You’ll find this Coconut Macaroons recipe, among may of my other favorite cookies, in Zoë Bakes Cookies.
I know, the whole macaroon/macaron thing is rather confusing. It’s helpful to think of both as derivatives of a cookie that has evolved over hundreds of years with each version maintaining that base of egg whites and sugar.
These are one of my favorite Passover cookies. I find the commercially made ones dense and too sweet, but the homemade ones are delightful, chewy treats that are so easy to make.
Tom Gumpel, my former professor at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), inspired these cookies. He added all kinds of dried fruits—raisins, cranberries, apricots, and cherries—for added sweetness and extra chew. Over the years, I’ve experimented with various flavors, such as jaggery, ground cardamom, and chocolate to satisfy whatever cravings I have.
Coconut Macaroons (Haystack Cookies) Step-By-Step
Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line two doubled-up baking sheets or insulated cookie sheets with lightly greased parchment paper or silicone mats. The doubled- up baking sheets will protect the bottoms from getting too dark.
In a large stainless steel bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar and egg whites.
Fill the bottom of a double boiler or a medium sauce-pan with 1 inch / 2.5cm of water and bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Place the bowl with the sugar mixture over the double boiler and stir the mixture with a rubber spatula until the sugar is completely melted.
This can take about 5 minutes. Brush down the sides of the bowl with the spatula to make sure all the sugar is melted and no grains are clinging to the side. Feel the mixture between your fingers to check for graininess.
Remove the sugar mixture from the heat and add the vanilla, salt, coconut, cinnamon, raisins, dried fruit, and nuts. Stir well to incorporate. Allow it to sit for 30 minutes. It can also be made ahead of time and refrigerated for up to 48 hours.
Stir before portioning out the haystacks using an ice cream scoop. Be sure that the batter is tightly packed in the scoop before releasing it onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies about two inches apart. If you are using a #40 (1 1/2 tablespoon) portion scoop, you will get about 15 per sheet.
Bake, with racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven, for about 20 minutes until golden brown on the top and bottom, rotating the trays and switching from top to bottom halfway through baking.
Allow to cool completely on parchment paper, lift the cookies to unstick them from the paper, and then dust with confectioners’ sugar.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (120g) egg whites about 4 large
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 3 cups (320g) loosely packed sweetened angel flake coconut and/or shreds
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (70g) raisins chopped or whole
- 1 cup (150g) chopped dried fruit raisins, apricots, cherries, and/or craisins
- 1/2 cup (60g) finely chopped pecans or walnuts
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line two doubled-up baking sheets or insulated cookie sheets with lightly greased parchment paper or silicone mats. The doubled- up baking sheets will protect the bottoms from getting too dark.
- In a large stainless steel bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar and egg whites.
- Fill the bottom of a double boiler or a medium sauce-pan with 1 inch / 2.5cm of water and bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Place the bowl with the sugar mixture over the double boiler and stir the mixture with a rubber spatula until the sugar is completely melted. This can take about 5 minutes. Brush down the sides of the bowl with the spatula to make sure all the sugar is melted and no grains are clinging to the side. Feel the mixture between your fingers to check for graininess.
- Remove the sugar mixture from the heat and add the vanilla, salt, coconut, cinnamon, raisins, dried fruit, and nuts. Stir well to incorporate. Allow it to sit for 30 minutes. It can also be made ahead of time and refrigerated for up to 48 hours.
- Stir before portioning out the haystacks using an ice cream scoop. Be sure that the batter is tightly packed in the scoop before releasing it onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies about two inches apart. If you are using a #40 (1 1/2 tablespoon) portion scoop, you will get about 15 per sheet.
- Bake, with racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven, for about 20 minutes until golden brown on the top and bottom, rotating the trays and switching from top to bottom halfway through baking.
- Allow to cool completely on parchment paper, lift the cookies to unstick them from the paper, and then dust with confectioners’ sugar.
This year I plan to make Mom a Meyer Lemon cake, and serve it with strawberries and raspberries.
Yay for Kosher for Passover recipes! I’ll have to try and make one of these this year. I believe that I would make my mom something she remembers enjoying from her childhood. Maybe it’s something she can have regularly or not, but the purpose would be two fold. One she’d be eating something she enjoys and maybe be full of memories and Two, she wouldn’t have to make it herself or spend money somewhere else to have it!
