Coffee Cocoa Almond Macaroons
Updated Jun 18, 2018, Published Jan 29, 2013
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I cleaned and organized my office this past Sunday. It was a chore that was long past due! I found a couple of unpaid bills (yikes!), a winning lottery ticket (woo hoo, I can now afford to buy exactly two of my favorite gluten free macaroons) and a stack of magazines I was saving for when I had time to read them.
After I had everything organized and in shipshape I felt I deserved to take a gander at some of my saved magazines. I found a recipe I wanted to try for macaroons; I am always up for a new take on these naturally gluten free cookies. The recipe was from a Martha Stewart Living magazine from May, 2000! Please don’t judge me.
The recipe was for one of Martha’s favorite cookies from Patrick Lemble, executive pastry chef at the Four Seasons restaurant, in New York City (at least he was in May of 2000) for Pinched Orange Macaroons; a combination of egg white, almond paste, Grand Marnier, and orange zest, coated in powdered sugar before being pinched into a pyramid shape and baking.
Me, being me (a person who almost never just follows a recipe) decided to switch things up and substitute the Grand Marnier with Kahlua and added some cocoa powder to the powdered sugar. I felt the combo of coffee, chocolate, and almonds would be irresistible.
I also decided to simplify the recipe (again, me being me), I cut out what I felt was an unnecessary step or two and instead of rolling the cookie dough into logs, cutting them into pieces, and forming into pyramids, I just scooped the dough with a #60 ice cream scoop (small), rolled them in my cocoa/powdered sugar combo and baked them off. I don’t know if the pyramid shape would have made any difference but let me tell you, I love these cookies! They are sweet, rich, tender, moist little gems – almost a cross between a cookie and a candy.
Now I can use my $5.00 winning lottery ticket on something besides two macaroons!
A little note here about almond paste – over the weekend I got a text from a friend who was making a recipe of mine that called for Solo Almond Paste. She sent me a photo of the ingredients and it contained wheat starch. After quizzing her I found she had not purchased Solo Almond Paste but some other brand that was definitely NOT gluten free, so be warned.
Gluten Free Coffee Cocoa Almond Macaroons Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 (8 ounce) cans Solo Almond Paste (not marzipan)
- 1 large egg white
- 1 cup powdered sugar – divided use
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup Kahlua or other coffee liqueur
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the almond paste and egg white in the bowl of a mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Sift in ½ cup powdered sugar, add the salt and Kahlua and beat, starting on low and gradually increasing speed to medium, until fully combined, 1 more minute.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining ½ cup powdered sugar and cocoa powder, making sure to break up any lumps. Scoop the dough with a #60 ice cream scoop and drop 3 or 4 balls of dough into the sugar/cocoa powder mixture. Roll the dough to thoroughly coat with the sugar mixture and place on the prepared baking sheets. Continue until all cookie dough is used. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool on the pan completely.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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These sound delicious! Except one question for you: I never knew that Kahlua is gluten free! Do you know of other liqueurs that are also GF?
Of the top of my head, I don’t have a list but what I always do when thinking of using a liqueur in a recipe is go on their website or even call the company to see if is gluten free. It is always best to be safe. I have checked on Kahlua and it is gluten free.
Looking Superb..i’ll going to try this in weekends!
Oh goodness!! I am going to weigh 800 lbs if I keep reading these recipes!!!!! Ok, maybe I’ll have to exercise some self control, but I can’t wait to make these!! Thank you so much for this site, your recipes, and all your hard work!!
Thank you Samantha! I believe that if you indulge a little it keeps you from binging later – at least that’s my story and I am sticking to it!
Enjoy!
I made these today for a friend and they are really good. Could you provide nutritional information for this recipe – calories, carbs, fat, protein? Thanks.
Hi Sue. As I am not a nutritionist I don’t calculate nutritional info however there are programs that do it for you on line. Just Google nutrition calculator and you should find one.
Thanks for providing the recipe of this dish. It looked yummy. I can’t wait to try this one out as soon as I reach home and I know they are going to be delicious. Amazing article!
Thank you Nancy!