I love Coconut Macaroons, said it, got it off my chest. But, being into a super healthy, clean eating lifestyle the excess sugar and rancid vegetable oils in the otherwise delicious shop bought macaroons had me wanting to make my own. So, off to Google we go looking for dairy free macaroons, gluten free macaroons, Paleo macaroons etc and there are several recipes out there. Some are good, others are okay, a few are terrible (how, it is just so bloody easy) but this, this here one is the ultimate recipe for sugar free, gluten free, Paleo coconut macaroons which will, and I promise, rock your world!
Gluten & Sugar Free Coconut Macaroons
Okay, no more blathering from me, just the straight dope coconut macaroon recipe. This is one flexible ass recipe so a few of the ingredients are marked as optional or have alternatives. You may want to play around and see what works best for you and which ingredients you can easily get hold of (sources for all ingredients at the end of this article). The real difference here to most macaroon recipes is the addition of some coconut flour which really helps give them a good consistency.
Ingredients
- 3 Cups of Dessicated Coconut
- 1 Cup of Coconut Flour
- 1/2 Cup of Honey
- 1/4 cup of Almond Butter
- 2 egg whites (or two eggs to make things a little easier)
- pinch or two of good some good salt [optional]
- teaspoon of vanilla essence [optional]
- 2 tablespoons of melted virgin coconut oil [optional]
Instructions
Mix that shit up and cook it! Expecting more? Well, okay, i’ll break it down, but, I promise you, next time you make these I will refer you back to ‘mix that shit up and cook it’.
- Pre heat the oven to gas mark 4 or 180c (350F for any american readers)
- Mix the dry ingredients together
- Add the egg, honey, almond butter & vanilla essence
- Mix that shit up
- Check the consistency, it should be good and thick but keep together when you form it into macaroons, if it is too runny add some more coconut flour and or desiccated coconut. If it’s too thick and flakey, a bit more honey will do the job.
- If you can wait, then popping the mixture in the fridge for 30 mins or so makes them easier to form and helps them stay together after cooking.
- If you can be bothered, using a few more egg whites and whisking them up till they are firm and frothy like you would for meringue will give them a bit more kick ass, but it is no way necessary.
Variations
This is a pretty flexible recipe and below is some of the ways I have tweaked it but please experiment and let me know how you get on in the comments.
- Egg Free – just leave out the egg and make sure consistency is right
- Almond – replace the coconut flour with almond flour or add some almond flakes
- Chocolate – add some dark chocolate chips
- Chocolate Base – melt some dark chocolate in coconut milk then dip the macaroons in the chocolate to cover the base in a layer of chocolate, let them cool and wowzers!
- Citrus – grate in some orange or lemon zest and add a bit of juice (make sure it is an organic citrus fruit without the wax coating)
Did Cavemen Eat Macaroons?
Nope, probably not, but they ate a whole bunch of honey when they could find it so don’t beat yourself up too bad about it, just don’t make them a daily habit or any major part of your diet. There is no processed sugar, gluten or fats and a whole bunch of good fat in there so all you modern day hunter gatherers can add this to your lucky find foraging list!
Need Ingredients?
You should be able to pick all of this up at your local supermarket but we are considering putting a pack of ingredients together that you can order online. If that would make your life easier and you are interested drop a comment below or email marcus@primod.co.uk and il be in touch.
Questions, Comments, Feedback
We would love to hear your feedback and just to hear from any other Paleo people and especially if you are in the UK so please drop a comment below or hit us up on Twitter or Google+. Keep up to date with PriMod and the UK Paleo scene by subscribing to our RSS feed or subscribe by email feed.
I love this recipe, I’ve made them once & I’ll definitely be making them again. I think some chopped dried fruit would be quite nice as well, I may add some chopped dried apricots in the next batch I make.