This Saturday I borrowed two books from the library on baking cookies. The following macaroons recipe is based on Key Lime Coconut Macaroons, from Jill Snider's Cookies book.
That recipe caught my eye because it was eggless originally when the macaroon recipes I've seen so far used egg whites and I had all the ingredients at home.
Since I don't like lime/lemon flavoring in cookies/cakes, I omitted it. The original recipe called for key lime juice, so I substituted it with milk. Then only I realized that how similar it was to the South Indian "thengai-coconut burfi". So to get that taste I decided to add some cashews and cardamom powder.
I also ended up using a lesser amount of coconut and all-purpose flour, so the final batter was watery. Then I remembered how my grandmother used to add rava (semolina) while making the burfis, so I also added a couple of tablespoons of it, to make the dough firm. In spite of all these changes, the end product tasted perfect.
I think the mistake I did was adding milk to replace the lime juice, which resulted in a watery batter or not following the actual measurements. But it was a very lovely experience trying out various combinations. So what I would do the next time is, combine condensed milk and coconut to form a firm dough, drop it on a cookie sheet and bake it. I'm confident that this will also bake correctly.
Recipe
Eggless Coconut Macaroons Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
- ¼ Cup Milk
- ¼ Cup All Purpose Flour
- 2.5 Cups Sweetened Shredded Coconut
Optional Ingredients:
- 3 Tablespoons Semolina
- ¼ Cup Cashew Nuts, Broken Into Pieces
- 1 Teaspoon Cardamom Powder
Instructions
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350F (180C) for 15 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine sweetened milk and milk, whisking until blended.
- With a wooden spoon, stir in flour, mixing until thoroughly blended.
- Stir in coconut, cashews and cardamom powder.
- After combining all the ingredients, the batter was a little bit watery. So I test baked just 1 tablespoon and the cookie spread so much.
- So I added 3 tablespoons of semolina (sooji/rava) to the batter and combined it well and now the batter was nice and firm. Again I test baked another tablespoon of the dough and the macaroon came out perfect.
- Then I went ahead and dropped tablespoonfuls of dough about 1 inch apart and baked it in the oven until it was golden around the edges (which approximately took 15 minutes). I got 24 (plus 2 test bake) macaroons for the above measurement.
- Cool for 10 minutes on the sheet. This point is very important. Don't try to remove the macaroons from the sheet once it is out the oven because it will be very flimsy. Again don't put it back in the oven to harden it. Just leave the macaroons on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes and it will harden by itself.
- Then transfer to a rack and cool completely.
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Mike says
This recipe is so inaccurate it’s beyond reproach. Double batch needs 6-8 cups of flour to tighten up this slurry of sugar and coconut!!!!
Rita says
Thank you for this easy recipe! I made a half batch and they turned out really well. I did not have semolina so I used one tablespoon of almond flour instead. I also used unsweetened coconut flakes. We have a lot of older friends who are not into heavy excessively sweet desserts so these are perfect.
Madhuram says
Thank you for the feedback, Rita. The use of almond flour and unsweetened coconut sounds great!
Laurie Warren says
Thank you for these fantastic cookies! I followed your recipe right down to the semolina with one exception, I used mini chocolate chips, not nuts. Way too hard to chew! Just delish! I love to experiment in the kitchen too. Adding orange of some sort next time! Thank you and keep having fun in the kitchen. Candylady in WA state.
Madhuram says
You're very welcome, Laurie.
Nisha Makhija says
Can I use almond flour instead of all purpose flour?
Madhuram says
I guess it should be ok, Nisha.
Kristine says
Hi. What's the texture of the macaroons? Is it cake-y or is it more coconut shreds-y? Thanks!
Madhuram says
More like coconut shreds and chewy, Kristine.
Kavya says
I am wondering Howcome baking powder is not required in the recipe?
How will macaroons raise?
Madhuram says
This recipe doesn't use much flour at all to rise, to begin with. There is no need for rising in this recipe.
Zainab says
Thank u for the recipe but i wanted to ask if sugar is required or not?
Madhuram says
No need for extra sugar Zainab. The sweetness from the condensed milk is enough.
Kavita says
Hi Mam , I was lookin for some coconut cookies, went thru yr recipes ,got macaroons, anyway yesterday I made double the quantity for a Hanuman Temple, saute the semolina ,exact recipie top it with a tiny cherry, put 2in a ziplock to give away it came out Excellant, thanks but the remaining I put in the container turn outI bit soggy, why ? any way I am happy with yr recipe !,
Madhuram says
Macaroons do tend to get soft only Kavita. It doesn't stay hard/crisp like other cookies.
minakshi says
What is sweetened shredded coconut? In India I've been able to either find dessicated coconut or fresh scraped coconut. Could either of these be used?
Thanks
Minakshi
Madhuram says
This one looks like big strands of coconut. Have you seen sweet buns with colourful coconut filling? It looks like that. I'm not sure if it will work with dessicated coconut.
Kim says
Love this recipe. I didn't have semolina, so I added 3 tablespoons more of AP flour and 1/4 cup more coconut. Worked great. I also drizzled the cookies with some melted chocolate after the cooled. Could have eaten them all in one night.
Kim
Madhuram says
Ooh! chocolate drizzled macaroons! I'm going to try it too.
Minakshi says
Hi, could you also add in your site an option to increase/decrease the portion of the cookies. a few of your recipes like the coconut cookies-eggless with nuts has proportions for 90 cookies, too much for a household of 4. it would be great if that option could be incorporated.
Madhuram says
Hi Minakshi, thank you for the feedback. Unfortunately halving or doubling the recipe does not work always, so it would be just an option which you won't be able to rely 100% unless you try it for yourself.
Venkusa says
Hi Madhu,
I was first if all wondering that this recipe is not only eggless but is also fatless
First if all when I tried the recipe I was very disappointed to see that the cookies didn't cook well as per the time mentioned in it recipe from op but burnt a bit in the bottom . The worst part was tht it was stuck to my butter paper .
Thu I thought I ll add some fat and I added about 4 tablespoons of butter and also had to add almost about 3/4 th cup of maids/ flour hitch made the batter better and also had to roll the balls with extra flour aside .
Thus I totally had added 1 cup maids plus extra to roll the dough to make balls and pat them to cookies
These worked well
Madhuram says
I'm glad you were able to bake it after a couple of changes but wondering why it didn't turn out right in the first place.