Vanilla Bean Coconut Macaroons (GAPS, Paleo & Primal)
Note from Heather: This is a guest post from Jenni at The Urban Poser- one of my favorite bloggers! Back when we lived in Texas she’d stop by sometimes with a sample from her kitchen . . . oh my can this girl cook! Thank you Jenni, for posting at Mommypotamus today!
Over the past year and a half, my culinary lifestyle has changed….. dramatically! I used to be the girl that was always getting voted “most likely to open up a French bakery” or some similar kind of title, and oh the things I could make: From dainty little petite fours, cream puffs and fancy cupcakes, to full sized, towering and ornate wedding cakes. Baking was my greatest joy! Up until, that is, the point that I became suddenly and severely allergic to nearly every ingredient involved! These allergies didn’t just make me feel badly, they affected every area of my life….even down to my ability to walk!
But I’m not going to tell you that story today. It’s a long, laborious one and honestly, who wants to hear all that depressing stuff anyway? Instead, I’d rather focus on my most current obsession which involves, that’s right…. BAKING! Yes, you read that right: I’m still obsessed with baking. Sure, life did throw me a bit of a curve ball and for about a second I thought my baking days were over, but as Winston Churchill says….
“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
So in this case I chose to be the optimist, which really isn’t that like me at all, but boy am I glad that I did. There was definitely an adjustment period to all the different baking mediums that I had to work with, but on the other side of it our home was once again filled with wonderful baked delicacies such as . . . cinnamon rolls, raw carrot cake balls, donuts, oatmeal crème pie cookies, fluffy pancakes, lemon tarts, marshmallows, cup cakes and more. All free of grain, dairy, refined sugars and added starches. I even got to make a fancy little “smash” birthday cake for a friend’s darling little girl! It has been quite the challenge, and admittedly it took a while, but eventually the ‘old me’ began emerging again, only now it was a better, more settled and VIBRANT me!
The recipe that I picked for you today is a favorite in our house. It harks back to the days when I couldn’t yet have eggs (which REALLY made the baking thing more insurmountable), but even without eggs, these little macaroons definitely hit the spot! I think you’ll enjoy them as much as we did…. (And still do!)
Egg Free, Vanilla Bean Coconut Macaroons (Raw or Baked)
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup very fine ground blanched almond flour (like Honeyville, or homemade)
- 1 1/2 cup dried, shredded unsweetened coconut (I like “Let’s Do Organic”)
- 1/4 cup plus 1-2 tablespoons raw honey (the lighter the mellower, orange honey is my favorite here)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (where to buy coconut oil)
- 2 teaspoons GF vanilla extract
- 1 vanilla bean pod scraped (optional)
- Pinch of unrefined sea salt (where to buy salt)
Directions:
- In a bowl, combine the almond flour and coconut.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the honey, coconut oil, vanilla, vanilla bean seeds and salt until well blended.
- Add the honey mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until well combined (I like to use my hands for this as it helps to get the vanilla bean seeds distributed throughout the “dough”)
- Using a rounded “measuring” tablespoon, gently press the macaroon dough into the spoon, then turn the spoon upside down and tap the cookie out into your hand. Gently place on a parchment lined baking sheet and repeat with the rest of the dough.
- Bake in a 195-200F (90-93C) oven for about 45-50 minutes. The outside should be dried out a bit and the inside should be soft and chewy. For raw macaroons, place in your dehydrator until they are slightly dry on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. Times will vary depending on the dehydrator and temp used.
- Allow the macaroons to sit for at least 15 minute before transferring. They will be quite delicate while still warm but very sturdy once cooled. We LOVE our macaroons chilled.
Recipe doubles easily! Makes about 1 ½ dozen
Shalonne
Hi – do you happen to have a version that uses all coconut instead of the almond flour? The whole “soaked and dried” aspect to eating nuts really makes me just want to stay away from them in baking as much as possible and try to build up recipes that don’t depend on nut flours, other than coconut. Thanks!
UrbanPoser
I do not. I am sure that one can be done with coconut flour or straight coconut, but this just happens to be the recipe I created. Perhaps you should stick with the more traditional macaroon made with egg whites, or trying playing around with coconut flour. However, you would use much less of it than the almond flour. I would love to hear the results if you do try it.
UrbanPoser´s last [type] ..Egg Free Vanilla Bean, Coconut Macaroons (A Guest Post At Mommypotamus)
Shalonne
Thanks very much! I’m still a very much “by the recipe” baker and experiments have not gone very well – I can cook a meal with nothing more than a vague idea of what I want to eat, but creative baking seems to be much more difficult for me
Heather
Thank you so much, Jenni! I absolutely love simple recipes like this because the kids can help without me feeling stressed about it
Sarah
Shalonne,
I would imagine you could use coconut flour instead. Perhaps, because of it’s tendency to soak up moisture much more than almond flour, less would be necessary.
Jenni/The Urban Poser
Absolutely worth the try, Maybe start with half the flour, add as you need to. You want the dough to be wet enough that it can hold a form, but not so wet that you can’t get it to tap out of the measuring spoon. Seriously would love to hear the results. Some others on here would too!
