Coconut macaroons are simply the easiest cookies I know how to make. And they’re pretty darn good just in their plain form. But add a couple of drops of food coloring, a dab of imagination and possibly a few props and you’ve got a centerpiece!
If you’ve got kids aboard — even toddlers — these are a great kid project. There might be a bit of a mess, but they are easy and great for those who don’t have very long attention spans. Just don’t blame me for the sugar buzz!
Coconut Macaroons
Ingredients
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 ounces – aka Eagle Brand in the US, Leche Dulcera in Latin America)
- 1 bag flaked or shredded coconut (14 ounces)
Instructions
- Drop by teaspoons (these are very rich, don’t make them too large) onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. Baking time will vary by brand of milk — some are slightly thinner than others and will take a few more minutes to bake. When done, there will be just a few golden spots on each cookie.
- Remove from the oven and let sit on the cookie sheet for just a minute to firm up a bit, then remove to a plate or cooling rack.
Notes
And the nice thing is that the whole “decorating” bit took me less than 5 minutes after the cookies were cool.
Again, great for kids as an art project, maybe on a rainy day.
Some of my ideas:
- Easter (shown) — green food coloring to make “grass” and a few Peeps bunnies and some jelly beans scattered amongst the cookies on the plate
- 4th of July — red, white and blue cookies
- Halloween — tint orange (red and yellow food coloring), press flat and use black paper cutouts to make jack-o-lanterns
- Valentines — pink, red and white
- Groundhog Day — tint brown with cocoa power (makes a wonderful chocolate flavor) and find a plastic “groundhog” to come out of the dirt
- Any football game — color green and instead of making individual cookies, press into a solid layer on a cookie sheet and bake about 30 minutes. Use white decorator icing to mark out a football field on the “grass.”
- Any game — tint in team colors
- Christmas — red and green and maybe gold sprinkles — or toss some Hershey kisses onto the plate, too
Carolyn Shearlock has lived aboard full-time for 17 years, splitting her time between a Tayana 37 monohull and a Gemini 105 catamaran. She’s cruised over 14,000 miles, from Pacific Mexico and Central America to Florida and the Bahamas, gaining firsthand experience with the joys and challenges of life on the water.
Through The Boat Galley, Carolyn has helped thousands of people explore, prepare for, and enjoy life afloat. She shares her expertise as an instructor at Cruisers University, in leading boating publications, and through her bestselling book, The Boat Galley Cookbook. She is passionate about helping others embark on their liveaboard journey—making life on the water simpler, safer, and more enjoyable.
Simplify meal prep on board with proven strategies for provisioning, maximizing fridge space, and cooking delicious meals aboard your boat.
Frances says
Love these! Easy. And gluten-free for those who need that.
Note that they do take longer than you think because you really do need to let them sit before taking them out of the pan. If you have two pans, you can have one pan baking while the other is cooling, but that’s not always possible.
I’m experimenting with a “forgotten” cookie variation, where you can turn off the oven and walk away and let them stay in there overnight -see if that makes them easier to remove. I’ll let you know!
Leilani Himmelmann says
Very cute
Margaret Meps Schulte says
I love your photo…everybody on WWS knows I’m a candy nut, anyway.