Vanilla Macaroons

 

Ok, this recipe is a must have,  keep it in your arsenal of “people pleasing recipes!”  The delicate flavor of vanilla is so faint, that it almost has a hint of a sugar cookie taste.  To be honest I made these cookies 2 weeks ago but ran out of time to make a frosting for the centers.  Today, I saw them in the fridge and thought, “Oooh no, I hope they are still good!”  Sure enough, they still tasted amazing!  I whipped up some vanilla frosting and sandwiched it between two macaroon cookies.  It looked so darn good I had to take a bite and then all the frosting squished out the sides.   No worries, I lapped it up just fine. :)   For those of you who can demonstrate self-control,  slip them back into an airtight container and place in the fridge or freezer to firm them up.  I have a whole wheel of flavors rolling around in my head already, so stay tuned.  I see more macaroons in our future.

This recipe was inspired by Everyday Raw Desserts.

Ingredients for macaroons:

• 1 cup raw coconut flour
• 1 cup raw cashew flour
• 1/2 cup raw agave powder
• 3 Tbsp raw agave nectar
• 2 Tbsp of water, or more if needed
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preparation: 

1. To make coconut flour:  you can either purchase raw coconut flour through Coconut Secrets or make your own (it just won’t be as fine).  Place  1 cup of coconut flakes in a spice/coffee grinder, one that is dedicated to your raw sweet treat ingredients, and grind to a fine powder in small batches.
2. In the food processor combine all of the above ingredients, except for the water, and process until it creates a nice smooth batter.  If the batter appears to be to dry, add water at 1 Tbsp at a time.  Keep blending it until the mixture is nice and creamy.
3. Fill a 1 Tbsp cookie scoop with batter and level off the top.  Place the cookie on the teflex sheet that comes with your dehydrator.  I made the mistake of placing them on the mesh sheet.  It worked OK, but it was a bugger to get the cookies off of it.  Please learn from my mistake.  I sure did. :) If you don’t have a cookie scoop, roll approx. 1 Tbsp of batter into a ball and slightly flatten it out onto the teflex sheet.
4. Dehydrate at 145 degrees for one hour and then reduce to 105 degrees and continue drying for up to 16 hrs.  Keep checking on them they reach the dryness level that you desire.  Mine turned out nice and chewy with a slightly moist center.  Are you scratching your head about starting the drying process at 145 degrees?  If so, read here.
5. Store in a sealed container in the fridge to extend the shelf life.  Mine were in there for 2 weeks while I was waiting to take time to make the center filling and they still tasted amazing.

 

Ingredients for Delicate Vanilla Frosting:

• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 2-4 hours
• 1 1/8 cup young Thai coconut milk
• 1/2 cup raw agave nectar
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup cold-pressed coconut oil, melted
• 1 Tbsp sunflower lecithin

Preparation:

1. To make coconut milk, blend the coconut water and meat of 1 young Thai coconut in the blender.  This makes more than what you need for the recipe.  Use the leftovers on granola or just drink it!  If you don’t have access to young Thai coconuts you can use any nut milk.
2. Combine all the ingredients in your blender except for the oil and lecithin, blending until smooth and creamy.  This will take 1-2 minutes.  Test it for smoothness.
3. With the blender running, drizzle in the coconut oil.  Once that is well incorporated add in the lecithin and finish blending.
4. Chill the frosting in the fridge for about 30 minutes so it can firm up.

Posted on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 at 6:20 pm. Filed under: Cookies / Nuggets / Balls Tags: Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free, Soy Free, Vegan RSS 2.0 feed.