Lightened Up Coconut Macaroons
I’m on the baking-experimenting-bandwagon given the circumstances of COVID19…so here I am continuing to social distance by staying indoors and trying new recipes and baking methods! I don’t usually ‘bake vegan’ or gluten free, but I’m on the last week of lent in which I gave up bread carbs and refined sugar. So these last several weeks I had to get creative and go outside of my comfort zone. Nevertheless it has been a learning curve, non traditional ingredients can really deliver tasty baked goods!
One ingredient I have heard of and wanted to see what the hype was around, is aquafaba. Have you heard of it?! It is the drained liquid from canned beans (mostly used from chickpeas, but any canned bean liquid is called this). First of all it has an interesting name, and second of all it’s an impressive ingredient. Why? Because it’s a solid substitute for egg/egg whites, essentially for almost any stabilizer that you need. You can make meringue out of it, swap it for any egg white recipe and it will still come out relatively the same. You should add cream of tartar to help keep it’s shape though.
That said I wanted to use this ingredient in swap of egg whites, and I was inspired by someones post about coconut macaroons. Typically I am not a fan of these because they are generally extremely sweet. But, I LOVE coconut. After some research I tried a few recipes and decided to switch things up a little to make it less sweet & dense. Hence the vegan version here – although I could have used egg whites, I wanted to test out this aquafaba! I whipped it for 5-7 minutes and it truly comes out like egg whites! I used maple syrup and shredded toasted unsweetened coconut. Some of the best ways to amp up flavor is spices – so cinnamon and nutmeg paired nicely here. I’d love to add some dark chocolate to this but the hubs likes it without, so I’ll make another batch for me 🙂
Coconut Macaroons
These are lightened up version of coconut macaroons without the use of condensed milk and less sugar!
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup toasted unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/3 cup almond flour
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 pinch of salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1/4 cup aquafaba (or two egg whites )
- 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Begin by toasting the unsweetened shredded coconut. On a pan over medium heat, pour the shredded coconut and stir constantly. The coconut will not brown for a few minutes but you will start to notice the smell, and it will begin to turn light in brown color. At this point it is imperative you continue to stir or else coconut will burn very easily and you'll have to start over – not fun! Toast the flakes until light brown, and remove the coconut from the pan into a bowl otherwise it will continue to cook and brown and turn even darker in the pan.
In corporate all the dry ingredients together into the bowl of coconut flakes and stir until well combined. It's important the spices are spread through out.
Wet ingredients are only a few items – we start with whipping the aquafaba. Aquafaba is the collected drained liquid from a can of chickpeas. If not accessible, you can opt for two egg whites. Whip on medium to high speed, add in the cream of tartar while the the aquafaba is still bubbly (not whipped yet). Continue to beat until the aquafaba forms medium peaks. Add in the maple syrup and salt into the whipped aquafaba.
Combine the whipped aquafaba into the bowl of dry ingredients. Be careful to incorporate slowly so that you don't break the airy aquafaba. Folding is key, so you're not actually mixing, otherwise your batter may flatten in the oven.
Using a tablespoon measuring spoon, use one scoop per macaroon and drop each piece on the baking parchment or silpat mat.
Place the baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees for 8 minutes, then another 8 minutes at 325 or until golden brown. Let these cool for 10 minutes and ready to eat!
