Coconut Cookie Recipe

Tender coconut macaroons or coconut cookies made with only three ingredients.

This recipe for Christmas coconut macaroons is one of the simplest cookie recipes I can possibly imagine.

You will only need three ingredients, four if you add some vanilla extract and it takes 15 minutes tops to put together, the longest part of the process is forming the macaroons and placing them on the baking tray. Ten more minutes in the oven and that's it!

I've been making these coconut cookies (or Kokosmakronen in German) for years now. They are one of the recipes I use when I have some leftover egg whites after baking some other Christmas cookies, cookies like the Heidesand cookies.

With the remaining egg whites, I either bake a small batch of these Christmas macaroons with coconut or one batch of the German hazelnut macaroons, which my husband is crazy about.

While the hazelnut macaroons are chewy and kind of sticky (in a good way), these coconut cookies are tender and rather crumbly (also in a good way), somewhat airy and very delicate.

A real delight, I love having them with a cup of tea, a definite change from the regular robust cookies made with flour.

And talking about hazelnut macaroons, you can use this exact same coconut macaroons recipe to make hazelnut or almond macaroons as well. They will be flatter as they are when using the hazelnut macaroon recipe mentioned above, but delicious as well.

If you wish to do that, replace the desiccated coconut flakes with ground hazelnuts or almonds and follow the recipe.

Ingredients

• All you need are egg whites, granulated sugar, and desiccated coconut.
• And some vanilla or butter extract, but that is optional. It adds a nice flavor, but it is not mandatory.
• You can use fresh egg whites leftover from making other cookies or frozen egg whites. When making a recipe using only egg yolks, but don't have time or desire to bake any cookies with the remaining egg whites, I usually freeze them.
• I place the egg whites in a freezer bag and make sure that I write the number of egg whites on the bag as well, so I always know how much there are inside. I usually don't freeze more than 2 or 3 in one bag, you will seldom need more than that in one go.

• The desiccated coconut should definitely be unsweetened, I have seen recipes using sweetened desiccated coconut.
• I cannot imagine how sweet the Christmas macaroons would be in that case!!! They are super sweet as they are when made with unsweetened coconut.

How to make Christmas macaroons?

• Place the egg whites in a very clean bowl. Make sure that both the bowl and the beaters of the mixer are very very clean, there should be absolutely no fat (from the eggy yolks or anything else) insight. Otherwise, you will not be able to beat the egg whites properly.
• Beat the egg whites very well until soft peaks form.
• Slowly start adding the granulated sugar while beating continuously. Continue mixing until the egg white mixture is shiny and stiff.
• Add the desiccated coconut and fold it in carefully using a plastic spatula. Do not overdo it, only fold in gently until the coconut is incorporated.
• Take small amounts of the mixture using a teaspoon and place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Use the free hand to gently shape the cookies into a nice ball if they lose form a little bit when placed on the tray.
• It is a bit sticky, but if you use the right hand for the teaspoon and the left one for the shaping, it should be very easy.
• Bake in the preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius/ 340 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes. The cookies should be only very lightly colored.
• Let rest on the baking tray for about 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

And, by the way, these coconut cookies make a nice gift when wrapped nicely in a transparent candy bag with a red ribbon around it.

More Christmas cookies

HEIDESAND COOKIES - Heidesand or heath sand are traditional German cookies.

VANILLEKIPFERL - These Austrian vanilla crescent cookies are my favorite Christmas cookies.

GERMAN HAZELNUT MACAROONS - Chewy and sweet hazelnut macaroons or Nussmakronen, these are typical German cookies made with only 4 ingredients.

CLASSIC THUMBPRINT COOKIES - The easiest and best recipe I know for thumbprint cookies with jam. A classic thumbprint cookie recipe that everybody should make.

CORNFLAKE CAKES - Super easy to make cornflake cakes or chocolate cornflakes, a no-bake cookie recipe for crunchy Christmas cookies.