
Which situation do you run into more often, having leftover egg whites or egg yolks? In my case, I often have leftover egg whites because I use egg yolks for dishes like Chicken Karaage and Kakiage Don.
One night I happened to have one egg white leftover and I remembered my friend Sissi’s Easiest Chewy Coconut Cookies recipe on her blog With a Glass. Her recipe requires just three ingredients: egg whites, sugar, and shredded unsweetened coconut. It just so happens that I had everything in my kitchen. And in less than 30 minutes…

(image from my Instagram)
Unbelievably easy and DELICIOUS coconut macaroons!
Since then I got hooked and started making more coconut macaroons including chocolate-covered ones.

My husband who is not into coconut snacks said these chocolate-covered coconut macaroons are “surprisingly” delicious. The best one I made so far was the coconut macaroons dipped in semisweet chocolate from Scharffen Berger. Ohhh I ate more than I should (absolutely no self-control!). I shared them with my next-door neighbor and she raved about those macaroons as well! If you love coconut snacks, these are simply PHENOMENAL!

Egg Yolk Recipes on Just One Cookbook
If you don’t have egg whites available, then crack a fresh egg and use the leftover egg yolks to make one of the following recipes:
- Green Tea Crème Brûlée (5 egg yolks)
- Pineapple Upside Down Cake (3 egg yolks)
- Green Tea & White Chocolate Cookies (2 egg yolks)
- Crème Caramel (Purin) (2 egg yolks)
- Almond Cookies (1 egg yolk)
- Sesame Cookies (1 egg yolk)
Use Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
To write this post, I did a little research on coconut macaroons and found out that many recipes require sweetened condensed milk. Sissi’s recipe does not use sweetened condensed milk and it worked perfectly for me as I don’t usually have it in my pantry. Also, this recipe of mine uses unsweetened shredded coconut instead of a sweetened one. If you are going to use a sweetened one, please adjust the amount of sugar. Unsweetened shredded coconut is available here online.
I wrote this recipe PER ONE EGG WHITE, so you can multiply the rest of the ingredient amount according to how many egg whites you have. I hope you enjoy this recipe!

