Chocolate Chip Coconut Macaroons

Tell me what sounds better than chocolate chip coconut macaroons? Crispy on the outside and nice and soft in the inside. Just describing it I feel like I need to make another batch right now. But I’ll contain myself. That’s basically what you need to do once you made these coconut macaroons. They are so delicious if you don’t pay close attention you’ll end up eating way more than intended.

Breaking Down the Coconut

Coconut macaron is all about the texture. And in order to get the texture just right I played around with two different types of dried coconut. For starters you have desiccated coconut. Which has been boiled, grated and dried. They are the smallest in the coconut options and also the driest. Next on we have the shredded coconut. Which retains a little bit of moisture and is slightly bigger than the desiccated coconut. Pay attention when buying the shredded coconut because it is mostly sold sweetened. But you will want the unsweetened variety. Lastly you also have flakes which are much larger in shape than the desiccated and shredded. They are great as a topping but not ideal for baking. For this recipe I used a combination of desiccated and shredded.

Sweeteners

Coconut sugar makes an appearance in a several of my desserts if not all. I simply like the taste and it’s easy to manage in recipes. Since I already broke down the different types of coconut I decided to add coconut sugar too. Coconut sugar is actually made from the sap of coconut palm flower buds. Which also explains why it doesn’t taste like coconut. It has a dark brown color similar to brown sugar and has a slight taste of caramel. It contains less fructose than cane sugar. But at the end of the day you have to remember that sugar is still sugar even if it is derived from a healthier source. And try to limit your intake.

Because of the darker color of the coconut sugar the macaroons will inevitably also turn a little darker. And are not the snow-white color you might be used to in traditional baking. I’m completely okay with that. Some people will substitute the coconut sugar with xylitol to get that white coconut macaroon. But for me that’s not an option as xylitol doesn’t sit well with me. If you decide to try out with xylitol just be mindful that it is a different kind of sweetener. And it will ultimately taste and bake differently.