Simple, tasty chocolate covered coconut macaroons are topped with gorgeously green (and salty!) pistachios for a treat you’re sure to love! These are a favorite in our house!

One of the things I really love about baking – and the whole recipe development process – is that there’s always something new to try. And it doesn’t have to be something wild and crazy. It can be something as subtle as a little twist on a classic recipe – but oh how those twists can wake a recipe up! It’s exciting.

So here’s the part where I confess to you that I’ve never really been a mega fan of the famous coconut macaroons. Which is weird because I love coconut! And chocolate. And yet, those pretty little coconut clusters just never did it for me. They’re almost…. too sweet. I know. It doesn’t make sense! So this year I was determined to twist and tweak our family recipe until it did do it for me. Selfish? Maybe. But um, you guys are totally going to LOVE these, too. They’re amazing.

The base of these macaroons couldn’t be simpler! You toss some coconut and orange sugar around in a bowl till they’ve gotten very well acquainted, then you add egg whites, almond extract, and a big pinch of salt to the mix, and mush it all together – with your hands (!) – until it’s evenly combined. That’s it!

Scoop the batter onto a greased parchment paper lined baking sheet (you really do need to grease it or these will stick and you’ll lose the bottom half of your treats), lightly smash it down with a fork, and pop those babies into the oven! Oh, and get ready for your house to smell amazing with a capital A.

Once the lids of these macaroons are lightly golden and utterly gorgeous, you’re going to remove that pan from the oven and let them chill out on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes. This will make the “transfer to a wire rack to cool completely” stage much, much easier. If you transfer them when they’re fresh from the oven their pretty little bottoms may still be too fragile and thus stick to the cooling wrack. It’s not ideal! So let them cooooooooooool.

When the macaroons are cooled completely, you can begin phase two of this journey: The Chocolate Stage! Melted chocolate never ceases to excite me. And you can get as creative or simple as you want here. I chose to use 60% bittersweet chocolate because the cookies are so sweet as-is that a sugary chocolate would just be too much. I also added a tablespoon of coconut oil and a big pinch of salt. The salt cuts the sweetness, and the oil gives the chocolate shell a nice glossy finish. So it’s important you don’t skip them 😉

For decoration and crunch it was pistachios all the way! Choosing them was a no brainer! They’re so bright, pretty, and salty. They take these macaroons to the next level.

And the next level is where you wanna be!

However if you’re not a pistachio fan, you could use chopped almonds, cashews, or no nuts at all. Anyway you top them, they’re a fabulous little treat. And perfect for all the Spring holidays coming up soon.

Or you know, just for an afternoon cup of coffee 😉

These macaroons “keep” for up to one week, so go ahead and make them a few days in advance if need be. I also tested doubling the recipe, and it works perfectly (resulting in about 40 macaroons), so double away if you’re serving them to a large crowd.