Saturday, January 16, 2010

Toasted Coconut Macarons

coconutchocolatemacaron

This is my submission for this month's MacAttack, by the girls over at MacTweets. We were asked to try something new, and well, at least this was indeed new!

I really want to learn how to make a nut-free macaron. That's quite a challenge, since a macaron basically is an almond meringue cookie. I found a recipe that used coconut instead of almonds, which many people with nut allergies can eat, over at Baking Obsession, but as you can see from my photos, it didn't work out all that well.

Let me put it this way: it's an awesome coconut cookie. It's not a macaron. I think part of the problem was the ratio between nuts and sugar - next time, I'll try my regular recipe, just swapping coconut for almonds. And hope for feet - the little ruffled edges that is the mark of a true macaron. These sadly never got any.

I made two delicious fillings - both went beautifully with the toasted coconut: salted caramel and dark chocolate ganache. I have both stashed in my freezer, for lucky guests over the next few weeks...

Coconut Macarons with two fillings

(printable recipe)

Toasted Coconut Macarons:
5 egg whites
3 tbsp sugar
190 g coconut (dried coconut flakes, not the sweetened kind)
225 g confectioner's sugar

Heat the oven to 100°C, and toast your coconut for 5-8 minutes. It should be lightly golden and fragrant. Let it cool completely. Then mix it with half the confectioner's sugar and grind in a food processor for a few minutes. Sift through a fairly fine sieve, and mix whatever didn't go through with the rest of the confectioner's sugar in the food processor for another few minutes. Either sieve it again, or, like me, trust that it's ground fine enough.

Beat the egg whites with the sugar to a stiff, shiny meringue. Add the coconut and carefully stir into a thick, even batter. Pipe round, small cookies onto lined baking sheets. Top with some more coconut if you'd like.

Leave at room temperature for an hour, so that the cookies develop skins. Bake in the oven at 150°C for 15 minutes.

Cool, then fill cookies. Freeze the shells you won't use right away.

coconutcaramelmacaron

Salted Caramel:
235 g sugar
85 g salted butter
125 ml cream (full fat)
pinch of salt (optional)

Measure butter and cream and leave at room temperature for 1-2 hours before starting. Melt the sugar in a heavy pan (preferrably one with a light interior so that you can see what you're doing) and place over medium high heat. When all the sugar is melted and golden brown, add the butter and stir. It will bubble and spit, so be careful. Then add the cream, and stir until smooth. If some of the sugar seizes and crystallizes, just heat it gently again and stir until it's all smooth. Add some more salt if you'd like.

Let it cool to room temperature, then chill. It needs to be completely cold to be thick enough to use for the cookies.

Dark Chocolate Ganache:
80 g dark chocolate, finely choped
50 ml cream (full fat)

Place the chocolate in a small bowl. Heat the cream until boiling. Then pour it over the chocolate and stir until smooth. Chill it in the fridge for a few minutes so that it thickens, then fill the cookies.

Recept på svenska:
Kokoskakor med salt kolafyllning och chokladganache

17 comments:

Rosemary said...

Yum I will be trying this recipe Looks very good.

homer said...

cookie or macaron, i'll have it!

Åsa said...

Du är så duktig! Jag har aldrig bakat egan macarons, bara ätit :-) Du gör ju superfina macarons, testar olika smaksättningar osv. En idé nu med kokosvarianten kanske kan vara att testa göra dom med kokosnötsmjöl istället för riven kokos? det är lite tungt förstås, eller ja, det suger åt sig mycket vätska men kakorna jag bakat med kokosnötsmjöl blir väldigt spröda i alla fall. Kan vara värt ett försök ändå.

Annars som kaka är de säkert hur goda som helst!

sana said...

it's sound very nice!! efter I read your blog i try your coconut macarons in my way it's real work thank's for your great idea

Anne said...

Åsa, vilken strålande ide! Det vill jag testa, men var hittar man kokosnötsmjöl?

diva said...

mmmm these look and sound amazing! i'm loving how the filling is glossy :)

sana said...

du kan köpa kokosnötsmjöl på asian affär men det är inte riktig mjöl därför det är kokosmjölk som blir pulder om du göra macarons jag tycker att funka man inte

Anne said...

Aha... ja, det lät ju lite annorlunda ja. Spännande, men jag undrar om det funkar.

Åsa said...

hrm, jag köpte min påse i USA... det kanske blir lite dyrt att åka dit och handla ;-) Kanske i någon sådan där "eko-butik"? Har bara hittat en sort av märket Amanprana på webshopen Veganlife . Innehåller mycket fibrer och tydligen mindre kalorier än vanligt mjöl. I USA fanns det i de flesta mataffärerna och av flera märken. Det märke jag köpte är Bob's Red Mill och på deras hemsida skriver de lite tips kring att använda just kokosnötsmjöl.
Jag lovar att skriva om jag hittar i butik här!

sana said...

Aha det inte samma som jag tänka haha det är riktig kokosmjöl hehe :)

Anne said...

Åsa - jag meddelar mina små kurirer... :) nä, min man ska faktiskt till USA snart, han kan gott få kolla. Även om det säkert inte finns i bondhålan han ska till. :)

sana said...

Anne..jag tror att du kan pröva med min recept om du vill det mycket lätt,jag hade gjort eftersom läste jag din blog igår det funkera mycket bra jag har skiver i min blog du kan tittar

Jamie said...

Oooh I love coconut even more than almond so this was a brilliant experiment. I'll bet they tasted fabulous! Definitly play around with the recipe because if you find the magic balance that will give you coconut macs I'll be on it in a flash!

So thrilled you baked macs with us this month and hope you join us every month!

Hug to Titus!

Åsa said...

Hehehe, kurirer - sådana vill jag också ha! ;-)
Märket Bob's Red Mill är nog ganska stort, har många organic products, och är förhoppningsvis väl spridd över landet. Åh, vad spännande annars med USA resa! Jag ångrar att jag inte fick med mig mer kul mat och köksprylar hem i somras. Du får skriva en låååång önske/inköpslista ;-)

Deeba PAB said...

Gorgeous, even if they are feetless. they do look so good & I love that you experimented. Great choice of fillings too. I wouldn't be able to choose one...I'd take one of each! It's wonderful having you over at Mactweets! Thank you Anne!!

PageRank Check said...

wow looks so tasty wanna try it

Jay said...

Mmmm looks great!