I brought chocolate dipped macaroons to a Passover seder earlier this week. They were not the only macaroons for the taking. There were at least 6 other variations on macaroons, including one style that was the size of a baseball, and a few with so many ingredients that we needed a quick tour of which had soy, nuts, or other possibly dicey ingredients. It was an overwhelmingly medley of macaroon dessert options that required some to think carefully about their choice.
Earlier that day I was buried in tasks and emails and as a result I shortcutted my usual recipe by not whipping the egg whites and eliminated some ingredients. I quickly tossed a small number of ingredients in a large bowl, blended the mix with a wooden spoon, and used a teaspoon and my fingers to scoop and shape the macaroons on to Silpat mats and bake.
The result kind of confirmed for me that for macaroons, it’s a basic and versatile set of ingredients that always come together, along with the addition of lemon or lime zest. I use a microplane zester, but if you don’t have one of these you can finely grate the lime (or lemon) rind to produce a citrus zest.
This recipe was inspired by Coconut and Lime Macaroons — Macarons noix de coco et citron vert and my Lemon, Vanilla, and Chocolate Kissed Macaroons.
Coconut Lime Macaroons
If you don’t have lime, you can substitute with lemon zest for an alternative citrus flavor. And save the egg yolks for ice cream or lemon curd; they’ll stay fresh when sealed and stored in the refrigerator for about a week. Or, you can purchase egg whites separately in a carton in most markets. For the honey, I sometimes knock off a tablespoon of honey and they still come out great, just a bit less moist. So instead of 1/4 cup of honey (4 tablespoons) and go down to about 3 tablespoons of honey. I’m generally a purist about using fresh eggs to obtain egg whites, but on occasion I have purchased organic egg whites and they do work with this recipe as well as others, such as the macaroons recipe. Not ideal, but there’s a limit to how many egg yolks I can go through. For the egg yolks, I use them for lemon curd and ice cream. And you can store them in the refrigerator for about a week. (I also slip a few into my dog’s bowl)Ingredients
- 2 cups (≈5.7 ounces) of unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 egg whites (about 2/3 cup)
1/4 cup3 tablespoons honey- 1 teaspoon lime zest (or finely grated lime skin)
Method
- Preheat your oven to 350°F/175°C.
- Blend the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients to the bowl and blend well with a spoon or fork.
- Place a non-stick mat on a baking sheet and scoop out about 1 heaping tablespoon of batter on to the mat.
- Shape and press the batter so that it forms a cookie. Continue with the rest of the batter, spacing each cookie about an inch or so apart since they don’t spread when baking.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until the bottoms and some peaks are browned.
- Cool for at least 15 minutes.
- If you choose, melt some chocolate and dip the bottom of each macaroon in the chocolate and then freeze for 30 minutes.
- Store in a sealed container at room temperature or in the refrigator for a few weeks.
Makes about 20 macaroons
Oh my goodness. I can’t believe I have never made macaroons before. What a delicious combination of flavors!
they’re quite easy, really!
Those sound so refreshing for Spring! Can’t wait to try them!
Spring at last!
I just got my copy of your cook book today! I am pouring over it like a treasure map! It’s not only beautiful but packed with lots of extras. You did a great job with it and I can’t wait to try several recipes. The first one on my list is the faux cous cous. Thanks Erica 🙂
Thanks Karen!
I will definitely be making these soon! I was in Wegman’s the other day feeling sorry for myself about something and starting eyeballing the sweets. I told myself to knock it off and headed for the checkout, only to spy the macaroons. Well those are at least paleo I thought, except that when I checked the ingredients I saw wheat flour! So I hightailed it out of there before I could make a poor decision.
I hear you. I was amazed the first time I made macaroons without flour. I had no idea.
So I made these tonight. Instead of going to bed since I have to work in the morning. Best decision ever! 😛
These are so simple and so good! I dipped half of them in dark chocolate and left the other half plain, and I love both! I used the 3T of honey and find them very moist, but I used farm eggs so I’m thinking maybe I had more whites as my mixture was very wet. In any event, thanks for this recipe. I will definitely make these often!
Yeah!
I made these about a week ago, and, yes, they are VERY easy AND very YUMMY! I used the full 1/4 cup of honey, but will probably try the 3 TB recommendation next time, as my mix was very wet, and I think I would have personally preferred just a bit less moist macaroon. The lime flavor was just right–not too faint nor too strong. I did not dip mine in chocolate as suggested simply because I didn’t have any on hand. I will have to try that next time, but definitely good even without it. Thanks.
I agree – the most recent batch for me was wet as well. I sometimes estimate the amount of honey and I tend to put in less than 1/4 cup.
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this recipe. I am not sure what happened. I followed the recipe exactly and they did not turn out right. The “batter” was not holding together, it was falling apart, I could not scoop them or shape them. I had to add a little bit of flour.
It’s not the kind of batter that sticks together easily (a bit fussy) but it should bake just fine. You can add a bit more shredded coconut if it’s too wet. What happened when you added flour?
I just found your website and saw so many recipes to try. I am on SCD for a yeast overgrowth, and doing really well. Sadly I can’t handle any sweeter of any kind, at the moment. Would these macaroons hold together without the honey, do you think. I thoguth of using ( not legal ) a really small pinch of stevia. Any thoughts. I am also a lover of scones and thoughts of trying your recipe, but have the same issue with the honey. Alas I am not a baker…thanks for any feedback,
Janet
sorry, I don’t know. I suggest staying away from sugar anyway if your fighting a yeast infection