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Coconut Macaroons
Ingredients
- 1 large egg white
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ¼ tsp pure vanilla extract (optional)
- ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt (optional)
For the chocolate dipping (optional):
- ⅔ cup chocolate chips (4 oz; use good quality chocolate)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Preheat oven to 325°F (165°C). For a convection oven, reduce cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg white with a tea spoon until foamy. Add sugar, vanilla, and salt and mix everything.
- Add coconut and stir until well mixed. You should be able to form balls with two teaspoons. They should be moist and sticky but egg white shouldn’t be too visible because egg whites are runny once they are heated in the oven. Each egg white size is different, so you may need to adjust the consistency with additional sugar or coconut.
- Roughly divide into 8 parts. Form into balls with two teaspoons and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining mixture, placing macaroons about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart. Bake them until slightly golden, about 15-20 minutes.
- Remove baking sheet from oven to a wire rack, and let macaroons cool on baking sheet.
- Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. I used the microwave method: put the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and keep stirring the chocolate every 15 seconds until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Do not overcook chocolate in the microwave.
- Dip the bottom of macaroons into the chocolate and placed them on the parchment paper to dry. If you still have extra chocolate left, drizzle the tops with chocolate for aesthetics. Let the macaroons sit until the chocolate has dried. Enjoy!
To Store
- Keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store them at room temperature for up to 3 days.
I made these for my grandmother for Christmas. I did mine without chocolate, and she really enjoyed them. Thank you so much for this recipe
Hi Fiori! We are so happy to hear your grandmother enjoyed it!
Thank you for reading Nami’s post and for your kind feedback!
These are so good and easy for a little snack and it’s not heavy like cake.
Hi Arriel! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thanks for trying my recipe! 🙂
These are really good and I haven’t even dipped them in the chocolate yet! I needed a flourless recipe for some gluten free folks and I bet they are going to be very happy. Thank you for posting this.
Hi Fran! I’m so happy to hear that you liked the recipe! Hope your friends will enjoy them as well. 🙂 Thank you for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. xo
Where do you get the shredded coconut? I’ve seen it in the frozen section of Asian markets and dried ones in the cold section….I live in SF. Thank you!!
Hi Curtis! I get one in Lunardi’s (local supermarket). It’s in baking section, actually. You can get one on Amazon too: https://amzn.to/2HwaAIJ
Oh my goodness! I made these last night & it was the simplest & easiest recipe. I was looking for a recipe that didn’t have so much sugar or alot of eggs, but this was perfect. So happy with how they turned out. AND I used the left over egg yolk & made the almond biscuits (just slightly different) and added in chocolate chips- perfect! LOVE your recipes!
Hi Emily! Thank you so much for trying this recipe. I’m really happy to hear you enjoyed it. I like using my leftover egg whites to make this recipe – so easy and just enough portion for the time I want some small sweets. 🙂 Thank you for your kind feedback! xo
Looking forward to making these macaroons tonight
Hungry for macaroons
I’m gluten free
So this recipe is for me
Thanks
Margaret Milloy
Hi Margaret! Thank you for trying this recipe! Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
This macaroons were so delicious … I didn’t add chocolate dip since the taste is so perfectly unbelievable so good ???????? !!! Thank you for the recipe Nami.
Hi Anne! Yay!!! I’m so happy to hear you liked this recipe! 🙂 Thanks so much for letting me know!
I absolutely LOVE these macaroons! Totally delish! I love the chocolate addition!!!!
I’m so happy to hear you enjoy this recipe! Thanks so much for your sweet comment! 🙂
Hey, Nami, could you puree the coconut beforehand? I really like ground-up things.
Hi Gina! I have never tried that. You use fresh coconut and purée? Let me know if you try it! 🙂
Simple, delicious! I plan on serving mine with some grilled pineapple on the side. Thanks for posting!
Hi Karen! Grilled pineapple! That sounds really nice. I hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂
Hi Nami,
I tried this recipe last week when I happened to have all the ingredients on hand. It was so good! Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Jessica! You are welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed these macaroons! 🙂
I look forward to trying these recipes. I’m a cookbook collector and my friends and family always rave about my cooking.
Hi Larry! Your friends and family are so lucky to eat what you’re cooking! 🙂 I hope you enjoy these.
Mmmmmmmm macaroons! I have always wanted to make these but was put off by the ingredient list. Your recipe looks so easy. I also really appreciate the links to recipes that will use up the egg yolks so that nothing goes to waist. Now I have no excuse not to make these. Do you know if these would work less/without the sugar–or does sugar aid in holding the macaroons together? THANK YOU!!! 🙂
Hi Brenda! All you need is three ingredients and salt and vanilla are really optional. I made both versions but I honestly think optional ingredients are not necessary.
If you are going to use “unsweetened” shredded coconut, then I think adding some sugar would be nice, especially if you are not going to dip in chocolate. However, each person’s preference for sweetness is different (I like my sweets to be less sweet), so I can’t say you MUST need sugar. I don’t think sugar is necessary to hold the macaroons together because the glue effect is from the egg white. Hope you can adapt the recipe to your liking. Hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂
Thanks! I will let you know how they turn out.
OMG!!! So yummy! Thanks again. The only substitution I made was to using Xylitol instead of regular sugar. So easy. 🙂 Now if only I had self control…..
Just made these. It seems to be the simplest coconut macaroon recipe I’ve found. Thanks Brenda too for your info on substitution – I used xylitol as well, plus only 100g of chocolate and just dipped them in it. They were great and I will definitely make them again. Probably put half dessicated coconut and half shredded as mine were a bit crumbly. And I might try toasting the coconut first.
Hi Nicky! Thank you for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback on substitution info etc. Glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you Nicky!
Is there any substitution for egg white for vegan?
Hi Rachel,
Hmmm… We are not sure what is the best substitution for egg white in this recipe.
You can also make Macaroons with flour, but the recipe will be different.☹️
Yum! One of my favorite treats–I can eat a whole dozen in one go and make them often. I love that you have the recipe for one egg–very helpful. I usually beat the egg white and sugar until almost a meringue consistency–makes the macaroons a bit softer and fluffier. I know what I’m doing tonight 🙂
Hi Ilonka! Thank you – I’m glad to hear that you think the 1 egg white recipe is helpful. I need that for myself too so I’m glad I shared the recipe. I will definitely try to make the mixture like a meringue consistency next time! Thank you for the great tip!
How easy this looks! =) Thanks for sharing the recipe to one egg white — it definitely helps in terms of scaling up! They look so light, and I love the chocolate drizzle on the top. It’s snowing pretty hard in the northeast right now, and the coconut macaroons would make such a great “snowy” treat.
Hi Kimmi! I often have just 1 egg white, so to make a recipe that’s for one egg white was necessary for me too. 🙂 I hope you stay warm and have a wonderful weekend!