I love so many things about these dark chocolate coconut macaroons (given that they’re absolutely addicting), but what I think I love most is that it only took me 45 minutes from deciding to make them to having them out of the oven with the dishes done. Boom.
The speed of baking these has a lot to do with the fact that they don’t spread out on the pan, so you can really load up. It only took one and a half sheets to use up the dough and yield somewhere between 4 and 5 dozen cookies.
The other trick is that you combine the ingredients in the food processor. This creates a really nice, consistent texture for the coconut, and it brings the mix together quickly and relatively cleanly.
Did I mention they are also freakin’ delicious?
Normally, I wouldn’t toy much with a recipe from Smitten Kitchen, but when I made these ages ago – using the unsweetened chocolate her recipe calls for – they were just too dark for me. Even with the sweetened coconut, I felt like both flavors were getting lost in the bitterness of the dark chocolate. I tried modifying them later with a bit more sugar and a mix of semi-sweet and unsweetened chocolate, and those were dissatisfying, too. But this time, I nailed it.
Using Trader Joe’s 72% dark chocolate, these cookies came out perfect. They taste a lot like a Mounds bar, only a bit more chocolatey, and oh, so gooey delicious.
Perfection, my friends.
I had to give most of these away to stop myself from devouring them.
Dark Chocolate Coconut Macaroons (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
Grade: A+
- 4 ounces (about 1/3 cup) 72% dark chocolate, chopped**
- 14 ounces (one standard bag) sweetened, flaked coconut
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 3 large egg whites
- 1/2 tsp flaked sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Heat oven to 325°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats.
In a small saucepan, heat roughly half of the chocolate chunks, stirring occasionally, until just melted. Remove from heat, add the remaining chunks, and stir until they’re smooth.
In a food processor, blend the coconut for one full minute. Add the sugar and cocoa powder, and blend another full minute. Add the egg whites, salt and vanilla and blend until combined. Then, add the melted chocolate and blend until smooth.
Scoop the batter into 1-inch mounds. You can arrange the cookies quite close together as they don’t spread, just puff a bit.
If you use a Tablespoon to scoop them, bake for 15 minutes. If, like me, you use a #60 cookie scoop (2 tsp), 13 minutes was perfect. You want to bake them until the macaroons are shiny and just set. You don’t want to over bake them, though, and they’ll need to cool on the pan. The cookies will be difficult to transfer until cooled – since they’re gooey and delicious and therefore not terribly stable right out of the oven. So let them rest on the cookie sheet for at least 10 minutes after baking.
**If you’re using Trader Joe’s chocolate and don’t have a scale, this was nine of the little rectangles.
Baker on the Run 