I suddenly had a hankering for coconut macaroons last Thursday. It was definitely not due to sugar withdrawal because heaven knows I’m amped on sugar most of the time. I probably just missed the taste of this snack and it’s been so long since I last ate macaroons that I can’t remember when that happened.
The good news is that Filipino coconut macaroons are some of the easiest dessert/snack that you can bake. It’s basically foolproof, doesn’t take a long time to bake, and you’d get a lot of macaroons in just 1 batch. And believe me you’d need and want a whole bunch of these to eat afterwards.
The Deets on Filipino Coconut Macaroons
So what are Filipino coconut macaroons?
Well, it’s a simple treat that’s made of desiccated coconut, flour, eggs, butter, and tons of sugar, in the form of caster sugar and condensed milk.
They’re chewy and sweet and usually look like small cupcakes. Now why do you think they come in mini cupcake form? My theory is that it’s because of the dangerously high sugar content. I mean, sugar and condensed milk together? Joking aside, the fact is we love sweet stuff and this is up there in the sweetness meter.
These macaroons are often eaten as snacks or served as after meal desserts. They’re also popular during Christmas and other celebrations.
Filipino Macaroons vs American Macaroons vs French Macarons
Let’s clear something up quickly – macarons and Filipino coconut macaroons have absolutely nothing in common except for the fact that they are baked.
The macaron is a fancy meringue-based cookie that’s a pain to make (in my limited experience) whereas the Filipino macaroons is a fail-safe recipe that newbies can follow easily.
Some type of filling is sandwiched between 2 macarons and they can be any flavor. Macarons, as far as I know, don’t make use of desiccated coconut too.
What about the American macaroons then? They’re also made with coconut, so are they the same as Filipino macaroons?
Well, no, not really. You can think of them as close cousins. However, Filipino coconut macaroons are more of a cupcake variety than the cookie-like American macaroons. In fact, the Filipino version is baked in cupcake liners. Mini cupcake liners.
Apart from being baked in cupcake liners, Filipino coconut macaroons also have flour in the recipe, which makes it more cake-like in texture.
How to Make These Treats
There are many versions of this recipe floating on the internet. Some call for creaming the butter, like when you’re making a cake. Some call for more or less flour in their recipe.
The one that I use is something that’s based off the recipe that’s commonly followed where I grew up. 99% of the time, if I can get away with using melted butter, I’d do so. I hate having to bust out my mixer to cream butter. This recipe uses baking powder to give the finished macaroons a lift.
This recipe is as simple as 1-2-3 and you don’t need any special technique or utensil to make this. As long as you know how to mix things, then you’re good to go.
Related recipes:
