Vegan Month of Food | 5. Coconut Macaroons with Cocoa

I grew up eating cookies that had coconut, butter  (weirdly, I guess I could tolerate dairy and dairy based products then) or cashew nuts as the key ingredient.  I got introduced to old –fashioned Chocolate chip, Oatmeal , sugar, macadamia nut and white chocolate cookies later. Though I loved the aroma and flavors of these delicious ‘biscuits’ (as we knew them in our part of the world) my favorite have always been the one with coconut.

Living gluten-free has got me using a ton of coconut based products. I don’t think I have ever eaten so much coconut all my life, until, I went gluten-free.  The natural texture and flavors of coconut (unsweetened) adds sweetness and adds that nutty touch to anything that’s baked.

 Growing up, since we ate a lot of coconut macaroons, so I adopted a gluten-free recipe for the macaroon from Jennifer Katzinger’s Flying Apron’s Gluten-Free and Vegan Baking Book .  To incorporate a bit of chocolate, I dusted them with cocoa powder, just enough to add some bitterness from the chocolate to balance the sweetness from the coconut.  Also, for added flavors I added cardamom and saffron instead of vanilla used in the original recipe.

Vegan, Gluten-Free Coconut Macaroons with Cocoa

(An adaptation  of Macaroons from Jennifer Katzinger’s Flying Apron’s Gluten-Free and Vegan Baking Book)

2/3 cup brown rice flour

5 cups shredded unsweetened coconut

½ teaspoon sea salt

2/3 organic raw agave nectar

1 cup coconut milk

2 teaspoons cardamom powder

2 teaspoons saffron

½ teaspoon cocoa powder (plus additional for dusting)

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Combine the rice flour, coconut, salt, agave nectar, coconut milk , saffron and cardamom in large bowl and mix thoroughly.  Add cocoa powder and mix to form dough. (The resulting will be sticky and moist.)

Use a scoop to form the macaroons. (I dipped the scoop in a bowl of water, each time to pack the dough into the scoop, per suggestions in the original recipe). Place the macaroons on the previously prepared cookie sheet, about half an inch apart from each other.

Bake until slightly brown about 14 minutes.

Remove the macaroons from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.  Dust lightly with cocoa powder.  Enjoy with coconut or almond milk.

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My theme for the first five days for the Vegan MoFo is all things vegan, gluten-free, soy-free and Chocolate.

Day 1  Mexican Chocolate Cake with Almonds

Day 2  Chocolate Brownies with Walnuts

Day 3  Chocolate – Tart with Banana & Pomegranate

Day 4  Chocolate & Nut Butter Fudge (no bake)

For more details on Vegan MoFo.