Coconut Macarons
Hello friends! Let’s make Coconut Macarons today! Filled with Coconut White Chocolate Ganache, made with coconut cream. These Macarons taste like coconut heaven, and I can’t get enough of them! Make sure to watch the video to see how I made these macarons!
Watch the video on how to make these videos on YouTube by clicking here.
To make these Coconut Macarons, I have used the French method. I have over 70 macaron recipes on my blog, and the great majority are made with the Swiss method, which continues to be my favorite.
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However, lately I’ve decided to publish a French method recipe which I’ve had a lot of success with. This macaron recipe produces full shells, it’s relatively easier to make than the Swiss method (less steps), and some bakers really love the French method.
A couple of weeks ago I posted this recipe for the first time (St. Patrick’s Day Macarons with Guiness ganache filling), and since then I have only reduced the amount of cornstarch added to the batter by 3 grams. But the rest remains the same.
And that’s the thing with macarons. You have to keep experimenting, and trying to find your groove. I always experiment with different temperatures, methods, and techniques, because making macarons can be a rollercoaster.
Somedays, you can just nail the whole thing. And then you can try to do it again the next day, and swear that you did everything the same as the day you succeeded, but the results will show different.
And the “mistake” could have been simply the way you folded the batter, or how humid the kitchen was, or how long you’ve rested the macarons. The thing is that as you keep baking them, you will start to see patterns, and you will begin to connect the dots, and be able to find your bliss, the method, and the techniques that work best for you!
What I am trying to say is: don’t give up. Keep practicing. And send me a message on instagram or email if you have any questions. I might be able to help, and it is better if you have a picture to show, if the question is about troubleshooting.
These shells were filled with Coconut White Chocolate Ganache, which I made with coconut cream and white chocolate.
Please make absolute sure you are using good quality white chocolate for these Coconut Macarons.
Most white chocolate chips you find at the store just won’t work, because they don’t contain much cocoa butter in them, if any at all. You are looking for white chocolate that contains over 20% of cocoa butter.
The white chocolate baking bars will usually work, or anything by Callebaut, which you can find online, or on Amazon. I actually do use white chocolate chips, but from Callebaut, and they have 28% cocoa butter in them! Pure deliciousness!
Also, make sure the coconut if finely ground, that will help to pipe the filling in the macarons without clogging up the piping tip.
If you need any assistance or inspiration in your macaron baking journey, I have over 70 macaron recipes (maybe even more by the time you read this), with different macaron flavors and fillings.
On my posts you can find many tips, and also on my Youtube videos.
And please read my Vegan Matcha Macarons post, because I explain why you really really need an oven thermometer when making macarons (doesn’t matter if you are making vegan or non-vegan macarons).
And here are some suggestions of macaron recipes and ideas you might like:
- Samoa Macarons
- White Chocolate Macadamia Macarons
- Oreo Macarons
- Earl Grey Macarons
- Chai Macarons
- Raspberry White Chocolate Macarons
- Caramelized White Chocolate Macarons
- Blood Orange Macarons
- Nutella Macarons
- German Chocolate Macarons
- Caramel Popcorn Macarons
- Banoffee Macarons
- Dulce de Leche Pecan Macarons
Thanks for reading, don’t forget to watch the video located on this page or on Youtube. I hope you loved today’s Coconut Macarons, if you make this recipe tag me on instagram! I love to see your creations!
Coconut Macarons
Ingredients
French Method Shells
- 100 grams almond flour 3.5 oz
- 100 grams powdered sugar 3.5 oz
- 6 grams cornstarch 0.2 oz
- 77 grams egg whites 2.7 oz
- 70 grams granulated sugar 2.4 oz
- Gel food coloring I used a drop of purple and a drop of blue
Coconut White Chocolate Ganache
- 200 grams chopped white chocolate* 7 oz
- 85 grams coconut cream 3 oz
- 113 grams coconut flakes 4 oz
To assemble
- 113 grams white chocolate 4 oz
- 1/4 cup toasted coconut flakes
Instructions
French Method Shells
- Pre-heat the oven to 300ºF.
- Before you start, get the ingredients and materials ready.
- Prepare a large piping bag fitted with a round tip.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
- I use a silicone mat that already comes with a template to pipe the macarons. You can make your own template or print from the internet, and place it under the parchment paper or blank silicone mat.
- Measure out all of the ingredients.
