I would not recommend it’s caramel notes in this cookie. If you really wish you can use a sugar substitute like stevia in these macaroons and maintain the integrity of the dish.

CAN I USE SWEETENED COCONUT?

I would strongly recommend that you use unsweetened coconut for this recipe. Although my Chocolate Coconut Macaroons have sugar in them, there’s a fine line between that and tooth achingly cloying. If you like overly sweet macaroons, this is not the recipe for you.

CAN I USE DUTCH PROCESS COCOA INSTEAD OF UNSWEETENED?

If you like, you can substitute Dutch process cocoa in this recipe. I personally prefer to use natural unsweetened cocoa that retains it’s slight bitterness as I find it adds complexity to chocolate baked goods.

EQUIPMENT FOR CHEWY CHOCOLATE MACAROONS

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Below is a list of the main equipment/kitchen tools needed to make these Chocolate Coconut Macaroons:

• Kitchen Aid Mixer – You can make these cookies by hand if you don’t own a mixer, but you will find it difficult to properly aerate the egg whites without one. I highly recommend purchasing a good mixer if you are able to do so. I adore my Kitchen Aid Professional mixer. It can handle even the heaviest of batters with ease. In addition, it has a large 6.6 L bowl which can accommodate multiple batches of this batter at once

• Cookie scoop (3 tbsp) – I strongly recommend a cookie scoop in order to make equally sized cookies, and perfectly round dough balls. I love my OXO cookie scoop so much that I own it in three sizes: 3 tbsp large scoop is used in this recipe.

• Parchment Paper – I highly recommend lining your cookie sheets with parchment paper to ensure they don’t stick to the pan. Paper Chef is my favourite brand, and comes in a large format roll that is easy to cut to any size.

• Baking Pans

• Spatula

COOKING DIRECTIONS

These Chewy Chocolate Macaroons are delicious and extremely simple to prepare as long as you follow a few simple rules:

1. Use room temperature egg whites to ensure they will whip up fluffy for your merengue.
2. Always use coarse grated coconut for the best textured macaroons.
3. Use unsweetened cocoa for a deep, rich chocolate flavour.

MAKE AHEAD STORAGE

These Chewy Chocolate Macaroons cannot be made in advance.

These delicious macaroons will keep at room temperature for three to four days in an airtight container. They can be frozen, just be cautious because they are fragile and will break easily if jostled before defrosting.

FINISHED DISH

Enjoy your delicious Chewy Chocolate Macaroons!

OTHER MACAROONS / COOKIES

Coconut Macaroons

Easy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Nutella Oatmeal Cookies

Rich Chocolate Cheesecake Hamantaschen

Dipped Chocolate Almond Biscotti

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