People either seem to love coconut or hate it. I absolutely love it, so I was pretty excited to develop a good recipe for gluten-free macaroons – the ultimate coconut cookie. I’m assuming if you’re reading this post you, or someone you love, loves coconut too.

Among gluten-free cookie recipes macaroons aren’t uncommon because you can make them without using any flour at all. I actually use brown rice flour in this recipe, but this gluten-free macaroon recipe is also egg-free and dairy-free, so it’s a good fit for anyone avoiding eggs and/or dairy or casein. Many people use egg whites to help bind the ingredients and to create a light texture, but I was very happy with the overall results I achieved without using eggs in this recipe.

One of the keys to this recipe is using real coconut milk (the kind from the can), as it gives the macaroons a nice creamy, natural coconut flavor.  These definitely don’t taste like artificially flavored cookies.  Of course the 4 cups of coconut help create the flavor profile for this tasty tropical flavored treat as well.

If you love coconut you’ll love these macaroons.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 4 cups shredded coconut (unsweetened)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup canned, unsweetened coconut milk (regular or lite)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper.

Add dry ingredients together and mix well.

Stir vanilla into the coconut milk, and then add the vanilla/coconut mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix well.

Drop large spoonfuls of batter on the prepared cookie sheet, and lightly press on the top to flatten them just a touch.

Bake for 20-24 minutes, or until they start to turn golden brown around the edges.

*Note:*

If you like them sweeter you may want to add a little more sugar, or you could use sweetened coconut instead of unsweetened. I tend to go a little light on the sugar in many of my recipes. You should be able to tell if you taste the batter.