Welcome to Mr. Farmer’s Daughter’s 12 Days of Cookies!
Many years ago my parents began a 12 Days of Christmas tradition with my sister and me. It began on the 13th of December and ran through Christmas day. It was so great to spread out the love (and gifts) for that period of time. So, I’m passing the tradition on to you in the form of cookie recipes! I’m going to keep the posts short because it’s Christmas time and I can’t be writing book-long posts for 12 days in a row. I just don’t have it in me to put that many words on paper. Suffice it to say, some of the recipes are favorites of ours, some I’ve adapted to be more allergen friendly and some are just recipes that I’ve wanted to play around with. All of them will be delicious though. Merry Christmas!!!
Day 8!
Ganache-filled, Gluten-free Macaroons!
This one is for my mom. She LOVES coconut and she especially loves anything with coconut in it. It took me a few tries to get something I liked too. What’s better than combining coconut with almond and chocolate though? Right?
A few notes:
• This recipe calls for minced coconut. I took unsweetened shredded coconut and pulsed it a few times in the food processor to chop it up. This makes rolling the cookies easier. Also, if you wet your hands slightly it will keep the dough from sticking to your hands.
• I use organic sweetened condensed milk from Thrive Market. The membership is worth every penny!
• The flour I used is King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten-free flour but pretty much any would work in this recipe.
• Bake these only until firm, they may not be completely browned. I am notorious for over baking macaroons and they get a little.too.crunchy.
- For the cookies:
- 2½ cups minced coconut
- ¼ cup gluten-free flour
- ½ can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tsp. almond flavoring
- For the ganache:
- ⅓ c. chocolate chips (must have lecithin in it)
- 2 Tbls. heavy cream
- Preheat oven to 375˚.
- Combine the cookie ingredients and mix well.
- Roll into 1" balls and make a shallow indent in the center.
- Bake for about 15 minutes or just until firm.
- Allow to cool while you make the ganache.
- For the ganache:
- In a microwave bowl, combine the chocolate and cream.
- Microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring each time, until the chips are melted.
- Stir until smooth.
- Fill center of the cookies with ganache and cool completely.
- The ganache will become firm but not hard.