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.
Hi Camila! For this recipe did you use a convection oven setting? Thanks!
I did not. But if it’s available to you, it’s best to use it. When using convection, reduce temperature by around 25%/
Hi Camila,
I love your recipes and videos!! 🥰
I’m wondering if I can substitute some of the dry ingredients in this recipe with “coconut powder”, as in your pistachio macaron recipe, to flavor the shells?
It doesn’t work well to do that because coconut flour absorbs a lot of moisture and it will make the batter super thick. I’ve obtained success by adding 5 grams of coconut cream powder which is more concentrated in flavor.
Thanks, I went ahead and tried it before receiving your reply (coconut cream powder sounds interesting, though). Yes, it came out very thick, and they ended up halfway towards macaroons 😄. They also cracked a bit (and had tiny feet), but at least tasted good.
I’ve replaced 30 gr of the dry ingredients with ground coconut flakes (probably too much).
Anyway, at least they taste good 🙂
Thanks for the recipe. Can I ask why you’ve added corn starch to your dry ingredients? I haven’t seen other macaron recipes that call for it, so am wondering what it’s contributing in your experience. Thanks!
I added cornstarch as an experiment to try and get fuller shells, just as an experiment, however, it’s not my preferred way of making the French method. I prefer using cream of tartar to stabilize the meringue and make the batter strong instead.
Hi Camila,
Thank you for the french macaron recipe! i tried so many and yours gave me full shells! i am thrilled but the macaron feet came out pretty ruffled , what is the reason? and if I were to add cocoa powder , do i just add cocoa powder or do i have to adjust the other ingredients ratio too? please advise, thank you!
ruffled feet in this case of the french method would probably be from overmixing the batter.
And about cocoa powder I’d add about 7-10 grams of cocoa powder to the dry ingredients, remove the same amount of powdered sugar that you add in cocoa powder. So if you add 7 grams of cocoa powder, remove 7 grams of powdered sugar.
Allow me to fan girl for a second. Every time I search for a specific macaron recipe, I end up at your website. It is by far the most superior site for macarons both simple and complex! Though I am only learning, from the very first batch I was making amazing macarons and I owe this to you. Thank you <3
Thank you so much Melissa!! I really appreciate it!!!
Hi Camilla can I whip the egg whites in a kitchenaid and on what speed.
i whip on 4 and 6
I made these today – my second time making macarons. They turned out well, feet & all, and I’ll be using this as my base recipe for the shells from now on. Thanks!
very nice thank you!!!
Hi there! I’m excited to try this. Can I use the Swiss method with this recipe? Thank you!
Not with the measurements, but you can make the filling and fill regular swiss macarons 🙂
Hi Camila ! For the shells, do you think I can sprinkle dedicated coconut and bake instead of using the white chocolate dipping method ?
yes you can
Hello camila! I love your blog and your Instagram account! The temperature you described in the recipe it’s what the thermometer that I have inside the oven should mark or the oven panel?
what the thermometer indicates 🙂
Love this recipe! Thank you for sharing your recipes! Is there a way to email the recipes?
Thanks,
Judy
Hi Camila. You’re s gem. Stumbled upon your blog and I’m in awe.
Was just wondering what’s the purpose of the corn starch. Sorry if I missed it.
Cornstarch helps stabilize the batter because it prevents protein bonds from becoming too tight. It also helps dry out the batter by soaking up moisture, which is helpful for no rest methods.
I have made 2 of your other macaron recipes and everything turned out great. This recipe used slightly less almond flour & powdered sugar, but the egg white & granulated sugar was quite a bit less. I just couldn’t get my dough pourable after stirring for quite a long time. Are the ratios correct in this recipe? In some of your recipes the ratio between wet & dry is much closer.
Yes, but this is the french method, have you made it using the french method?
So I have only done the French method. I took a macaron class in France but my recipe is so huge I am looking for smaller batches like you have. I have used your 105g/100g ratios using the French method. I think I will continue to do that. The other methods intimidate me. I had only been wondering why the egg white & sugar amount was so much less. Your macarons & recipes are delicious! I am in awe of your creativity!
I always don’t know the temperature of the oven, it’s really too difficult. . .
you’ll have to experiment with it to find the best temperature.