We love all things coconut at our house. We have 101 ways to use coconut oil (including in homemade toothpaste, coffee, homemade lotion bars and more).
I use coconut oil in baking, roasting, sautéing and frying. I use coconut flour in a lot of recipes but always wished I had more uses for shredded and flaked coconut. This recipe is one of my solutions to that and it is a great way to use the extra egg whites that are left over when I make hollandaise sauce.
This recipe does include a natural sweetener, but it can be reduced or even eliminated if desired. I’ve found that these are a very light but satisfying dessert recipe and there are many variations you can try (I’ll be posting those soon!)
One thing I love to add to this recipe is a tablespoon of Maca powder (this is the one I use). The name even suggests it… “Maca”-roons (get it? – ok, maybe its just me). Either way, Maca adds some extra nutrients and combines with the healthy fats to help balance hormones. If you aren’t a Maca fan, you can absolutely just leave it out and make this as basic coconut macaroons.
Not in the mood for these? Check out my entire list of dessert recipes or my full recipe index for recipes for meals, snacks or drinks.
Coconut Macaroons
Simple and nutritious coconut macaroons made with egg whites, flaked coconut and optional natural sweetener.
Ingredients
- 4 egg whites
- 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey
- dash of salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups coconut flakes (I use these from Tropical Traditions)
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or butter
- Optional: 1 tablespoon of Maca Powder (This is my favorite)
Instructions
- Whisk the egg whites with a dash (1/4 tsp) salt until stiff.
- Add honey, vanilla, coconut, melted coconut oil and Maca (if using).
- Carefully fold into egg whites.
- Let the mixture rest in the fridge for 30 minutes so that the coconut can soak up the mixture.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Gently spoon in 1 tablespoon scoops on to parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 8-12 minutes until just starting to brown.
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Ever made macaroons?
Could you add more maca, as that’s not even the lowest recommended dose. Would it change the texture and taste too much?
You can definitely add more. It shouldn’t affect the taste much at all
The ingredients are missing from the recipe- could you please put them back in? Thanks! 🙂
Hi there, I tried your recipe today leaving out the Maca as I didn’t have any. After leaving it in the ridge for 30 minutes I found that there was a bit of liquid in the bottom of the bowl. I mixed it in a bit and put spoonfuls on the tray. When they cooked they had some syrupy mixture spread out from each of them. What did I do wrong? They were still yummy by the way 🙂
I had the same exact thing happen to mine!
Me too, same thing happened. Still came out delicious though. I had to turn up the temp on mine to get them to cook. I live in NM so sometimes baking is trial and error. I’ll definitely make these again and will play with the amounts to see If I can eliminate the pool of liquid during baking.
Thought I would just mention that I added a teaspoon of coconut flour as I didn’t have the Maca… it absorbed the excess liquid very well, and added nicely to the overall texture of the macaroon… It has become a family favourite now!
perfect! I’m doing GAPS but can’t tolerate egg whites. always looking for ideas to use up the whites for my husband!
thanks for the post
I had the same issue with the liquid separating while in the fridge and also on the baking sheet. Could it be, that the maple syrup is too runny for this mixture and doesn’t mix well with the eggs? I am going to try this out with honey for the next batch. Will see what happens 🙂 they are in the oven now, but I am really looking forward to the end result. Your blog has been a wonderful resource for me and my family on becoming healthier and on having a house that is chemical free 🙂 Thank you Katie!
these sounds wonderful, especially with maca! Love the flavor maca can give 🙂
Maca is very hard on the adrenal glands, just thought I’d mention that since you are trying to solve the hypo thyroid puzzle and sometimes adrenal fatigue needs to be corrected first. Maca will make adrenal fatigue worse in the long run as it is a stimulant.
I want to print this recipe but when I click on your “print” button the ingredient list is missing from the page. (By the way, I soooo appreciate your giving us the ability to print your recipes…thank you!)
I have the same problem – there is no ingredient list.
Should be fixed now.
Hi ,
Bit confused on the Maca front .
Just read an article that says any properties the Maca has is lost once added to some thing hot .And the macaroons are baked .Mama could you please explain if this is the case why use Maca ?
Cheers !
Hi there, I tried your recipe today leaving out the Maca as I didn’t have any. After leaving it in the fridge for 30 minutes I found that there was a bit of liquid in the bottom of the bowl. I mixed it in a bit and put spoonfuls on the tray. When they cooked they had some syrupy mixture spread out from each of them. What did I do wrong? They were still yummy by the way 🙂
Can I use coconut sugar in place of the maple syrup? Would adding a bit of ground chia seeds in place of the Maca work?
Thanks, Katie
Yes and yes
These are delicious. I had a bar of 85% dark chocolate and I melted part of it and drizzled it on top of the cookies after they cooled. MMMMM Good. Thank you for the recipe.
I dont even have to wait for Passover to be over before I can try these, just leaving out the Maca for the rest of the family!
I only have maca root concentrate. How much should I use?
I’mi so new to all of this but have been using the coconut oil for a week. I just ordered coconut flakes as my store doesn’t carry any without chemicals. Also I ordered gelatin. Would it be possible to inco?rporate gelatin into this recipe
Great little recipe, I just made a batch. I was looking for a healthy alternative to using heavy condensed milk and lots of sugar. After reading several comments about liquid standing after mixing and sitting, I modified the process. I mixed the honey, coconut oil and vanilla with the coconut and let it sit for 30 minutes BEFORE I whipped the egg whites and folded them in. That allowed the liquid to be absorbed by the coconut without jeopardizing the fluffiness of the whipped egg whites. I didn’t have Maca, but figured that it would also absorb some liquid. I read the comment about substituting Chia seed, but didn’t have that either, so I substituted some ground up some flax seed to help absorb moisture. I also added a pinch if ground cloves for a little extra flavor.
This advice from Mike was really helpful… I avoided all the problems that the other commenters made. I also added some coconut flour instead of Maca or Chia or flaxseed… my macaroons turned out great! I put little liners on the bottom of my greased muffin pans, and this worked well with regard to keeping the macaroons nice and intact and came out easily and in a nice shape. 🙂 Thanks for the great recipe!
I made these with 75 grams of honey instead of 3d cup maple syrup and they turned out great, not too sweet, couldn’t find maca so didn’t use it, made 15 macroons and they worked out at 98calories per macroon.
what do i do if i dont have the partchment paper like other than buying it. Im pretty sure i spelled that wrong but i think you’ll know what im talking about
Any baking sheet will work, it just might stick to some
Followed the recipe to the letter and when they came out the macrons smelled great. However, even after having them cool for a very long time, when picked up they completely fell apart. Sorry to say I shoved them into the bin altogether.
I seemed to have the same results as well. But they were nice and light/not too sweet.
I have baked these delicious macaroons twice for my son already and he loves them! They come out perfectly, even though I skipped the vanilla extract.
Mixed results with these guys. Most turned out fine, a few fell apart and a few were close to it but didn’t break completely. Taste is fine. I’ll probably go to a different recipe because the ingredients are too expensive to lose some of them.
Same problem as others. Will not make again
I just made these and they turned out perfect i like them really crunchy so let them bake longer i didn’t have any maca powder, and anyone that has tried them and not been successful, don’t forget allot of variances can change some eggs have more white in them and a host of other things, as i bake allot i can see what sorts of consistency usually works and then know if you need to add a little extra of an ingredient, if in doubt just use more coconut it will soak up the excess liquid, mine turned out just perfect but i was using 8 egg whites after making a creme caramel so i just guessed how much of everything.
Everything turned out perfect.
It was delicious.
Everyone liked it.