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Golden Norwegian coconut macaroons, kokosmakroner, on a wooden board

Norwegian Coconut Macaroons (Kokosmakroner)

Chewy Norwegian coconut macaroons — kokosmakroner made the traditional way, with a cooked coconut batter and no condensed milk.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Cooling 20 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings: 20 cookies
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: Norwegian, Scandinavian
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 4 large egg whites about 140 g / 5 oz — room temperature foams faster; save the yolks (see Notes)
  • 200 g granulated sugar 1 cup
  • 1 tsp vanilla sugar or ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 200 g unsweetened desiccated coconut 2½ cups, finely shredded — not the sweetened flaked kind

Equipment

  • Heavy-bottomed saucepan The batter is cooked on the stove, so you want a pan with a thick base — a thin one scorches the sugar. Stainless, not nonstick, since you'll be scraping constantly.
  • Balloon whisk The egg whites only need to be foamy, not whipped stiff. A whisk and 30 seconds is genuinely all this takes — no mixer needed.
  • Wooden spoon Flat-edged is best. It lets you scrape along the bottom of the pan, which is the whole trick to not catching the sugar.
  • Digital kitchen scale Coconut and sugar are much more accurate by weight than by cup — this is the scale we actually use every day.
  • Half sheet baking pan Light-colored aluminum bakes these evenly; dark pans brown the bottoms before the edges go golden.
  • Wire cooling rack They're soft out of the oven and firm up as they cool — a rack keeps the bases from going damp.

Method
 

  1. Preheat. Heat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Froth the whites. Whisk the egg whites by hand in a heavy-bottomed saucepan until foamy and bubbly all over. You are not building a meringue — soft and frothy is exactly right.
  3. Add the rest. Stir in the sugar, vanilla and coconut until everything is evenly moistened.
  4. Cook the batter. Set the pan over medium heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, scraping along the bottom so the sugar never catches. Cook for about 10 minutes.
  5. Check the texture. The batter is ready when it thickens to the consistency of a thick rice pudding and holds a soft mound on the spoon. It will pull away from the sides of the pan as you stir.
  6. Shape. Using two spoons, drop rough mounds of the warm batter onto the lined sheet, about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. They spread a little as they bake, so give them room. You should get around 20.
  7. Bake. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes, until the ruffled edges and high points are golden and the centers are still pale.
  8. Cool. Cool on a wire rack. They are soft when they come out and firm up as they cool.

Notes

Chef's tip — trust the spoon, not the clock. The batter is done when it mounds like thick rice pudding and the track your spoon leaves in the pan closes up slowly. Undercooked, it spreads flat; overcooked, it turns dry and crumbly.
  • Vanilla sugar is a Scandinavian pantry staple. Without it, use ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract.
  • Storage: about a week in an airtight tin, or up to 3 months frozen — more in the post below.