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.
Hi Zoe,
I’m looking to double or possibly triple the Haystack Macaroon recipe. Will this change the outcome? I don’t want to take any chances and ruin a perfect cookie.
Thanks – Toni
Hi Toni, you can absolutely double or triple this recipe. Zoë has done it many times around the holidays! Enjoy!
Zoe, your recipe for haystacks is fantastic. I used to buy haystacks from a bakery that closed after 60 years in business. No other bakery in San Diego makes them. I made a batch of 24 using your recipe and they were outstanding. Tasted better than the bakery. I added some additional bits of fruit; chopped dates and figs. Had dried tart cherries, dried cranberry, raisins, walnut and pecan. Thank you so much for posting your recipes.
Just learned about your blog and fabulous baking ideas…everything looks amazingly beautiful and delicious!!! What a great find! I just got back from a wedding in Minneapolis…too bad I didn’t know about you then and the wonderful bakery you mentioned.
For Mother’s day, I will honor my mom’s low-carb lifestyle/diet and bake her a delicious, savory dinner instead of dessert. I will bake her my homemade cauliflower “crust” pizza (cauliflower, mozzarella, egg, and yummy spices) topped with low-carb alfredo sauce, asparagus, olives, pepper jack cheese, and garlic. This is her favorite of my low-carb, gluten-free meals 🙂 I hope I still qualify!
I was just looking for a macaroon recipe for this Pesach, thanks!
I can’t wait to make the coconut haystacks tomorrow for my baby sister’s 50th b-day party! She and her hubby love coconut and everything else in this recipe. I would bake an oatmeal cookie in the heart dish, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle with butterscotch sauce, then sprinkle a little sea salt for good health.
I clicked through from the flourless chocolate lava cakes. YUM. These macaroons looks good, too – a little bit of a departure from the traditional ones. Just a question: do you have a special, kosher-for-Passover powdered sugar? Otherwise, it usually has cornstarch in it. I haven’t had much luck making my own in the blender, so I’d love a tip!
Hi Jami,
Have you tried your local co-op? I will check to see what brand it is.
Thanks, Zoë
I just found your website today & have used half a pack of computer paper printing your recipes! I cant wait to discover more! My wonderful Mother passed away suddenly in’96 from pancreatic cancer. She left with me a love for cooking & I LOVE to cook for my family. I have 2 married daughters & 7 grandchildren & a 19 yr.old son. I plan to make a chocolate meringue cake for Mothers Day (it’s their fav!)It has 3 8″ disks of baked meringue,each layer drizzled with melted choc,fresh whipped cream, & sliced strawberries & bananas, & covered with fresh whipped cream& topped with choc covered strawberries. Heavenly,yummy!Anyway, Glad to have found you!
My Mom loves lemon anything, but a lemon pie, with great meringue, would really make points!!
I will be at a scrapbook retreat with my mom the weekend of Mother’s Day, but for mother’s day I usually make a brunch or lunch. She is diabetic (diagnosed recently) and so desserts aren’t really her thing anymore (she loves them, but I don’t want to make her something she can no longer eat). So probably I will make her my waffle recipe. She loves my waffles and they are made with whole grains, coconut oil and no sugar, so they should be ok on her diet. With real whipped cream and maybe a bit of fruit.
As a mom I would love to have anything made for me on mothers day morning. But one of my favourites is a light and fluffy waffle with a mixed berry syrup and whip cream. Then I go exercise!
maybe a warm vanilla cake with lindt white coconut chocolate, served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and fresh sliced strawberries
the macaroons you just posted. they look great. or cheesecake – that always seems to be a good fit for any occasion.
I will probably make my mom an angel food cake, though I’d like a new option for a berry combination to put on the cake. Mom has dementia, so she doesn’t remember what her favorite dessert is, but she loves to get out in the garden and pick raspberries, so the angel food cake with raspberries might taste good to her.
OMG those Coconut macaroons are adorable!!! I’ve never made them – thanks for the inspiration, they’re so easy! 🙂
I will make my mom a plum pie. It’s a family favorite but she says she is tired of making it. It’s my turn to carry the plum torch!
I’d make brownies. It’s my mother’s favorite dessert. Some caramel drizzled on top and some whip.
my mother is a wonderful cook–and lately she’s been making amazing things straight from her garden. (http://www.sustainablediet.blogspot.com/) so it’s very fitting for me to want to cook something for her–something decadent, as she never, ever, ever splurges on herself. but everything she makes is amazing, so i actually need a great idea from y’all… haha!
Perfect timing–I was just trying to find a good sweet recipe to make for Passover. That heart shape Le Creuset would be the perfect addition to my newly started collection!
I recently discovered a lovely recipe for ginger shortbread that I’d give anything to be able to make for my mom. But I can’t, because she died suddenly five years ago. For me, the light’s gone out of Mother’s Day.
I might make my mom some ensaimadas (snail shaped brioche). I’m thinking about making these instead though. She’s a big fan of coconut macaroons.
I’m going to make my mom a raspberry soufflé for mother’s day. As for me…I can never pass up on a good profiterole
My mom loves her raisin tea biscuits and I make her a fresh batch for her every mother’s day. 🙂
I think it’s genius to chop the raisins, and can’t believe I haven’t thought of that before. For any cookie recipe I use them in! For my mom for M’sD… it’s got to be chocolate. Chocolate cheesecake if it’s nice, if it’s cold- pudding/lava cake. I think flavored with framboise.
One of my favorite “celebration” desserts is one I learned to make from my mother, and very versatile, too: classic chiffon cake and its almost infinite variations. It also seems to say “spring” . . . perhaps because of its lightness and all the eggs!