I haven’t been following Sylvie of Gourmande in the Kitchen for very long, but with recipes like this, I know exactly why I do. I can’t even begin to tell you how much it means to me when I see someone who appreciates subtlety in flavor — especially when it comes to desserts. So many desserts — especially those that are gluten-free — have so much sugar and in my opinion are barely edible. The same holds true for most recipes for macaroons and even more so for the store bought versions.
This recipe for Honey Coconut Macaroons with Chocolate Dipping Sauce has been masterfully created using honey as a sweetener, eggs, coconut, and vanilla (for the macaroons) — that’s it — the way it should be. An even greater surprise is that the chocolate dipping sauce is made from coconut milk and simply sweetened with honey. The result is nothing short of sheer bliss and something that easily competes with anything the best French pâtissier could possibly come up with.
For me, this recipe hits all the marks; it’s grain-free, it has no refined sugar, and it has the simplest of ingredients. This comes as close to perfection for a dessert that you can get.
I hesitated to call these coconut macaroons because we’ve all had at least one bad experience with those misshapen, heavy, tooth-achingly sweet confections that pass for macaroons sometimes. The kind whose cloying sweetness hits you over the head at first bite and whose flavor is barely reminiscent of coconut. A good macaroon is quite the opposite.
The French call their coconut macaroons rochers à la noix de coco or congolais and they are an altogether different breed from the tooth-aching varieties. Baked until lightly golden on the outside, but still creamy white on the inside they are bites of pure coconut goodness.
A good coconut macaroon strikes a fine balance; it’s at once creamy yet light, chewy but still tender. It is a little crispy around the edges but with a soft and moist interior and a pure clean taste, just lightly sweet…
