Coconut Cookies Recipe – Easy Coconut Macaroons

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

This recipe for coconut macaroons is one of the simplest cookie recipes I can possibly imagine. It only uses three ingredients, four if you add some vanilla extract and it takes 15 minutes tops to put together, the longest part of the process being forming the macaroons and placing them on the baking tray.

Ten more minutes in the oven and that’s it!

Coconut cookies or Coconut macaroons recipe

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 coconut macaroons or one batch of the German hazelnut macaroons, which my husband is crazy about.

 While the hazelnut macaroons are chewyand 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 for the coconut cookies

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 give the egg whites to 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 (not German ones – I have never even seen sweetened desiccated coconut in Germany) using sweetened desiccated coconut.

I cannot imagine how sweet the coconut cookies would be in that case!!! They are super sweet as they are when made with unsweetened coconut.

How to make coconut macaroons

Step 1: Give the egg whites to 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 olks or anything else) in sight. Otherwise, you will not be able to beat the egg whites properly.

Beat the egg whites very well until soft peaks form.

Step 2: Slowly start adding the granulated sugar while beating continuously. Continue mixing until the egg white mixture is shiny and stiff.

Step 3: 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.

Step 4: 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 coconut 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.

Step 5: Bake the coconut macaroons in the preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius/ 340 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes. The coconut 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 macaroons or coconut cookies make a nice gift when wrapped nicely in a transparent candy bag with a red ribbon around it.