- Sift the almond flour, powdered sugar, and cornstarch together. Set aside.
- Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer.
- With the whisk attachment, begin to whip the egg whites on low speed for about 30 seconds, until they start to foam up.
- Raise the speed to medium and whip for another minute, until the egg whites begin to look white in color and start to increase in volume.
- At this point, start to gradually add the granulated sugar.
- Raise the speed to high, and whip for a few minutes until you reach stiff peaks. I can’t recommend how long exactly to whip the egg whites for, this will vary greatly depending on the mixer you are using.
- Once the whites are glossy, you see the whisk of the mixer forming streaks in the meringue, you might be done whipping.
- The stiff egg whites should have pointy peaks shooting right up, with maybe a slight very small bent at the top.
- Add the food coloring to the meringue. Also pour in the sifted dry ingredients.
- Begin folding the batter with a spatula, in a J letter motion. This is called the macaronage.
- It’s time to stop folding when the batter looks glossy, and has a thick but flowing consistency.
- How to know when to stop folding the batter.
- First, pick up some batter with the spatula and begin to draw a figure 8 with the batter that is dripping off the spatula.
- If you can form several figure 8s with the spatula without the batter breaking up, it might be time to stop folding.
- There’s another test I like to perform, I call it the Teaspoon test.
- Grab a teaspoon full of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicone mat. Give the baking sheet a little tap against the counter, and wait 1 minute. Watch how the batter behaves.
- If the batter spreads out slightly, but becomes smooth on top, it might be time to stop folding.
- If the spoonful of batter still has a peak on top, and hasn’t spread out too much, the batter needs to be folded a bit longer. In that case, fold it about 3 more times, and test again.
- You don’t want the batter to be too runny either. Be careful not to over mix. It’s always best to under mix, and keep testing until you achieve the proper consistency, but once you over mix, there’s no way of going back.
- The best way I can describe this stage being perfect is when you hold the spatula with batter on top of the bowl and the batter falls off the spatula slowly but effortlessly. The batter will keep flowing off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.
- Pour the batter in the piping bag.
- Place the piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template. Apply equal pressure and carefully pipe for about 3 seconds, and then quickly pull the bag up twisting slightly.
- Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each.
- Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells.
- With this method, you don’t need to rest the batter. You can immediately start baking, one tray at a time.
- I like to rotate my tray after the first 5 minutes baking, you might not have to do that, my oven just has very uneven heat distribution.
- Each tray should be baked from 15 to 17 minutes. It might vary according to your oven.
- Always make sure to have an oven thermometer in place.
- When baked the macarons will have a deeper color, will have formed feed. If you touch a macaron, it shouldn’t feel jiggly. If the macaron is still jiggly, keep baking for another minute or so, and test again.
- Remove the tray from the oven, and bake the next tray.
- Let the macarons cool down completely before removing them from the silicone mat, or parchment paper.
Coconut White Chocolate Ganache
- Chop the chocolate into very small pieces. Place it in a bowl.
- Heat the coconut cream until it almost comes to a boil.
- Pour over the chopped chocolate.
- Let it sit for a minute.
- Whisk the mixture together until the chocolate has melted completely.
- If the chocolate is not melting and you still see little chunks of chocolate in the ganache, microwave the bowl for 5 second intervals, whisking in between, until all the chocolate has melted.
- Add coconut flakes to the mixture and stir to combine.
- Place the ganache in the fridge for about 40 minutes, until it cools down completely and firms up. Don’t leave it in the fridge too long or it might become too hard to pipe. Piping will be easier if the coconut flakes are finely shredded, as opposed to large coconut flakes which might clog up the piping tip.
To assemble
- This part if entirely optional. Melt the 4 oz of white chocolate in the microwave. Dip the top of some shells in the white chocolate. Then sprinkle with toasted coconut flakes. You want to do this with half of the shells, since the other half will serve as the bottom of the macaron sandwich.
- Place the ganache in a piping bag fitted with a small piping tip.
- Pipe a small amount of ganache on the bottom shells. Top with a chocolate dipped shell.
Storage
- Store these macarons in the fridge for 4 to 7 days, or in the freezer for 1 to 2 months.
My ganache did not turn out well. I used Callebaut 28% white chocolate, Goya coconut cream and unsweetened coconut flake. I warmed the cream until it had slight bubbles, poured on chopped chocolate. It separated and had a buttery fluid on top of ganache. After adding the coconut flakes, it won’t stick together. I had to roll it by had and flattened. Can it be salvaged?
yes anytime ganache separates like that you can add a bit of cream and keep mixing until it comes back together. it works like a charm.
