Rochers à la Noix de Coco

For the little goûter party we threw at home last Sunday, I wanted to make another item in addition to the apricot and ginger chocolate cake. As one of our guests has to follow a gluten-free diet, I was hoping I could find something that she could eat, too. In my cookbook "Les Gâteaux de Mamy", I found a recipe for Rochers à la Noix de Coco – coconut macaroons - that sounded perfect, as it involved no flour at all. It is also a very easy one, which was a relief after the somewhat more involved chocolate cake.

Rochers à la Noix de Coco

- 250 g coconut flakes (not sweetened)
- 3 large very fresh egg whites
- 180 g sugar
- a pinch of salt

(This is scaled up by one half of what the recipe says, and I got 36 macaroons.)

Preheat the oven to 210°C (410°F).

In a medium bowl, mix all four ingredients with a fork. Using your hands and a small spoon, shape balls of dough (mine were a bit smaller than ping pong balls) and deposit them on a silicon cookie sheet (or a regular cookie sheet lined with parchment paper).

Bake for about 10 minutes (I had to make two batches), until they turn golden. It’s important not to overcook them, otherwise they will get too dry.

This recipe was a breeze to make and resulted in pretty and scrumptious little coconutty bites, crusty on the outside, moist on the inside. Next time, I think I will half-dip them in chocolate, as the Gods have always meant for chocolate and coconut to go hand in hand.