Aquafaba Coconut Macaroons
What would be your reaction about a simple 3 ingredient recipe? And what if I add that these are completely vegan, gluten free and doesn’t have any butter or ghee or oil? Excited, aren’t you? Well these are extremely delicious, crisp and crunchy on the exterior and a soft centred coconut macaroons made with just dessicated coconut, powdered
sugar and stiffly beaten aquafaba. My entire house is smelling coconut. Generally I make dessicated coconut at home, but now I had a fresh 200 gram packet of dessicated coconut and I have used the entire amount. During an earlier attempt, my dessicated coconut was not very fresh and the macaroons didn’t taste very good. Since then I have been very skeptical to buy dessicated coconut from stores. But luckily, this was quite fresh. You can use freshly shredded coconut and roast them a bit either in an oven or a pan and use it in the recipe.
To make aquafaba, soak around a cup of chickpeas (kabuli chana/safed chana) overnight or for 6-8 hours. Cook it well in water and drain the liquid. Refrigerate this brine for few hours. This will resemble egg whites and will be slimy in texture. Transfer around 75 ml of this brine ( if you feel your brine looks very diluted, boil it and reduce it till it thickens) into a clean, grease free glass or steel bowl. Please do not use plastic bowl. Start beating it with an electric beater till it looks foam like. Continue whipping it till you get stiff peaks. It will take around 10-15 minutes. Please be patient and continue whipping. You may add around 1/4 tsp of vinegar or cream of tartar to get good peaks, though this is just optional. Aquafaba is ready to be used in eggless French macarons or cakes or meringue cookies.
Ingredients:
- Dessicated coconut 200 gm
- Powdered sugar 75 gm
- Aquafaba ~ 75 ml
Method:
- Take thick aquafaba and beat it till stiff peaks. It will take around 10-15 minutes.
- Add powdered sugar and dessicated coconut in a big mixing bowl and slowly add the stiff aquafaba into it. You might not need the entire aquafaba.
- Mix it gently till you get a homogeneous mixture.
- Preheat the oven at 150-160 degree Celsius for atleast 10 minutes.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Make small balls from the mixture, flatten them in your palm and place them on the baking tray.
- Bake these for 25-28 minutes or till it looks golden.
- Remove the tray and allow the cookies to cool in the tray for 5-6 minutes.
- Now transfer them onto a cooling rack and cool well.
- Store in airtight containers and enjoy these yummy gluten free, fat free vegan macaroons.
Notes:
- You may add 1-2 tablespoon extra sugar if you want very sweet macaroons. A teaspoon of cardamom powder can be added for additional flavour.
- You may dip a part of these macaroons in melted chocolate to make it look attractive. One can also drizzle some melted chocolate on top.
- These are not crispy cookies, they have a strong coconut flavour and tastes a bit like coconut laddoos.
- The amount of aquafaba required might vary a bit. Add only as much is required to bring everything together.
