Salzburger Kokosmakronen (Topfen Coconut Macaroons)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heatproof mixing bowl
• •Small saucepan (for double-boiler setup)
• •Fine-mesh sieve (for draining Topfen)
• •Baking tray
• •Two teaspoons or small ice cream scoop

Instructions

1. 1

   Warm the egg white mixture

   Combine the egg whites, caster sugar, Vanillezucker, and salt in a heatproof bowl. Set it over a pot of gently simmering water. The bowl should not touch the water. Whisk steadily until the sugar dissolves completely and the mixture feels warm to the touch, about 50 degrees if you have a thermometer, three to four minutes if you don't. Rub a drop between your fingers. If it feels grainy, keep going. The sugar needs to dissolve fully or your macaroons will weep and turn gritty.

   Use real Vanillezucker, not vanilla extract. Austrian baking depends on it. You can make your own by burying a split vanilla pod in a jar of caster sugar for a week. It keeps for months.
2. 2

   Drain the Topfen

   While you warm the egg whites, set the Topfen in a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl and press it gently with a spoon. You want to remove excess liquid so it doesn't make the mixture too wet. Five minutes is enough. The Topfen should hold together like soft cream cheese, not run off the spoon. If you can only find quark, that works perfectly. If you can't find either, strain full-fat ricotta through muslin until it's dense and dry. It won't be identical, but it'll be close.

   The fat content matters. Use 20% fat Topfen if you can find it. Low-fat versions release more water during baking and you'll end up with flat, sticky macaroons instead of ones that hold their shape.
3. 3

   Fold in coconut and Topfen

   Take the bowl off the heat. Fold in the drained Topfen, desiccated coconut, and lemon zest using a spatula. Work gently but thoroughly. You want every strand of coconut coated. The mixture will be thick and slightly sticky, holding its shape when you scoop it. If it's so wet it slumps flat, your Topfen wasn't drained enough. Add a tablespoon or two more coconut to correct it. Let the mixture rest for five minutes. The coconut will absorb some of the moisture and the texture will firm up.

4. 4

   Shape the macaroons

   Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius (150 fan). Line a baking tray with parchment. Lay the Oblaten wafers on the tray, spaced about two centimeters apart. Using two teaspoons or a small ice cream scoop, place a generous mound of the coconut mixture onto each Oblaten. Shape them into small domes with wet fingers. They should look like little snow-covered hills, rounded on top, sitting neatly on their wafer bases. Press a blanched almond into the peak of each one if you like. It's not strictly necessary, but it looks right.

   Keep a bowl of cold water next to you for dipping your fingers. The mixture is sticky and wet hands make shaping much easier. Rinse and re-wet every three or four macaroons.
5. 5

   Bake until golden

   Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through. The macaroons are done when the peaks turn pale golden and the edges of the coconut just begin to toast. The centers will still feel soft. Don't overbake them. The Topfen keeps the inside moist, and that's the entire point of this recipe. If you bake until they feel firm all the way through, you've gone too far and lost the advantage the Topfen gives you.

6. 6

   Cool and store

   Let the macaroons cool completely on the tray. They firm up as they cool, setting into that perfect texture: a thin, lightly crisp shell with a soft, chewy, coconut-rich interior. Once cool, pack them into a tin lined with parchment, separating layers with more parchment. They keep beautifully for up to a week, getting slightly softer and more tender with each day. Mahlzeit!

Chef Tips

• •Topfen and quark are the same thing with different names. In Austria it's Topfen, in Germany it's Quark. If you live outside Central Europe, look for quark in European grocery shops or well-stocked supermarkets. Strained ricotta is your fallback, but drain it properly or the texture suffers.
• •Oblaten are thin edible wafer discs that Austrian bakers use as bases for macaroons and Lebkuchen. They absorb moisture from the bottom, keeping the cookie from sticking, and give a clean, professional finish. Find them at European food shops or online. If you can't source them, use parchment paper. The macaroons will taste the same but they'll look like someone else's recipe.
• •These improve after a day in the tin. On day one, the shell is at its crispest. By day two or three, the Topfen has worked its way through and the whole macaroon is soft and chewy. Both versions are good. I won't tell you which I prefer because I change my mind every December.
• •Gretel always said the lemon zest is what separates a good coconut macaroon from one that tastes like sweetened cardboard. Don't skip it. The zest lifts the coconut and keeps the sweetness from becoming one-dimensional.

Advance Preparation

• •The shaped, unbaked macaroons can be refrigerated on their tray for up to 4 hours before baking. Let them come to room temperature for 10 minutes before they go in the oven.
• •Baked macaroons keep for a week in an airtight tin at room temperature, layered between parchment. They're a proper make-ahead Christmas Kekse.
• •The coconut mixture can be made up to a day ahead and refrigerated. It firms up in the cold, which actually makes shaping easier. Scoop straight from the fridge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 19g)