coconut butter macaroons

my mother in-law sent along this vegan macaroon recipe she found on williams-sonoma blog, the blender, months ago. i’ve had the strongest intentions of making it, and happen to always have all of the ingredients in my pantry. i am always looking for new recipes using coconut, and even desperate to find recipes using coconut butter. through my entire pregnancy and now after, i have been craving coconut like mad.

these macaroons came together so quickly, a matter of minutes really. i melted the coconut butter over low heat in a pot, threw in the syrup and other ingredients… stir, stir, stir, form, bake, done.

easy.

delicious.

these cookies turned out light and sweet. the edges and crust of them were crisp. the flavor of coconut was delicate, but very present. the use of coconut butter is a brilliant way to boost the coconut flavor without the use of artificial extracts.

macaroons should not be heavy, sticky or dense. they should be lightly sweetened, moist and light in the center, heavy on coconut flavor, and given a crispy crunch on the outside after toasting in the oven.

my only recommendation is to resist rolling the macaroons in a tight ball. simply spoon them onto the parchment and form into a loose ball. this will prevent the dense, thick-as-a-brick uncooked inside.

thanks to my mother in-law, cindy, for thinking of me when she saw this! i should make her a batch to say thank you!

this recipe makes 18 or so smallish macaroons.

for the macaroons:

ingredients:

1/3 cup coconut butter

6 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

2 cups finely shredded coconut, unsweetened

method: preheat oven to 350f. line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

melt coconut butter over low heat in a medium pot. keep stirring until most lumps and bumps are gone.

stir in maple syrup and vanilla until well blended.

add coconut and salt and mix well until coated evenly.

spoon onto cookie sheets, shaping lightly into snowballs.

bake for 15-20 minutes, until edges are just toasted golden-brown. macaroons set up when they are cool, so don’t expect them to be crisp or firm right out of the oven.

allow to cool for 30 minutes or so.

chocolate drizzle

slowly and gently melt 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips in a pot.

use a small spoon to drizzle over cooled macaroons. alternatively, you can dip the bottoms of the cookies into the chocolate. -or both. is there such a thing as too much chocolate? lets be honest.

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