Chef Klaus
Aachener Printen
Aachen's Advent biscuit is dark, hard, and spiced, with beet syrup doing the deep work and a closed tin finishing what the oven only starts.
Culinary Explorer
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Kokosmakronen
Created by
The Advent macaroon that works only when the egg-white mixture is warmed gently first, so the coconut hydrates, the peaks hold, and the middle stays soft.
Pastries & Cookies
German
Christmas
Holiday
Batch Cooking
25 min
Active Time
18 min cook•1 hr 13 min total
Yield36 Kokosmakronen
Kokosmakronen belong to the Advent tin, the Blechdose that starts filling when the first candles are lit and disappears faster than the baker admits. They sit with the Plätzchen, Christmas cookies, but they are not Mürbeteig, short pastry, and they do not need flour. Coconut, egg white, sugar, Oblaten, baking wafers. That is the work.
The north and south disagree in the usual useful way. Some households bake them plain and snow-white, some brown the tips, some dip the bottoms in dark chocolate, and in the south you see them more often on Oblaten because the wafer keeps the soft macaroon from sticking and gives it a clean base. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. This is not a crisis. It is December.
The technique is gentle warming. I heat the egg whites, sugar, salt, and coconut together over low heat until the mixture is glossy and warm, not scrambled, because the sugar begins to dissolve and the dry coconut drinks in moisture before the oven tries to set it. Skip that and you get dry little haystacks. Warm it properly, rest it briefly, then bake only until the edges and tips colour. Runter mit der Temperatur if they brown too fast.
Weggeworfen wird nichts: extra egg whites from Stollen, Vanillekipferl, or butter cookies go here. That is why these belong in the Christmas kitchen. The rich doughs spend the yolks, the Makronen take the whites, and the tin gets filled without a packet. Nicht aus dem Glas.
Makronen in German baking descend from the older European almond macaroon tradition, but coconut versions became common only after dried coconut entered central European trade more widely in the nineteenth century. Oblaten, the thin baking wafers also used under Lebkuchen, tie the cookie to medieval wafer baking and to the flour-light Christmas larder, where sticky honey, nut, and egg-white doughs needed a base that released cleanly. By the twentieth century Kokosmakronen had become a standard Advent Plätzchen across Germany, especially useful because they spend the egg whites left from yolk-rich holiday baking.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
large egg whites
Quantity
4
caster sugar
Quantity
200g
fine salt
Quantity
1 pinch
desiccated coconut, unsweetened
Quantity
250g
vanilla sugar or vanilla extract
Quantity
1 teaspoon
lemon zest
Quantity
1 teaspoon
finely grated
Oblaten, baking wafers
Quantity
36
50mm diameter
dark chocolate (optional)
Quantity
100g
melted
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| large egg whites | 4 |
| caster sugar | 200g |
| fine salt | 1 pinch |
| desiccated coconut, unsweetened | 250g |
| vanilla sugar or vanilla extract | 1 teaspoon |
| lemon zestfinely grated | 1 teaspoon |
| Oblaten, baking wafers50mm diameter | 36 |
| dark chocolate (optional)melted | 100g |
Equipment Needed
- •Two baking sheets
- •Parchment paper
- •Heatproof mixing bowl
- •Small saucepan for a water bath
- •Small cookie scoop or piping bag
Instructions
- 1
Set the oven
Heat the oven to 160C conventional, or 140C fan, and line two baking sheets with parchment. Set the Oblaten on the sheets with space between them. The wafers give the sticky mixture a dry base, so the bottoms release cleanly instead of tearing when the sugar sets.
- 2
Warm the mixture
Put the egg whites, sugar, salt, coconut, vanilla, and lemon zest in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir constantly for 6 to 8 minutes, until the mixture is glossy, warm, and holds together in a heavy mound. Do not let the bowl get hot enough to cook the egg white into curds; gentle heat dissolves sugar and hydrates the coconut, hard heat makes sweet scrambled egg.
- 3
Rest briefly
Take the bowl off the heat and let the mixture stand for 20 minutes. The rest matters because coconut is dry and slow to drink; give it time and the Makronen bake moist inside instead of dusty. Das braucht seine Zeit, even here.
If the mixture spreads when spooned, stir in one more tablespoon of coconut and wait five minutes. If it crumbles, add one teaspoon of egg white. Fix the texture before baking, not after. - 4
Shape the peaks
Spoon or pipe walnut-sized mounds onto the Oblaten, building them into rough peaks with damp fingers. Damp fingers keep the sugar from sticking to you, and the peak gives the cookie its pale sides and lightly toasted tip. Press only enough to anchor the mound to the wafer.
- 5
Bake pale
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the trays once, until the tips and edges are pale gold and the centres still feel soft when touched gently. Do not chase a deep brown colour. The oven keeps working after the tray comes out, and a dark Kokosmakrone is usually a dry one.
- 6
Cool and finish
Let the Makronen cool on the tray for 10 minutes, then move them to a rack so the bases stay dry. Dip the cooled bottoms or tips in melted dark chocolate if you like; the chocolate belongs after cooling because warm macaroons melt and smear instead of taking a clean coat. Store in a tin once fully cool.
Chef Tips
- •Use unsweetened desiccated coconut, not sweetened shredded coconut. The recipe already carries the sugar it needs, and sweetened coconut makes a sticky, slack mixture.
- •Bake them pale. Kokosmakronen are judged by a moist centre, not by a brown crust. If your oven runs hot, lower it by 10C and give them a minute longer.
- •Oblaten are not decoration. They keep the sticky egg-white base from welding itself to the tray and give the cookie the old Christmas-baking shape.
- •Keep them in a tin with parchment between layers. They soften slightly after a day, which is right. A plastic box traps too much moisture and makes the wafers leathery.
Advance Preparation
- •The coconut mixture can stand covered at room temperature for up to 1 hour before shaping; the extra time helps the coconut hydrate.
- •Bake up to 1 week ahead and store fully cooled in a metal tin at cool room temperature.
- •Freeze baked Kokosmakronen without chocolate for up to 2 months; thaw uncovered, then dip in chocolate after thawing if you want a clean finish.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 18g)
Calories
85 calories
Total Fat
5 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
1 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
15 mg
Total Carbohydrates
9 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
8 g
Protein
1 g
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