Coconut macaroons (not to be confused with French macarons) are a classic spring holiday dessert with origins in 18th century Italy. The flourless cookies are served at Passover seders and also shaped into “nests” to fill with Easter candy.
I am not a fan of the store-bought variety, which is often sticky and overly sweet. After years of making the same two desserts, chocolate bark and chocolate hazelnut truffle squares, for Passover, I decided to give homemade macaroons a shot.
I used unsweetened coconut and added finely ground hazelnuts, one of my favorite dessert flavors. Borrowing a technique from an excellent macaroon recipe on the blog Love from the Oven, I added egg whites to bind the dough together.Ā These are especially delicious dipped in dark chocolate.
Chocolate-Dipped Hazelnut Macaroons
3 Ā cups (8 oz) shredded, unsweetened coconut
1 Ā½ cup whole hazelnuts
2 egg whites
1 can (14 ounces) condensed milk
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Ā½ teaspoon salt
6 ounces dark chocolate (around one and a half bars) for dipping
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Toast hazelnuts until golden and fragrant. Set aside to cool, then grind in a food processor.In a large mixing bowl, combined coconut, hazelnuts, and condensed milk. Add remaining ingredients, stirring until well-combined.
- Scoop dough using a tablespoon or small ice cream scoop, and place on prepared baking sheet; the macaroons will retain their shape as they bake, so feel free to arrange them closely together.
- Bake for around 23-25 minutes until surfaces begin to turn golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Break chocolate bars into pieces and melt in microwave for around 1 minute. Be careful not to overcook, or the chocolate will lose its shine. (If not all the pieces have melted, set bowl aside at room temperature for a few minutes and then stir; the heat from the melted chocolate will melt the remaining chunks.)
- Dip the bottoms of the macaroons into the melted chocolate, and place on wax or parchment paper to set. If room is warm, place in refrigerator to set.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.
Yields approximately 35 macaroons
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