Recipe: Secretly Skinny Coconut Macaroons

Up until recently, I'd never tried a macaroon. Now? I love them. 

You see, as a child I absolutely loathed coconut. I don't know why, because now I'm a coconut fiend, but I would not go near anything with coconut in it, on it or coconut flavoured. I think it was the texture thing... 

Because I never liked coconut, I'd never tried a macaroon so I never knew what the fuss was all about.... but then I started seeing plate after plate after plate of macaroons at church and I really really wanted to know what they were like. 

I don't know what it is about macaroons but they seem to appear at every church event. I don't know if it says something about coconut macaroons in some secret passage in the bible but I've never seen so many macaroons in my life until we started going to our church ;P 

So after being tempted time and time again - I decided to get baking and try making my own Kristy style macaroons. They had to be gluten free and so that I could share them with you all, it had to be a SIL Style recipe too - that means they had to be low fat, lower sugar and absolutely delicious. 

After a couple of different test runs, I perfected my coconut macaroon recipe and I've been eating them ever since! I've also found that if you make a big batch you can freeze them and eat them straight out of the freezer (or wait a few minutes so they're not frozen - but who has that kind of patience when it comes to food?!) 

So let me give you my recipe! >> 

Secretly Skinny Coconut Macaroons makes 24 small macaroons 

gluten free, low fat, low sugar, grain free 

3 egg whites 

1/4 cup unrefined cane sugar or caster sugar 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

3 tbsp (30g) ground flax 

2 1/2 cups (200g) shredded or desiccated coconut* 

Preheat your oven to 170°C/340°F 

Line 3 baking sheets with baking paper

Whisk your egg whites and sugar until fluffy and add in your vanilla and flaxseed.

Mix through your coconut and mix until combined. 

Using your hands or a soup spoon/scoop, create little balls of your mixture, compacting them tightly onto your baking sheet. For some of my macaroons, I pressed them into a greased "Patty Pan" tin, however, the rest I simply made into mounds on a baking sheet - these cookies are less crumbly if you make them smaller and thinner. 

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until just golden. It's important not to over bake your macaroons as they'll dry out. 

Leave to cool completely on your baking sheet before storing in an airtight container or serving. 

*The choice is yours when it comes to the coconut - if you'd like more of a chewy textural macaroon use shredded coconut or use desiccated coconut for a finer, more delicate macaroon (the pictured macaroons where made using desiccated coconut) 

But tell me, are you a macaroon fan? 

What's one food you hated as a child but love now?

I probably like all the foods I hated as a child as I was a reaaaaaaally fussy eater. I liked fruit, peanut butter sandwiches, vegemite sandwiches and raw veggies and that was about all. I hated cereal (because I didn't like eating it with milk and never thought you could eat it any other way), despised sandwiches because they went soggy and absolutely would not touch mushrooms under any circumstance.