What if my pans cannot fit in the oven at the same time? Would I just bake one at a time and would it mess them up to leave one to rest?
Yes, I rest my macarons a long time usually, plenty of time to bake them all.
The icing was extremely hard. Would I have used the wrong type of coconut cream. Is it tinned you use?
maybe you put it in the fridge and let it get hard? Or simply by sitting on the counter for too long it can get hard, so you’d need to warm it up ever so slightly.
My confectioner sugar (Domino) has cornstarch. Do I add more (what’s mentioned in the recipe)?
Yes, this recipe is made using sugar that already has cornstarch in it.
Hi Camilla, I’m very much looking forward to trying this recipe. Do you think that canned coconut milk will work instead of coconut cream for the filling? Creams seems to be a lot more expensive!
I do think it could work.
Thanks for all the wonderful recipes you share with us. I have learnt a lot from them. I however have a question. When you dip the shell in melted chocolate does it dry immediately or does it dry after refrigeration? My chocolate does not dry at room temperature.
I put it in the fridge
Thanks
Should the egg white be room temperature or from fridge?
If using the french method then it’s better to have them be at room temperature.
Can I use boxed eggs whites for this recipe or do they need to be from fresh eggs? Also, have you found aging the egg whites to help at all?
Thank you!
yes you can use boxed egg whites, and I have aged egg whites a lot of times, never found a difference.
Can you please tell me in cups instead of grams, and the eg whites how many eggs, im not good at figuring this out and would love to try and make these, can u make it simple please and ty
Hello Eloiza, it’s really advisable to get a scale to make macarons. They are already super finicky as they are, there are a lot of elements to control, and a lot can go wrong, so you don’t want to leave anything to chance. It’s best to get a scale to have accurate measurements than using cups. Each time you scoop a cup of almond flour the weight will probably different. And when making macarons you want to be very precise. A scale can be as cheap as 10 dollars, and you will be saving yourself from wasting a lot of ingredients which can be very expensive such as almond flour.
Hello. These look really pretty and I want to try making them. Can you tell me if your quoted baking temp of 315c is is for fan forced (= convection) oven or not? many thanks
Not convection 🙂
its pretty cool because most of this recipe is dairy free all I have to do is switch out the chocolate for dairy free. this makes me so happy 🙂
awesome!!
Everything you share with us is beautiful. I use only French method and usually bake three trays, one after another.. Should I pipe all the batter at once or pipe-bake-pipe-bake-pipe-bake..hope you understood what I meant 😊
pipe it all and then bake after.
and thank you 🥰
I have been looking for a chocolate macaron recipe. I have exclusively used the French method with a basic flavored recipe, I got from a class I took a couple years ago in France. I was a little apprehensive about using a different method. Your videos are awesome and tempted me to branch out. I finally tried your recipe last night. I preheated my oven for about 45 minutes and used an oven thermometer to verify my temp. They taste so yummy and have smooth tops with picture perfect feet. They are simply beautiful. I need a little help/advise concerning the chew and bite of you chocolate macaron. The skin was too thick and crunchy and it isn’t chewy on the inside. I use a Nordic Ware aluminum pan to bake on. I cooked my first pan on Silpat for 18 minutes. I cooked the 2nd pan for 15 minutes and used parchment paper. The second pan tuned out a bit better, but the shell was still too thick and crunchy… the middle on the second pan was a smidge chewier. I am thinking I might need to reduce my cooking time even more? Do you have any advice on how I can get thin crispy skins and a chewy inside and still maintain the perfect beautiful look of your macarons?
You have to bake them less.
You can also reduce the cocoa powder in them, maybe the brand you are using can cause the shells to be too dry. Or maybe your environment such as weather, oven, etc, everything combined results in crunchier shells.
It’s so much easier to overbake the chocolate shells bc they are darker so it’s not as easy to see that they are over baking, and also they do tend to bake faster.
All the recipes I’ve seen recommend adding Castor sugar. Should I add granulated or castor?
I use granulated
HI, Why are my macarons hollow & chewy, they look perfect but the top has a very crucnchy layer that snaps as we bite into it.
A lot of things can cause hollow macarons. Here is an article that can help https://www.piesandtacos.comhollow-macarons/