Coconut Macaroons Recipe (Sandwich Cookies)

Coconut Macaroons are delightful, sweet puffs of lightly toasted coconut cookies. They’re magically and naturally homemade gluten free cookies without leaveners that are sturdy enough for cookie platters or to be squeezed into lunchboxes.

What We Love About Coconut Macaroons

In all honesty, I’ll pass over a chocolate chip cookie in a bakery case for a rounded mound of a lightly toasted coconut macaroon cookie any day of the week. So here’s how I know you’ll love this recipe just as much:

• Two bite cookies that are the perfect size for snacking on by themselves or as sandwich cookies.
• Filled with coconut cream frosting, these macaroon sandwich cookies are bursting with warm, tropical coconut flavor.
• 5 ingredient cookies are fast to make when you need a quick batch of sweetness.
• Versatile recipe with the option for single cookies, sandwich cookies, or chocolate dipped coconut macaroons.
• Toasted coconut edges of the cookies are completely fantastic with the sweet, soft coconut macaroon centers.

Macaroons vs Macarons

The main differences between macaroons and macarons is that macaroons are coconut cookies made without flour, where macarons are sandwich cookies that are made with almond flour and can be filled with a variety of filling flavors.

Macaroons can be made into sandwich cookies, like I have here, served plain, or can be dipped into chocolate.

Macarons are French sandwich cookies that are flavored, colored, and contain flavored fillings to complement the cookie flavor.

Are Macaroons Jewish Cookies?

Now, coconut macaroons aren’t really considered a traditional Christmas cookie per se, but rather they are more often associated with the Jewish holidays. This is because there is no flour or leavener in the cookies, which are standard food practices for some of the Jewish holiday observances.

But, no matter the religious or cultural association of these cookies, I assure you that they are amazing cookies to eat year-round. And they are so incredibly easy to make, too! 

Coconut Macaroon Ingredients

These macaroon cookies alone only have 5 ingredients (one of which is salt) and if you want to skip the filling, you certainly won’t be let down. Here’s the basic grocery list for these macaroon cookies. Be sure to keep scrolling down to the recipe card for the full Ingredients list!

For the coconut cookies you’ll need:

• Sweetened shredded coconut
• Eggs
• Sugar
• Coconut extract
• Salt

For the cream filling you’ll need:

• Butter
• Cream of coconut
• Vegetable shortening
• Powdered sugar
• Coconut extract

I’ve made other coconut cookies in the past but none that are completely focused on coconut as the main flavor.

These coconut cream filled macaroons are simply perfect by themselves! 

If you stick with the filling, you’ll add a nice complement of coconut creaminess to the mix.

Keep in mind that the filled sandwiches are considerably more substantial than the single macaroons are without the filling so you may want to consider what you’ll be serving with them when you do. Some fruit would be nice with these cookies!

Unfortunately for us, these macaroons were too good to stick around for very long but they will likely make a reappearance before our Christmas Eve festivities. I don’t expect they will stick around in your house for very long either.

How to Store Coconut Macaroons

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A few notes about ingredients for these coconut cream macaroon sandwich cookies:

You may have some issues finding these ingredients so let me help you out!

• Unsweetened shredded coconut: If you can’t find unsweetened finely shredded coconut in your regular store, you can use sweetened shredded coconut and reduce the sugar from ¾ cup to ½ cup (my changes are reflected in the recipe card below). You can easily find this in any health food store, Whole Foods, or on Amazon.
• Coconut extract: I found coconut extract in Whole Foods. You can also order it from Amazon. King Arthur Flour has coconut flavoring which is similar but a little sweeter. 
• Cream of coconut: You can find cream of coconut in some larger grocery stores and probably liquor stores as well. In the grocery stores, check in the soda isle near the drink mixes; I found it both in a squeeze bottle and in a can. Otherwise, I think the coconut cream you can find in the Asian food area of the grocery store will work fine.

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