I love making macaroons. They were even a featured dessert in the 2012 PammiCakes 12 Days of Christmas Indulgences last year. Macaroons are sweet, fluffy and satisfying little cookies that make me smile. Adding fresh raspberries to this recipe creates a special twist to this traditional cookie that makes them irresistible. I made these over the summer for a family cookout, but with Fall upon us, these would be great any time of year. With the fresh burst of raspberry flavor and the sweet coconut, they will brighten up the dullest of gray winter days.
Raspberry Coconut Macaroons Recipe
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen
Makes approximately 50 cookies
Preheat oven to 325°F
14 ounces sweetened, flaked coconut
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 large egg whites
Heaped 1/4 teaspoon flaked sea salt or level 1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 pint (6 ounces or 1 1/4 cups) fresh raspberries (if washed, patted very dry)
Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
This recipe mixes everything in a food processor. Blend the coconut for a minute. Add sugar, blend another minute. Add egg whites, salt and almond extract and blend for another minute. Next include the raspberries in the food processor, and pulse machine on and off in short bursts until the raspberries are swirling through the mixture. About 10-14 pulses. By just pulsing in the raspberries, it will just streak through the crisp white mixture adding lots of bursts of bright red color through the batter. Do not stir the batter as this raspberry swirl effect will look beautiful in the cookies.
With a cookie scoop, scoop batter into 1-inch mounds. These cookies don’t spread out, so you can place them close together on the sheets.
Bake cookies for 25 to 30 minutes, until they look a little toasted on top. Let them rest on the tray for 10 minutes after baking, as they’ll be hard to move right out of the oven. They’ll firm up as they cool, but still remain softer and less dry inside than traditional macaroons.
