We certainly love our coconut desserts in Puerto Rico, and of course we have our own version of the well-known coconut macaroons. We call them "besitos de coco" or coconut kisses. They are so easy to make and we even added a cherry on top!
Ingredients:
3 cups of shredded coconut (sweetened)
⅔ cup or 7 oz of sweetened condensed milk
Pinch of salt
1 egg white at room temperature
Maraschino cherries for decoration
*For cakier macaroons, add ⅓ cup of all purpose flour.
First, turn on your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, so it is warm by the time we are ready to bake.
We will begin our macaroons by mixing the coconut, sweetened condensed milk and salt in a bowl. Mix thoroughly with a spoon, until everything is combined and a uniform mixture is formed. As I mentioned in the introduction, a lot of people add flour to their macaroons to get a cakier consistency, if you would like to do that, add the flour with the shredded coconut, sweetened condensed milk and salt and mix altogether.
After the mixture is formed, we will whip the egg white. Since we are only using one egg white, I am only using one of the beaters of the hand mixer, but you can use both if you want. Begin whipping your egg white with the hand mixer on high until you have firm peaks, meaning that when you remove the beaters the peak will keep its shape. This will take about 90 seconds and the mixture will look like shaving cream.
Once the egg white is ready, we will incorporate the egg white into the coconut mixture. I am using a silicone spatula to fold the egg white into the mixture. Try to be gentle, but you will need to make large folding motions as the mixture is pretty dense. Continue mixing until the egg white is completely incorporated into the mixture.
With our mixture ready, we are now going to form the macaroons. Start with a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Then, using a spoon and your hand, form spherical shapes about 2 tablespoons in size or the size of a golf ball. Try not to apply too much pressure to get a perfect shape as this will take the air out of the mixture and the macaroons will become dense.
Continue forming the spheres, until you have used all your mixture. I got 15 macaroons from this recipe, but how many you will get depends on how big or small you form yours. There is no secret here, practice will make it easier to get uniform shapes. Just be ready to get your hands messy. You could also try using a small ice cream scooper if you have one, again just be careful not to press too hard.
After your macaroons are formed, place a cherry on top of each macaroon. Use your hands to do this, as it will make it easiest with the placement and also will prevent you from adding too much liquid from the cherries into the macaroons. Softly press the top of the macaroon as you place the cherry. If you are not a huge fan of cherries, you can certainly omit this ingredient or you could cut the cherries in half and only place half a cherry on each.
Now you are ready to bake your macaroons. Place the baking sheet in the middle oven rack and set a timer for 10 minutes. After the 10 minute timer goes off, rotate the baking sheet to ensure that the macaroons are baked evenly. Then, set another 10 minute timer. After the second timer goes off, take the macaroons out of the oven. Let them rest in the baking tray for about 3 minutes before placing them in a cooling rack.
Then, place all the macaroons in a cooling rack and let them cool completely before you taste them. Mine were cooled in about 10 minutes and I was so ready to dig in!
Check out our instructional video, showing how to make this recipe step-by-step HERE.