Vegan Macaroons are Marvelous!

Courtney asked if the macaroon recipe I mentioned in my last post was really vegan. I swear on a stack of PETA leaflets, it was. Actually, I've only made vegan macaroons. I'm not even sure what the non vegan part would be. (I'm guessing eggs but I don't care enough to do a google search or open a traditional cookbook.) I'll share the two macaroon recipes that I've used.

The first one comes from No Cholesterol Passover Recipes:
Festive Macaroons I
Makes about 20
2 cups shredded coconut
4 ripe mashed bananas
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ingredients together and form pyramids on cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. These are the ones I tinkered with this weekend.

The second recipe is my personal favorite. It comes from Simple Treats by Ellen Abraham. If you're looking to impress, this is the one to use.
Coconut Macaroons
Makes about 18
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbs barley flour (I use whole wheat pastry)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups shredded toasted coconut (toast raw shredded coconut in 300 degree oven for 10 minutes on ungeased cookie sheet)
8 pitted dates (I've also used 8 Tbs raisins or chopped dates with good results)
1/2 cup Sucanat or other vegan sugar
5 Tbs water

The short version of the cooking instructions are this. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put all dry ingredients into food processor. Give a whirl. Add coconut, dates and sugar. Whirl until the dates are all chopped and the mixture starts to come together. Add in water through top while running just until a ball forms. Drop spoonfuls and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 16-18 minutes.

If you increase the sugar to 1 cup and add 1/2 cup of cocoa powder she calls these Coconut Chocolate Chews. They are just sinful!