Jenni/The Urban Poser´s last [type] ..Egg Free Vanilla Bean, Coconut Macaroons (A Guest Post At Mommypotamus)
Amy Rudolph via FB
Have you ever tried coconut flour instead of almond?
Mommypotamus via FB
Amy Rudolph – Someone asked Jenni (aka The Urban Poser) in the comments on the post also. She hasn’t experimented with coconut flour for this recipe, but if you do I’d love to know how it turns out!
Jacqueline Dyck via FB
These look amazing!
Kristen
Thanks so much for this recipe! Just a few days ago I was munching on a brand of store bought gluten free/vegan/raw macaroons and thought to myself, “Gee, I could make these!” I was planning on experimenting with the ingredients on the package to see what ratios would work. Your recipe is the ingredient list I was going to try – perfect timing! I know they are going to taste fab!
Jenni/The Urban Poser
Kristen, LOL, I had the same thoughts! The store ones were so expensive and they seemed so simple to make.
Jenni/The Urban Poser´s last [type] ..Egg Free Vanilla Bean, Coconut Macaroons (A Guest Post At Mommypotamus)
Megan Alba
Oh. My. Gosh. Thank you for this! I was just diagnosed with an egg allergy and I looooove my desserts. It’s been hard finding sweet options that don’t call for a million eggs in every stinkin’ recipe!
How did you overcome your egg allergy? GAPS?
Jenni/The Urban Poser
Megan, it was one part GAPS and one part awesome doctor! But yes, over time as I healed I was able to eat eggs again. And there was MUCH rejoicing in our home. I agree, it was so very hard to find egg free recipes. Almond and coconut flour just seem to work best with eggs them. I hope you enjoy these! They are pretty versatile. We add cocoa to them too, minus a bit of almond flour. It’s like a coconut brownie.
Kika
We have both egg and almond allergy in our home (darn it all). I might try this idea with a different flour too.
Johanne
Hi!!
Is it possible to skip the vanilla bean ingredient? Add more vanilla extract?
Jenni/The Urban Poser
Johanne, Absolutely! Although I don’t think you would need to add more the vanilla. To be honest, the vanilla bean doesn’t really add THAT much vanilla flava, since it has not been heated in a liquid. Mostly it makes for a nice exotic name and pretty speckles throughout the cookie. YEP, I am than vain.
Jenni/The Urban Poser´s last [type] ..Egg Free Vanilla Bean, Coconut Macaroons (A Guest Post At Mommypotamus)
Lisa Raphael Bogaert via FB
Is the vanilla bean pod necessary? I have everything except for that.
Jenni/The Urban Poser
Lisa, these taste great with or without the vanilla bean.
Jenni/The Urban Poser´s last [type] ..Egg Free Vanilla Bean, Coconut Macaroons (A Guest Post At Mommypotamus)
Mommypotamus via FB
Lisa Raphael Bogaert – Jenni says it’s not necessary, yay!
Maria Castro via FB
yumm
Amy Jo via FB
these are sooooo good!!!!!!! just made a batch!
Johanne
They really are amazing!!!
Rachel
Wow, these look delicate and delicious. I will be making these as soon as I finish my current Whole30!
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Christina
I just wanted you to know that I made these. I am not gluten free, egg free, GAPS, primal, etc. I try to eat whole foods, so “alternative” recipes intrigue me and I try them for fun. The verdict? They are one of the most delicious desserts I’ve ever had!
Ryan
They look delicious but they’re not primal at all. You can use the term, but dietarily, Aajonus used ‘created’ the primal diet, the book that was recently written about ‘primal’ whatever is a new comer.
Kirsten
yummy. I have made macaroons in my dehydrator with success as well. I even have added lemon curd dab on the top it was good… I want to try jelly next
Carol
I just made these not realising that the oven temp is fahrenheit not centigrade :-/ They are very brown! Fortunately I noticed them before the 45 minutes were up otherwise they would be black. I wish the world would only use one set of measurements for everything!
Definitely will try them cooked at the right temp…
General consensus is that they are yummy anyway even if overly browned
Heather
Whoops, I’ve done that before! So glad you caught them before they were lumps of coal!
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Jessica
These are AMAZING. I was making them to share, but I’m not sure if they’re going to make it out of the house…
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Kali
Yep – just did this too. Expensive ingredients, rather black…..
I don’t suppose you could update the recipe for those outside the USA to specify Fahrenheit….?! I must say, the raw ingredients did smell delicious so will try this again.
Heather
Kali, I am so sorry! I thought that last one was just a fluke from reading over the instructions too quickly but now I see that it was the instructions that were flawed! It has now been corrected to specify temps for Fahrenheit and Celsius.
Zuze
Hi Heather! what are the 2 extra tablespoons of honey for? or do you just add them at the same time as the 1/4 cup? thnx so much for this recipe, i too love the store brought ones but find them way too pricey. xxx
Heather
You add them at the same time
Liz
Oh my god . . . these are to-die-for delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
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