EAT ME!
Do it!
If you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend this macaroon recipe.
I know; you’re probably rolling your eyes at me because I highly recommend a lot of things. But that’s because every single recipe published on my site has been tested and approved by many people, not just me (and not just vegans or health-food eaters, either). I test the recipes on my family, my friends, their families… I will absolutely never post a mediocre recipe.
And more than one person has said this is the BEST macaroon recipe he or she’s ever tasted, vegan or not. So do not be afraid to serve the following to even the pickiest of Easter guests:
Coconut Cookie Easter Chicks!
Super-delicious, and super-adorable… although when my friend Allison saw them, she asked, “Katie, what’s with the owl cookies?”
Owls?
Seriously??
I am NOT an owl!!!
Anywhoos… I’ve re-posted the macaroon recipe below for your convenience, with the chick instructions listed at the end. The chick idea isn’t mine; I saw it in a Taste of Home Easter magazine at the checkout counter. (If I remember correctly, the magazine version used licorice, jelly beans, and chocolate chips to decorate their chicks.)
Baby Chick Macaroons
(Makes 12-14)
Category: Healthy Cookie Recipes
- 1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut (see below for a lower-calorie version)
- 1 tbsp whatever flour you wish (such as ww pastry or even coconut flour)
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp lite canned coconut milk (or regular canned)
- 3 tbsp agave or pure maple syrup
- 1 packet stevia (or 1 more tbsp agave, and cut back on liquid)
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- tiny bit over 1/16 tsp salt
Combine all ingredients in a tall dish and microwave 3 minutes. (Or cook on the stovetop until it’s firm enough to scoop out in ball shapes.) Scoop into balls on a cookie tray (I used a melon baller, but a spoon or ice-cream scoop will work.) Cook at 360 F for 14-16 minutes. (Or maybe even cook the balls in the microwave?? But I haven’t tried this.) Let cool before removing from tray. Makes around 12-14 cookies.
For chicks: Once cooled, get creative with whatever ingredients you have on hand. I used pecans, almonds, cacao nibs, and goji berries. No one says you have to make chicks… you can make bunnies!
Or, um, owls.
This cookie-decorating project was so simple (and fun!) that I definitely want to make more macaroon animals. What about monkey cookies with pretzel tails? Or blending in spinach and making Easter cookie frogs?
I want to make friends for poor Fred the Frog.
How do you make the decorations stay stuck? Size would be helpful, too since I think mine are too small to decorate.
I just pushed the “beaks” and eyes in really far. For the feet, they’re not stuck at all… I just served them right on the plate. People ate the feet first ;).
These are so yummy! Just made them this morning, and they were seriously easy (just like all your recipes!). I probably could have left them in the oven a tad longer since the middles were still soft, but they held their shape enough to come off the tray and get into my belly. (c: I think my melon baller must be pretty small because I ended up with about 24 little cookies, but that’s just bonus as far as I’m concerned! (c:
I just made these yesterday! I even made a turtle and a cat, and egg baskets! Just posted pictures – certainly not as adorable as yours are, and I think it could’ve helped if I made them a bit bigger. But I had so much fun making them and they are seriously SO GOOD!!! Thanks for the recipe, Katie!!
Those are SO cute!!!!!!! 😀
Adorable! These look a lot like the macaroons my grandma used to make.
As cute as these are (and they certainly are), as macaroons are traditional Passover desserts, some acknowledgment of that fact (or of the holiday, in general) would have been very much appreciated :\
This comment is SO rude and close minded :(.
Dana, not everyone celebrates Passover, and so how would people who don’t know about the holiday even know that macaroons are a traditional Passover dessert? Instead of berating the blogger for something she probably didn’t know, and therefore of course didn’t mention, how about using it as an opportunity to teach something about your heritage/beliefs?
Dana,
Why would you assume that everyone who isn’t Jewish would know about the foods or traditions or customs? I had no idea macaroons were Passover foods, simply because no one ever told me. How would I know?
Do you know what foods they serve for Kwanzaa? Or Fasika?
Do you even know what Fasika is? (without googling it!)
I’m not asking to be rude, so please don’t take it as such. I’m asking to help you understand what was wrong with the wording of your comment.
I made this but it needed more flour. I also covered them in chocolate. Thanks for the recipe! http://www.singerskitchen.com/2012/04/chocolate-dipped-macaroons.html
i tired these and my chickens fell apart when i went to put in the bits & pieces for the eyes and hair etc!
What did i do wrong?
🙁
Hmmm… Did you let them sit ten minutes to cool before decorating?
PS – they still tasted TOTALLY divine though! 🙂
I just made them. The taste was excellent but it did grow and it got stick to the pan. What happen? Was it the flour, was it 1 cup and not 1 tbsp? Help
Can you tell me more about what specific ingredients you used?
No, the 1 T is correct 😕
On the light recipe, is it lite canned coconut milk or the kind that comes in a carton?
canned 🙂
dispite i dont celibrate easter i want to make thease soo bad!! but i dont know i could get the pecan feet stick 🙁 if i used chocolate it would be delicious but it wont look like a chick anymore …maybe if i dunk the whole cookie in chocolate i could make a black bird lol thats another anmial hehe also you could dye the coconut green and make coconut mutant ninja turtles
These are so stinkin cute!! And this post cracks me up.
These look so cute and I want to make them for my Easter party tomorrow, but if you wait till the macaroons cool then how do you get the pecan feet to stick? 😀
Hi Katie! I made these today, you macaroon recipe is AMAZING! so easy and so delicious!! for some reason, my chicks were not as cute as yours… but they were still super fun. Thanks for the idea 🙂
I made these yesterday. I had to microwave my mixture for a lot longer – I think a total of 5 or 6 minutes in 30 second increments after the initial 3. Apart from that, they were fantastic. Nobody could tell they were supposed to be chickens, but everyone agreed they were cute, and they could tell they were supposed to be birds. Most of us felt guilty tearing them limb from limb to eat them. I used some melted chocolate to stick the feet on, and that worked really well. As an aside, my husband laughed at me a lot over the first chicken I decorated, it transpires that the comb should run down the back of the head, not across the top :-O.