Wow Zoe do those matzos look addictive! Then again so do the Macaroons! Can I come live at your house for a while? Hehe. Good stuff here, as always! Thank you!
WOW – I always love coconut macaroons, but I never had them loaded up with goodies like yours are. I bet they’re divine!!
Strawberry Short Cake or blueberry buckle. She will love either one. Steph
Mom mom is gone as well, but I’d love to make her a little Tiramisu and that little Le Creuset Stoneware Heart Ramekin would be perfect for it.
Hi James,
You probably didn’t end up using enough coconut. If this happens again just add more coconut until all of the syrup is absorbed. If you let the mixture sit for about 15-20 minutes before baking this will allow time for the coconut to absorb the syrup.
Thanks for the feedback!
Zoë
Don’t know what happened, but my macaroons did not turn out too well; the egg whites sort of seeped out of the mounds in the oven and the resulting stacks flattened out. Taste great, though.
great treats, zoe! your macaroons reminded me of the glorious impossible coconut pie that my mom loves, so that’s probably what i’d make for her. 🙂
I’m thinking about making a nice fruit tart with a lemon or vanilla custard filling…it would be be so spring like!
Yum! Love macaroons, especially chocolate ones! Great recipe that I can’t wait to try!
If my Mom were still with us I would make her meringue shells with strawberries and whipped cream in them.
Love all your receipes!
I would love to have someone make me îles flottantes. No one ever cooks for me 🙂 that would be a nice change 🙂
My mother was a wonderful baker and she passed her passion to bake to my sister and me. If she were still with us today I would make her Frangipane Apricot Bars.
My mom is going to be (as far as I know) several states away for mother’s day. 🙁 If she were going to be in town I would make her sun tea and a beautiful seasonal fruit-filled pastry.
I wanted to make has my mére a cheeskeak has fruit of the paisson, but I live in France and my mére in brazil, then I fairai its cheeskeak and I will eat in front of the computer with her
je voudrais faire un cheeskeak à la fruit de la passion, car je sais qui ma mère adore, mais j’habite en France et ma mère au Brésil, alors je vais faire et je mangerai devant l’ordinateur avec elle, car ce le seule moyen de passer son jour avec elle
We have a non-Mother’s Day policy in our family, because my mom thinks it’s a stupid idea! But she’s all in favor of my cooking her a good dinner on Easter, and a layer cake is traditional. I think this year I might make my favorite yellow cake with chocolate frosting–it’s very dense and moist.
I love macaroons but have never tried them with dried fruit. Sounds wonderful and will make them soon. First I want to make a Pot Pie and would love that little le creuset pot to test out. Pick me please!!!!
or how about a good Chocolate Babka recipe? Please!
Thank you!
something lemon, cake or somehow incorporate ABin% dough. My Mom absolutely loves the breads I bake from your book. She also loves lemon and blueberry so anything you can do with those, I am patiently waiting!
Thanks for helping me make my Mom happy! She’s having health problems – just had the joints in her right hand replaced due to Rheumatory Arthritis so we are hoping she will be able to get back in the kitchen one of these days. Until then, I am her baking slave.
I’d make a simple yet scrumptious strawberry shortcake with fresh strawberries and real home made whipped cream
My mom typically orders one of two types of desserts: some form of chocolate cake or some form of apple pie or tart.
I’ve been trying to think of a way to combine the two, maybe caramel is the bridge to bring them together? A chocolate apple cake with caramel drizzle? An apple tart with a chocolate crust?
Hmmm. I’m still working on it. You have any ideas?
My mom would love to spend all day making cupcakes. I’d probably make them with her, rather than just for her. Mmmmm…caramel covered matzoh – looks good.
My mom loves coconut cream pie and I bet she’ll be head over heals for these macaroons. I’ll probably end up shipping her a box of these macaroons since a cream pie would never make it across the country in one piece. I would love it if someone made me the carrot cake that you posted a while ago on your blog.
I’m of the older generation, much older, and my most favorite type of cake is a rich, buttery yeast cake like a Babka – it has to be the most satisfying accompaniament to a cup of hot black coffee. And I am a chocoholic.