Macaroons Win as the Best Christmas Cookie Recipe

There are a plethora of options when it comes to making Christmas cookies. Our favorite, and actually one of our founding fathers’ favorite cookies, for the winter holidays is a Coconut Macaroon, served warm. You can get one of these tasty treats in most of our restaurants, but in the giving spirit of the holidays, we thought we would share our not-so-secret secret recipe for our favorite Christmas cookie.

Thomas Jefferson’s macaroon recipe is etched on the windows of the Founding Farmers flagship location in Washington, D.C., but our founding foodie’s version is significantly different from the cookies we serve. Our macaroon is not a difficult cookie to make, but it does present a bit more gourmet than a gingerbread man or decorated sugar cookie. And the taste is out of this world.

Impress your friends with a tasty holiday treat and try our easy recipe for Coconut Macaroons.

The secret to our recipe? Whipping the egg whites into soft peaks. This makes the cookies gooey at their coconut cores, so they have the consistency of slightly toasted marshmallows. Dunked into a cup of Joe – we’re preferential to our First Bake Blend that we make with DC’s own Compass Coffee – they taste like a coffee-covered Almond Joy.

Founding Farmers Coconut Macaroon Recipe

MAKES 4 DOZEN

12 large egg whites

4 cups granulated sugar

¼ cup honey

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 pounds sweetened coconut flakes

1½ cups cake flour, sifted

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Whisk together the egg whites, sugar, honey, and vanilla in a stainless-steel bowl placed over a pot of boiling water (use a large enough bowl so it can sit atop the pot of water without tipping in). Whisk until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is warmed through. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium speed until soft peaks form. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and fold in the coconut and cake flour by hand with a spatula. Drop the mixture by large spoonfuls (2½ tablespoons) onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Or if you want a video tutorial of this recipe, check out our What’s Bakin’ video instructional video on how to make our delicious macaroons.

If you want to get more recipes from us, for the holidays and beyond, order our The Founding Farmers Cookbook online. You can even rush deliver it just in time for your holiday cooking. Or gifting. Our cookbook includes an amazing recipe for baked ham, our famous Skillet Cornbread, ever popular Bacon Lollis, Chicken Pot Pie, Pecan Pie, and about 100 more Founding Farmers recipes.

Or stop by Founding Farmers DC, MoCo’s Founding Farmers, or Founding Farmers Tysons and have us make them for you.