Toasted Coconut Macaroons (Vegan, Refined Sugar Free, and Gluten Free)

Beautifully toasted on the outside while staying moist and chewy on the inside, these vegan coconut macaroons are a coconut lovers’ dream!

I love a lot of things about these vegan coconut macaroons – I love that they mentally transport me to a tropical island. And I love that they are rich and moist, but that the shredded coconut pieces on the outside give them a toasty taste and texture.  I love that they take virtually no prep time and need no chill time.  Even if I put all of that aside, I love that they are secretly made with healthier ingredients than most cookies!

These are just 6 ingredients – shredded coconut, almond flour, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla, and salt. 

I know the other type of macarons have gotten trendier, but dear fellow coconut macaroon lover, let’s not let the world forget about this masterpiece of a cookie!

How To Make Them:

These are so easy, everything is made together in one bowl.  This section is barely necessary, but let’s continue on with it!

There are just two things to remember:

First, your best result is if your maple syrup is at room temperature, or at least not straight from the fridge.

Second, you want the coconut flakes to be shredded and very small.  If you can only find larger pieces, I’d suggest tossing them into a food processor quickly, or even chopping by hand.  But if they are larger than shredded bits, the cookies won’t hold together.  I use this brand.

In a large bowl, you combine the shredded coconut, almond flour, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, vanilla, and salt.  Aka, all ingredients at once. Then you roll them into 16 equal sized balls.  Next, roll them in a little more coconut to get those beautiful toasty bits on the outside.  Finally, time to bake them.

One thing to note – depending on how tightly you pack the almond flour, how small the coconut shreds are, etc, you may have a slightly more wet or dry dough than what you see here. The batter should hold a ball shape like you see in the photos below. If it is spreading out on the pan even before you bake it, add a little more flour to dry out the batter a bit.

The end! Time to eat your vegan coconut macaroons!!

Told you this section wasn’t needed 🙂

Nutritional info can be found in the Notes section below the recipe instructions.

Storage:

After they have cooled, seal in an air-tight container.  Should stay good 3-5 days.  

Pro Tips & Tools:

• Make sure you measure your liquid ingredients using liquid measuring cups.  This will ensure accuracy!  I love this set.
• As I said above, make sure your coconut is small, shredded bits, not larger flakes.  This is the type I use. 
• This tip goes for all cookie recipes – if it is your first time trying a new cookie recipe, if you have the time, I always suggest baking one cookie first before putting the full batch in the oven.  That way if something is not working right for your batch, you can adjust before you’ve wasted all the dough.  If it spreads too much, adding a little more flour is usually a safe fix.  If it’s too dry and not spreading at all, it may need some more liquid ingredients, in this case neutral oil.

Ingredients Needed:

• Unsweetened shredded coconut – as I’ve said, you really want to make sure what you’re using is shredded, not larger pieces.  I use this type, but if you can only find larger pieces, either put them in the food processor for a minute or chop smaller by hand.
• Almond flour – make sure this is blanched almond flour, NOT almond meal
• Maple syrup
• Coconut oil – this will be melted
• Vanilla extract
• Salt  

What To Bake Next:

• Want to use up some of that coconut you just opened? Try these Vegan Coconut Donuts.
• Want more non-chocolate cookies? Try these Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, these Vegan Banana Bread Cookies, or these Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies.
• Want more bright and fun flavors? Try these Vegan Lemon Bars, or this Vegan Lemon Pound Cake.