Chewy Coconut Macaroons
- By Amy Dong
- Updated Mar. 28, 2024
These 5-ingredient Chewy Coconut Macaroons are crisp and golden on the outside and soft in the center. They’re the perfect treat and are naturally gluten-free!
In This Article
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Why This Recipe Stands Out
With Easter just around the corner, we’re finding ourselves craving all our favorite coconut dessert recipes. Here’s why we love making these Chewy Coconut Macaroons:
- Holidays: These soft and chewy macaroons are one of our favorite desserts to pass around for Easter. The light, soft texture and coconut flavor just screams spring! They’re also great during Christmas.
- Simple Ingredients: Chewy macaroons take just 5 simple ingredients – coconut flakes, condensed milk, vanilla, egg whites, and salt – that’s all.
- Gluten-Free: Since these cookies don’t take flour, they naturally make it onto the list of our favorite gluten-free recipes.
- Quick and Easy: It couldn’t be easier to make this dessert – from start to finish, these come together in less than 30 minutes!
- Lots of Cookies: This recipe yields 36 cookies – perfect for passing around at family gatherings.
Key Recipe Ingredients
- Shredded Coconut – We use sweetened coconut shreds for this recipe. Make sure you’re opting for the smaller flakes as they will allow the cookies to hold together better than the larger ones.
- Condensed Milk – We found the best results using sweetened condensed milk, which is essentially sugar and milk. It yields such a wonderfully chewy texture and caramel-like flavor.
- Vanilla Extract – The vanilla extract combined with the coconut shreds makes the house smell heavenly!
- Egg Whites – Beaten egg whites bind all the ingredients together and give these macaroons a perfectly fluffy texture.
- Chocolate – This one’s optional, but we love drizzling some melted dark chocolate on top of these.
Substitutions And Variations
Chewy Coconut Macaroons can be decorated and served in so many different ways. Check out some of our favorite ideas:
- Festive Macaroons: To make these macaroons even more perfect for Easter, feel free to add pastel sprinkles or a mini chocolate egg on top. Take a look at this recipe for Coconut Macaroon Nutella Nest Cookies.
- Mix-ins: Try mixing some chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds, or pistachios into these cookies. Dried cranberries, blueberries, or cherries would taste amazing in these.
- Chocolate: Feel free to drizzle dark, semi-sweet, milk, or white chocolate over these coconut macaroons. We also think this Hot Fudge Sauce or this Salted Caramel Sauce would be truly amazing on macaroons.
Step-By-Step Recipe Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the coconut flakes, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold in egg whites with the coconut mixture until just combined.
- Place cookies (1 heaping TB each) onto a lined baking sheet and bake at 325F for 12-18 minutes.
- Once cookies have completely cooled, drizzle with melted chocolate, and sprinkle with Kosher salt. Enjoy!
For full list of ingredients and instructions, please see recipe card below.
Make-Ahead
These cookies keep super well. Here’s the best ways to store these coconut macaroons:
- Room Temp: Keep coconut macaroons in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days.
- Fridge: In the fridge, these macaroons will stay fresh in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
- Freezer: To freeze these cookies, we recommend placing them in a single layer on a lined backing tray and freezing them until they’re hard. Then transfer them to an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. This trick is called flash freezing. It ensures the cookies won’t stick together.
Commonly Asked Questions
We recommend un-toasted coconut flakes for this recipe. The oven will toast the edges to a nice golden color as they’re baking. If your coconut flakes are already toasted, this could leave your macaroons a little too dark and crisp.
Stick with smaller coconut shreds for the recipe as these will allow the ingredients to blend well with each other and help our macaroons hold together.
While you’ll see different kinds of sugar used in different macaroon recipes, we find that using sweetened coconut flakes and sweetened condensed milk creates the best chewy, soft texture and provides just the right amount of sweetness. So, there’s no need for any extra sugar in this recipe.
You’ll know your macaroons are done when the tops turn golden brown and the bottoms are deep gold.
If you’ve ever had an Almond Joy bar, you’ve experienced something pretty similar to the taste and texture of coconut macaroons. These treats are slightly crisp on the outside and chewy in the center. They’re sweet, have a light coconut flavor, and are amazing paired with chocolate!
If you don’t already have sweetened coconut flakes in your pantry, you can find them at most grocery stores (usually in the baking isle). Since shredded coconut is considered a non-perishable item, you can also have it delivered or shipped to your door.
Did you make this?
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Chewy Coconut Macaroons
Ingredients
- 14 oz sweetened flaked coconut
- ¾ cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 TB pure vanilla extract
- 2 large egg whites
- ⅛ tsp table salt
- Optional: 1/4 cup good quality, melted dark chocolate and kosher salt (or other coarse sea salt)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F with rack on lower middle position. Line baking sheets with silicone liners or parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together the coconut flakes, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla extract.
- In a medium bowl, add the egg whites and salt. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form – when you gently lift your beaters up, the egg white mixture should form straight, pointy stiff peaks.
- Transfer egg mixture into the large bowl with coconut mixture; use rubber spatula to fold together until well combined. Don't over-mix.
- Form heaping 1-tablespoon size rounds of coconut mixture onto lined baking sheet, spaced 2 inches apart.
- Bake 12-18 minutes or until tops are golden brown, depending on your oven; watch carefully with your first batch for the correct bake time. Let cookies cool fully on baking sheets before transferring to serving plate.
- If desired, once cookies are fully cooled, drizzle melted dark chocolate over cookies on serving plate and sprinkle lightly/evenly with Kosher salt. Cookies keep well in airtight container at moderate room temp.
Notes
- Store any leftover sweetened condensed milk in a glass or plastic airtight container in fridge, and use to make your own easy Thai coffee (or simply add a spoonful to any tea/coffee for an instant treat.)
- If you prefer your cookies less sweet, try using unsweetened shredded coconut.
- Try adding 1/2 cup of roasted sliced or chopped almonds or dried cherries to the mix prior to baking.
- For a wonderful almond aroma, substitute half of the vanilla extract with almond extract.
- Try drizzling with salted caramel or melted white chocolate in place of the dark chocolate (or do all 3 for a fun variety of macaroons!)
- For a colorful celebration, toss some happy sprinkles onto the drizzled melted chocolate.
Nutrition (per serving)
More To Bake And Eat
- Chewy Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies – This recipe takes your classic chocolate chip cookie and adds coconut shreds – perfect for all the coconut lovers in your life!
- Chewy M&M Coconut Cookies – We love how these soft, chewy M&M cookies can be customized to fit the season.
- Coconut Macaroon Nutella Nest Cookies – The only thing we can think of that would be better than chocolate and coconut is Nutella and coconut – with extra chocolate.
- Award Winning Almond Bars – These almond bars are perfect to pass around at potlucks – especially for Easter.