Do you love Groupon / Living Social / Google Offer deals as much as we do? We collect so many that we have a spreadsheet to keep track of them. Yes, we’re nerds, and we’re proud of it. 
One of our recent purchases was a deal at a local used book store. For $10 we were able to buy $20 worth of used books. I love books and if I had it my way, I would have an entire library in my house with one shelf devoted to cookbooks. While at the book store, I came across the book Big Fat Cookies and I knew I had hit gold. I showed the book to my students the week before finals and let them pick a cookie of their choice to eat on our last day together. One girl chose these black bottom coconut macaroons. I was skeptical (really? macaroons? for a high schooler?) but they were delicious! Total win! Not only that, they have to be among the easiest cookies I have ever made. How often do you have cookie batter ready bake before the oven is even preheated? Now that’s my type of cookie!
These are chock full of coconut and are laced with a healthy dose of almond extract. If you don’t love almond extract, you may want to cut back on the amount listed in the recipe. The chocolate base makes these cookies stand out and I think the bittersweet chocolate is a perfect balance for the gooey sweet macaroon. These would make a great last minute cookie to take to a party… or to store at home and eat when no one is looking!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and butter the paper.
- In a large bowl, use a fork to stir the coconut, condensed milk, salt and extracts together. Set aside.
- In an impeccably clean bowl, use a whisk or hand held mixer on low speed to beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until they are foamy and the cream of tartar dissolves. Whisking vigorously or beating on medium high speed, beat until soft peaks form. Whisk or beat in the sugar. Use a rubber spatula to fold half of the whipped egg whites into the coconut mixture, then fold in the remaining whipped egg whites.
- Using an ice cream scoop or measuring cup with 1/4-cup capacity, scoop mounds of the coconut batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing the macaroons about 2 inches apart.
- Bake until the bottoms of the cookies and the tips of the coconut shreds are light brown, about 17 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then slide a metal spatula under the macaroons to loosen them from the parchment and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Put the chocolate and oil in a heatproof container on top of a double boiler or pan of boiling water. Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the water and let cool and thicken slightly, about 10 minutes.
- Scrape the chocolate coating into a small bowl. Dip the bottom of each macaroon into the chocolate and place the cookies, chocolate bottoms up or on their sides, on a wire rack. (You will have some chocolate coating left over for another use or to pour over ice cream. It is easier to dip using a large amount of coating.) Let the macaroons sit at room temperature until the chocolate coating is firm, about 1 hour. Or, to speed the firming of the chocolate, refrigerate for about 15 minutes. Serve at room temperature.
- The cookies can be stored in a covered container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
6 responses so far ↓
1 megan @ whatmegansmaking // Jun 28, 2012 at 6:30 pm
What a fun recipe! These look so good, and I’ve never had anything like them. Beautiful picture as well
2 Jenny // Jun 29, 2012 at 4:52 am
They look lovely! I’m dying to make some coconut macaroons, but can’t get hold of shredded coconut, only dessicated or flaked. Do you have any idea if either of those would work?
3 Nicole@HeatOven To350 // Jul 1, 2012 at 3:28 pm
I love macaroons, and the only recipe I’ve tried was way too fussy to make on a regular basis. I’ll have to give these a try.
We love groupons, too. That’s smart to keep track of them because you feel so cheated if you let one expire.
4 Paula // Jul 2, 2012 at 11:36 am
Jenny – Flaked coconut should be fine! Just make sure it’s sweetened!
5 Jenny // Jul 2, 2012 at 9:05 pm
Thanks Paula, I’m definitely going to give them a try then!
6 stacey // Feb 22, 2015 at 3:06 pm
I’ve made these several times now and they are always a huge success. Thanks for sharing the recipe!