Chocolate Filled Cherry Coconut Macaroons have a fudgy, chocolate center surrounded by a simple, not overly sweet, toasted cherry coconut macaroon. These cookies freeze great and the leftover fudge can be used in my Flourless Fudge Filled Nutella Cookies. Now go knock out your holiday baking early!
Recently Ryan, the kids, and I were all invited to a friend’s house for dinner. This extremely gracious couple had the courage to host our family of six with their family of seven to hang out and eat. There was no way I was showing up empty handed. These Chocolate Filled Cherry Macaroons served as a great distraction from all the excess bodies overtaking their home.
We all deemed the night a smashing success. The adults had a great time, all the kids got along phenomenally, and the house had no structural damage when we left.
Unfortunately this isn’t how it always shakes out when families get together. It starts with the best of intentions. Wife meets wife – big fans. Husband meets husband – bromance blooms. Seems like a green light on forging a new, beautiful couples’ friendship, right?
Wrong. Children have grave potential of squashing promising friendships before they even get off the ground. Generally, parents don’t have the time, babysitters, stamina, or cohesive family schedules to orchestrate a lot of couples’ nights out. It’s certainly glorious when the universe miraculously aligns like that, but the emergence of cicadas probably happens more frequently. Simply bringing the families together to hang out is much more feasible.
When you intermix families, though, throwing all those personalities into the mix doesn’t always bode well. It’s possible your parenting styles won’t jive. Perhaps they find Texas Chainsaw Massacre a perfectly appropriate movie for 4 year olds? Maybe they find fault with how I pay my kids off with cookies to leave me alone? You know the dream is over when you drive away thinking, “That sucks! I really liked the parents. Too bad their kids are likely to be incarcerated one day.”
Wouldn’t it be great if we could vet families before wasting a whole evening together and uncomfortable brush-offs of future invites? I say we cut out the awkwardness and missteps and have Tinder profiles for families. Swipe right if you want to give it a try!
HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE Filled Cherry Coconut MACAROONS
The fudge filling for these Chocolate Filled Cherry Coconut Macaroons makes more than you need for this recipe. Therefore, I posted Flourless Fudge Filled Nutella Cookies to use the remaining fudge in. Now you can get a great start on your holiday baking with two cookie recipes!
This post contains affiliate links. My opinions are always my own. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, I make a small commission – at no cost to you – which helps justify to my family all the time I spend on the computer.
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Chocolate Filled Cherry Coconut Macaroons
Chocolate Filled Cherry Coconut Macaroons have a fudgy, chocolate center surrounded by a simple, not overly sweet, toasted cherry coconut macaroon.
Easy Fudge:
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Cherry Coconut Macaroons:
- 2 2/3 cups sweetened shredded coconut
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour, (or all-purpose gluten free (I used Cup 4 Cup's all-purpose gluten free flour))
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 egg whites, (room temperature)
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 10 oz jar maraschino cherries, (drained and chopped)
Easy Fudge:
- Line a 8X8 pan with foil and spray foil with cooking spray. Set aside.
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Place sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips in a saucepan. Heat over medium low until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Pour into prepared pan and let set for at least 4 hours or overnight. Can store cooled fudge covered in fridge until ready to use.
Cherry Coconut Macaroons:
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Preheat oven to 325ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Take a small square of prepared fudge and roll into about 26 1/2″-1″ balls. (You will have fudge leftover. See Recipe Notes for leftover ideas.) Divide the fudge balls between the prepared baking sheets, placing about 2 inches apart. Set aside.
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In a bowl combine the coconut, sugar, flour or gluten free flour, and salt. Add the egg whites, vanilla extract, and chopped cherries. Stir to combine.
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Scoop a heaping tablespoon of cherry coconut macaroon mixture and place on top of each fudge ball. Once all the macaroon mixture has been divided up and placed onto all the fudge balls, go back with your fingers and shape macaroon dough to cover the fudge. (Don’t worry about bottom, just get the macaroon dough to mound over top and sides of fudge ball.)
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Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating pans halfway. Cookies are done with coconut starts to brown and toast. Cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
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Leftover fudge can be sliced and enjoyed as is, frozen for future use in cookies, or stuffed inside my Flourless Fudge Filled Nutella Cookies.
Cooled cookies can be frozen up to 6 weeks in an airtight container or in gallon freezer bags in a single layer.
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home
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This post contains affiliate links. My opinions are always my own. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, I make a small commission – at no cost to you – which helps justify to my family all the time I spend on the computer.
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